John Fashanu and professional partner Alexandra Schauman have become the first couple to be voted off this year's Dancing on Ice after losing out in the skate-off on Sunday night, as viewers at home complained that the suspense was ruined by the loud audience in the studio.
There was controversy a week ago when Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu, an early favourite to win Dancing on Ice this year, ended up in the bottom two, having got the lowest combined total after judges scores and public votes. Ekin-Su looked gutted by the outcome and, when spoken to during Sunday's show, she admitted to hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby that she'd had a 'tough' few days and had been questioning why she didn't get the votes she needed.
Former footballer and Gladiators presenter John, 60, was in action as the second lot of skating celebs for this year made their debut on the ITV rink on Sunday. He and Alexandra finished bottom of the leaderboard after all the performances and scores, with a score of just 19 out of 40, although Christopher Dean did tell him he 'was the most improved' since the first skating bootcamp for the show last year.
READ MORE: Christopher Dean fires thinly veiled dig at ex Dancing on Ice stars
After John was announced to be in the skate-off, he had to stand on the sidelines to watch Ekin-Su and pro skater Brendyn Hatfield make their bid to go through to Musicals Week, before he and Alexandra took to the rink to skate to Spirit in the Sky.
The judges then decided to keep Ekin-Su and Brendyn in the competition, citing the more difficult skating in their skate-off routine as the reason. John took the result well and vowed to continue skating.
While many viewers were in agreement that the judges made the right call, they were quick to hit out at the audience for being 'too noisy.'
Taking to Twitter, one ranted: "Dancing on Ice....someone needs to calm the audience down..cannot hear what is being said as they are too LOUD!!!" with another, in agreement, tweeting: "Watched for years not watching again .Great the audience support the skaters but the screaming and shouting is too much It’s a wonder Holly and Phil can hear themselves think let alone the skaters who don’t have an ear piece in. Completely spoils it for me. Shame."
A fan who had actually been in the audience before waded in on the complaints, posting: "I agree. I have been and the audience are actively encouraged to be as loud AF! The atmosphere whilst you’re there is fab … but it just sounds dreadful on tv," as another critic fumed: "Can someone do something about the shouting in the audience, makes the show a real turn off !"
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