Regan Gascoigne has been crowned the winner of Dancing On Ice 2022 after a tense and entertaining final. Tonight's episode, which came two weeks after the semi-final, saw the final three celebrities and their professional ice-dancing partners compete for the last time in front of judges Oti Mabuse, Ashley Banjo, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean and viewers back home.
Dancer Regan Gascoigne and skating partner Karina Manta opened the show with an entertaining performance of Step In Time from Mary Poppins, which scored 40 out of 40, before performer and former Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt and her professional skating partner Mark Hanretty performed an elegant, lyrical skating routine and also scored 40 out of 40. Former star of Strictly Come Dancing Brendan Cole and his skating partner Vanessa Bauer then performed a striking performance of a "Matador on ice" and scored top marks 40 out of 40 too.
Whilst all three pairs impressed the judges and viewers, there could only be one winner and Regan was ultimately crowned Dancing On Ice 2022 champion. Earlier, fans had showered praise on Holly Willoughby for her gown.
Read more: ITV Dancing On Ice 2022 final sees all three couples score 40 out of 40 in the first round
After the first round of dances, the celebrity couples continued to shine with each pair gaining another 40 out of 40 points in their second dance. There was then an enchanting group dance, with each of the celebrity contestants who had been eliminated from the series in previous episodes returning to the ice, including crowd favourite Rachel Stevens.
The three finalist pairs then returned to the ice to find out which two would get to skate again. Brendan and Vanessa and Regan and Karina went through to the final performance, with Kimberly and Mark knocked out in third place.
Regan and Karina, and Brendan and Vanessa then got to skate their own renditions of judges Torvill and Dean's classic Bolero dance, from the 1984 Winter Olympics. Both pairs impressed - before the all-important final result was announced.
The result came hours after some viewers branded the show a "fix" and said that the celebrities who are professional dancers had an unfair advantage over other celebrities performing in the series. Brendan Cole was quick to hit-back and argued that having dancers compete makes the show better for viewers.
"I think the fact we have a dance background has only improved things on the ice. The stuff we’ve been able to do because of that background has been special," he told The Sun. "People are always going to complain, we’ll never change their minds. All we can do is our best on the ice.
"There’s something cool about the fact we’re all here, we’ve all got dance backgrounds so we’ve got that performance element. You’re not worried about somebody not performing - you know all of us will be on it."
Viewers had been waiting for this week's final for a fortnight, as it had to be pushed back a week to make room for the FA Cup quarter-final matches last week which took the coveted 7pm Sunday evening slot on ITV. As usual, the episode was presented by dynamic duo Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.
There was also a group performance with all those eliminated from this year series' in previous episodes invited back to the ice for one final skate, and another group performance featuring all the professional ice-dancers.
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