Dancing On Ice 2022: Ben Foden is FIRST celebrity to be booted from show

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Ben Foden was the first celebrity to be booted from Dancing On Ice on Sunday after losing out in the skate off to Ria Hebden.

Judges Ashley Banjo, Oti Mabuse, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean voted unanimously to save Ria and her partner Łukasz Różycki.

Elsewhere, Regan Gascoigne and professional skater Karina Manta earned themselves the highest score of the series so far on Sunday when they were awarded an impressive 33 points.

Speaking about his decision to save Ria, Ashley said: ‘Well done to both of you, we do have to pick somebody. The couple I’ve picked is because I think the routine had more elements.’

Also voting for Ria, Oti added: ‘I’m gonna vote for the couple I felt was more confident and took more risks,’ while Chris said: ‘Its all about the skating ability and the performance and the couple that had that, to me, is Ria and Łukasz.’

Before he headed home, Holly asked rugby star Ben: ‘Have you enjoyed your time here?’

He was quick to gush: ‘I have. I thought they’d be someone that couldn’t skate, turns out it’s me. I can’t wait to see these guys develop.’

Elsewhere, Regan and professional skater Karina Manta earned themselves the highest score of the series so far on Sunday when they were awarded an impressive 33 points.

After performing a stunning routine to Sam Smith’s Too Good At Goodbyes, Regan was showered with praise by the judging panel, with Ashley telling him: ‘We thought we’d seen the best week one ever, you’ve just upped the bar.’  

Last week, Brendan Cole impressed the judges when he earned a score of 30.5 out of 40 points.  

Oti added: ‘It’s the attention to detail you have, it was beautiful, it was the perfect way to end the show.’

Chris told Regan: ‘For me, that was contemporary dance on ice. It was beautiful. It gave us goosebumps, well done.’

Before his performance, Regan was seen discussing his appearance on the show with his dad, footballer Paul Gascoigne.

Regan shared: ‘My dad is so supportive,’ while Paul gushed while tearing up: ‘The minute you were born I was so proud.’ 

Elsewhere on Sunday’s show, Ben left Dancing On Ice presenter Holly slightly flustered on Sunday after the rugby star popped a button. 

Noticing a button had come undone during his opening routine with professional skater Robin Johnstone, Holly, 40, remarked: ‘You’ve popped a button there.’

Ben, 36, quipped in response: ‘They’ve already told me what I’ve got to do to try and score some points.’

Elsewhere, Oti was forced to clarify her scoring blunder on Sunday’s Dancing on Ice.

When scoring Ben and his professional partner Robin, the judge, 31, declared that she would be awarding them a score of six, however the number 6.5 flashed up on the screen in front of Oti, prompting presenter Phillip Schofield to ask the Strictly star to clarify her score.

Next up was The Vamps star Connor Ball and his partner Alexandra Shauman.

Despite Connor being nervous in the leadup to his performance, the musician left judges Oti, Ashley Banjo, Jayne Torvil and Christopher Dean pleasantly surprised.  

Rachel Stevens and Brendyn Hadfield had to sit Dancing On Ice’s second week out due to the popstar sustaining a wrist injury during a training session.

Rachel explained: ‘Unfortunately I’ve had a little accident where I’ve hurt my wrist, so me and Brendan are not allowed to go on the ice for now.’

Back in the studio, Holly told her: ‘Rachel I’m so sorry, we were so looking forward to seeing you on the ice this week.’  

Paralympic athlete Stef Reid was the second competitor to take to the ice, and her scores were met with boos from the audience.

Speaking ahead of her first performance with partner Andy Buchanan on the ice, Stef admitted appearing on the show is ‘the last thing you expect an amputee to do’.

And the crowd was clearly unhappy with the scores dished out by the show’s judges and could be heard loudly booing.

Standing by his decision, Ashley told Stef: ‘I want to reiterate sixes across the board is not bad.’  

Next up was Love Island’s Liberty Poole.

Before performing with her partner Joe Johnson, Liberty gushed about their chemistry, saying: ‘We have so much laughter every day.’

The pair then delighted the crowd as they performed a routine to Little Mix’s Shout Out To My Ex, with Love Islanders Faye Winter and Kaz Kamwi in the audience.

Their fun performance earned them scores of 6.5 from all four judges, with Liberty gushing that it was ‘the most surreal experience ever’.

Ashley also picked up on their chemistry, telling the pair: ‘You two together are a whole vibe and that comes out in the choreography.’   

After the celebrity performances had taken place, Torvill and Dean took to the ice and performed a beautiful routine to Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

The two were followed around the ice by a drone and the machine recorded their performance in just a single shot. 

It was then revealed that Ben and Robin would face off against Ria and her partner Łukasz in Sunday’s skate off.  

When asked how she felt after skating to stay in the competition by Holly, Ria said: ‘I loved it.’

Ben said: ‘It was good. We’ve been working hard for three months.’ 

He was then booted from the show.  

The first episode of Dancing On Ice 2022 aired last Sunday and Brendan Cole impressed the judges with the ‘best first performance ever’ as he topped the leaderboard with a total of 30.5 out of 40 points.

Although the former Strictly pro, 45, and his partner Vanessa Bauer achieved an incredible score for his first routine, he received some backlash online as many viewers pointed out his professional dancer background.

Many viewers picked up on Brendan’s dancing past and took to Twitter to air their grievance following his incredible performance on the ice.

One person said: I know it’s ice skating but the show is called Dancing On Ice so why, yet again have they put a professional dancer in Brendal Cole on as a contestant?

‘Saw it with James Jordan. How is a novice meant to compete with someone as agile? Reeks of one-horse race.’

Another said: ‘Won’t Brendan Cole have an unfair advantage on Dancing On Ice, what with him being a pro dancer ‘n all that?’

A third agreed, saying: ‘Brendan Cole?? That’s a bit unfair he’s already a dancer like the other Strictly pro who won it. Won’t be watching it’s rubbish anyway.’

Chris told Brendan: ‘Best first performance by a celebrity in all 14 series. Tonight it was on form, you were strength, strong, superior and masculine. What I really appreciate is that you’re really getting into the ice.’

Defending his professional dancer ability, he added: ‘He’s learned to skate, which enables to show off him his dancing ability.’

Ashley added: ‘As someone who could dance before I could skate, they are completely different worlds.’

The new series of Dancing On Ice kicked off with six couples taking to the ice rink during the first week trying to impress the judges.

While there are a total of 12 couples hoping to skate to the finale, only six competed this week during the launch night, including Happy Mondays’ Bez and Angela Egan, Brendan Cole and Vanessa Bauer and Sally Dynevor and Matt Evers.