Love Island star Davide Sanclimenti has detailed girlfriend Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu sadness at ending up in the dreaded skate-off in the first live Dancing on Ice show.
The celebrity ice skating competition returned for another year on Sunday evening with a star-studded launch on ITV.
Yet, it was a tough start to the series for Love Island reigning champ Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu, who landed herself in the bottom two after she received the least amount of public votes.
Ekin-Su appeared noticeably gobsmacked at the result, which put her at risk of going home in the first week, and quickly turned to talk with her dance partner Brendyn Hatfield.
Boyfriend Davide was watching on among the audience at the ice rink studio and was also equally unhappy at the decision.
He then appeared on Good Morning Britain on Monday morning to lend his support to Ekin-Su after she narrowly avoided an early exit from the ITV show.
The Italian star sat down with hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls ahead of the launch of the winter series of Love Island this evening and said he thought Ekin-Su ‘smashed it’ despite the result.
He said: “I was not surprised she could actually dance on the ice because I've been following her over the training, but what I was actually proud of was that she entered into the character and did a very good performance.
“The fact that now she’s in the skate-off, naturally she’s a bit sad. Last night we had a long talk, but I know that she knows she’s a strong woman and she’s very determined.
“She knows what she wants and I think this will now push her to be better and better week by week.”
Ed noted Ekin-Su would now be the underdog of the competition, as he added: “She’s got to fight to win and Brits love an underdog.”
Davide said he had told Ekin-Su after the result: “Look at the positive side – you know what the judges said to correct yourself.
“You maybe need to show something where you don’t rely too much on Brandyn. I think it’s going to be good for her.
“She will push herself more and more. Even if she was sad for the first couple of hours, but then she went for it.”
Susanna noted the result had likely been a knock to the Turkish actress’s confidence, which Davide acknowledged as it was not something they anticipated.
He said: “She trained hard for months and you want to go there the first night and expect to be good or at least don’t finish at the bottom.”
