Dancing on Ice fans have taken to the web in their droves following Sunday night’s 2024 premiere with many taking issue with the judges’ scoring.
On Sunday, Holly Willoughby – who sparked concern moments into the episode – and Stephen Mulhern introduced the first six celebrities who’d be performing during the first show of the series.
Actor Ryan Thomas, Love Island’s Amber Davies, Olympian Greg Rutherford, soap star Roxy Shahidi, S Club singer Hannah Spearritt and boxer Ricky Hatton were the first half dozen famous faces chosen to kick off the 2024 series.
Christopher Dean, Jayne Torvill, Ashley Banjo and Oti Mabuse were back to provide the scores but even with just six stars to score, their verdicts didn’t sit well with plenty of fans watching at home.
In particular, several Dancing on Ice fans took to social media to bemoan the fact Love Islander Davies had outscored Rutherford, with many claiming she was merely “hanging onto” her partner “like her life depended on it”.
Davies bagged scores of 6.5 apiece from Banjo and Mabuse while Torvill and Dean dished out scores of six.
Amber Davies was delighted with her Dancing on Ice debut scores
ITV
This left Davies on 25 points and it was a leaderboard-topping score until Thomas took to the ice as the sixth competitor.
He impressed with his routine and topped the table with 26.5 while Rutherford finished in third with 24.5.
Shahidi bagged 20 points, Spearritt achieved 19.5 and Hatton propped up the leaderboard with 12.5 – landing him in next week’s dance-off.
Slamming the scoring from the judges, one Dancing on Ice fan fumed about Davies specifically: “She was hanging onto him like her life depended on it! Not once did she skate solo. Yet she gets high scores? Why? #DancingOnIce.”
“Did he let Amber go at all #DancingOnIce,” a second similarly fumed while a third weighed in: “I know!!! Make it make sense. Well done, been able to hold someone?”
A fourth hit out: “This Amber didn’t skate alone! How did she get those scores? How can they be justified? @dancingonice #DancingOnIce.”
While a fifth pleaded: “Come on judges! Amber did well but Greg actually lifted a person whilst he was skating! Make it make sense #DancingOnIce.”
Another jumped to Rutherford’s defence: “It’s much harder for men contestants than women as they have to do the lifting and leading on ice when some can barely skate. Amber was just dragged around the rink for that performance #DancingOnIce.”
Greg Rutherford bagged a score of 24.5
ITV
“Amber was better than Greg? P**s right off #DancingOnIce,” added another while an eighth raged at the judges’ “dogs**t scores”.
However, there was still plenty of support for Davis in particular, including one viewer who lauded: “@Amber_Davies7 Wow!!! No words! #DancingOnIce Sensational x.”
And a second echoed: “Amazing performance @Amber_Davies7! You looked beautiful out there #DancingOnIce.” (sic)
Despite the controversy surrounding the scoring, both Davies and Rutherford skated their way into Week Three of the competition while it was Hatton who was voted to face the first skate-off of the series next week.
He’ll face one of the six celebrities left to skate, and they are Claire Sweeney, Miles Nazaire, Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards, Ricky Norwood, Lou Sanders and Adele Roberts – who’s been backed by a former DOI winner to bag victory this year.