Love Island winner Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu has become the first of two celebrities on the latest series of Dancing on Ice, which debuted on Sunday, to face the dreaded skate off after receiving the fewest public votes. And viewers are shocked at the result.
Despite receiving positive comments from the judges following her raunchy routine to Britney Spears' Toxic - which included the show's co-presenter Holly Willoughby stating that hers was the 'sexiest' performance Dancing on Ice had ever seen and viewers calling her an icon, read more on that here - Ekin-Su along with her skating partner Brendyn Hatfield ended up in the bottom two.
The show is presented by Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield and judged by Christopher Dean, Jayne Torvill, Ashley Banjo and Oti Mabuse and sees 11 celebrities perform in the rink just like professional figure skaters. The show's premiere saw six celebrities enter the rink to showcase their newly learnt skills while next Sunday will see the remaining celebrities try their hand at figure skating with their partners.
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Ekin-Su, who revealed she had been ill during the week and had only just got back to normality, will need to perform again next Sunday, January 22, in a bid to stay in the competition. At learning the news, the reality star told the show's hosts how she was feeling: "Gutted. I am just sad. It is fine, just gotta keep going."
And viewers, it seems, are not happy with this result either, with many taking to social media to voice their disdain, claiming the votes had been rigged. Twitter user @jdmorrison00 wrote: "@ekinsuofficial you're in bottom for next week not happy all my votes went on your #DancingOnIce think we need a recount", while @tina_mbblud said of her performance and her subsequent disappointment: "Hot @ekinsuofficial was wow and didn't deserve to be in the skate off #DancingOnIce"
Fan @tropicallouie added: "HOW DARE YOU PIT EKIN SU IN THE SKATE OFF THIS IS A DISGRACE #DancingOnIce @ekinsuofficial" alongside @FlopsyPickle and @Laterskaters94 who commented: "IMHO I think the choreographers & stylists did Ekin-Su a disservice by having her looking & doing a sexualised routine. She was the only woman made to look like she was barely wearing anything. They reduced her to just her looks instead of her talent #DancingOnIce" and "I’m also Surprised Ekin-Su is up for the skate-off…yeah she wasn’t great but she had more performance and audience presence than Michelle or Patsy #DancingOnIce"
It was bag of mixed results, however, as some viewers claimed she was the right person to be competing in the show's first skate-off. Twitter user @fredmcc took to Twitter to say: "#DancingOnIce I really like Ekin-Su but unfortunately she really didn't show much skating ability which I think the public have seen through. In a skating show it's the skating that sells, not sexuality, which appeals more to Love Island."
Dancing on Ice continues next Sunday, January 22 on ITV1.
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