Dancing on Ice viewers complained that the judges were 'far too harsh' on Michelle Heaton, after she made ended up bottom of the leaderboard on Sunday night's show.
The Liberty X star was one of six celebrities to be in action as the show returned for a new series, 17 years after its first. In her first VT, Michelle revealed that she'd actually been asked to do Dancing on Ice before, but turned it down as there was 'no way' she'd have been able to do it at the height of her battle with alcohol addiction.
Michelle is now close to two years sober and stepped onto the ice with one major mission - to do her family proud, as husband Hugh Hanley and children Faith and AJ sat cheering her on in the studio audience. Ahead of her live show debut, which saw her and pro partner Lukasz Rozycki skate to Shania Twain's comeback hit Waking Up Dreaming, Michelle was given a big boost when Shania herself commented on an Instagram post to wish her well.
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Unfortunately for Michelle and Lukasz, while their routine featured a number of impressive lifts, the judges weren't bowled over and gave it just 19 out of a possible 40. A disappointed Michelle apologised to her pro partner after getting the scores, as he and hosts Holly Willoughy and Phillip Schofield were quick to reassure her.
Michelle was also supported by Ashley Banjo, after the Diversity star gave her the highest individual score of 5.5, telling her she "deserved it."
Viewers at home were quick to condemn the scores for Michelle, arguing she wasn't any worse that some of the other skaters and claiming she shouldn't have been bottom of the standings. Taking to Twitter, one complained: "NO WAY was Michelle worse than Ekin," with another tweeting: "Those scores were harsh for Michelle."
Another unimpressed viewer fumed: "Those scores were far too low, well done Michelle. I thought she was better than Ekin Su and a lot better than Patsy! She was definitely over marked based on the other scores."
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