Ray Quinn may have won, but Donal McIntyre is the real winner

It was pretty obvious from the beginning that in terms of talent former child actor Ray Quinn was head and shoulders above the other celebrities in ITV's Dancing on Ice. His extensive dance training as well as stints as a roller blader meant he took to the ice like a duck to water (if that's an appropriate simile).

For all his technical ability he never really made an emotional connection with many of the viewers, there was no sense of a journey of achievement and even accusations of excessive smugness .

It was seemingly a procession to his anointment, which it is how it turned out. However there were real winners like Donal McIntyre who was clearly struggling on the ice in the first few week but had blossomed into a competent skater by the end of the series. This, I think, is the magic of these shows, the transformation, the ugly duckling into the beautiful swan.

Donal faced Ray in the final after former Liberty X singer, Jessica Taylor could only grab third place. Despite a competent performance in the final it was not to be.

Kudos to Donal for getting all the way to the final and showing the country what a can-do attitude can achieve.

He was equally gracious in using the opportunity to call for knighthoods for Jayne Torville and Christopher Dean, who have been overlooked for years while knighthoods are being dished out to less deserving characters like disgraced RBS boss Fred Goodwin as he hinted at.

Ellery takes one 'ell of a tumble....

...and is out of Dancing on ice.

Once Todd Carty went, Ellery Hanley was vulnerable and was certainly top in our books to go next.

As many have pointed out it is far more difficult for the celeb men than it is for the women and none more so than the huge ex-Rugby international more used to crunching tackles than swanning around in a leotard.

And so it proved to be, Ellery and Melinda Messenger ended up in the skate-off having finished bottom once the Judges votes and the public phone in vote had been added up.

Ellery's tumble in the skate-off did not help matters and the Judges voted 4-1 to send him home.

Interestingly Coleen Nolan squeezes through on a very average performance and I am beginning to think we were wrong all along maybe Coleen Nolan is the new 'John Sergeant'!

And lastly Ray Quinn, young, good-looking, very competent Ray Quinn. We aren't loving him. if we wanted proper Ice-Skating with no drama, no slip-ups, we would watch re-runs of the Winter Olympics.

Dancing On Ice : Todd Carty is booted off...

He was hailed by many (including us) as the new John Sergeant, surviving week after week with performances that ranged from comical to crap. It seemed the Great British Public had decided that they wanted more than smooth sequin-suited performances they wanted to be entertained and Todd was the man to entertain them.

Or so we thought, as shock mingled with horror we find this evening that Todd Carty is in the bottom two after the judges scores and the public vote have been added up. He faced the partnership of Rugby legend Ellery Hanley and Frankie Poultney in the dreaded skate-off where only the Judges scores count.

For the Judges who had waited for ages to get rid of Todd, this was all their Christmases coming at once (with the bizarre exception of Ruthie Henshall) as four of five voted Todd off.

Todd thanks for the memory, big up to Susie Lipanova for bravely putting up with Todd. Adieu Tucker!


And if you've forgotten why we love Todd, here is why!

The "indestructible" Todd Carty survives again!

Another week on ITV's celebrity-reality-talent show Dancing on Ice and another survival by Todd Carty. Despite putting in a performance that could best be described as 'flapping on ice' Todd Carty sailed through into the next round ahead of Micheal Underwood and Melinda Messenger.

Todd survival must be particularly galling for Micheal Underwood who was quoted in the papers as saying that Todd Carty was a good skater and only faking his goofiness. Given you're in the bottom two Michael I think you should be concentrating on your own skating abilities and worrying less about others.

Update: The skate-off has taken place and Underwood was voted off.

Is Todd Carty the new "John Sergeant" ?

Nope, he is even funnier, if yesterday's Dancing on Ice was anything to go by. The ex-EastEnder has provided us with one of the all time TV classics as he completely lost control during his routine with professional skater Susie Lipanova and skated haplessly into the entrance tunnel. Frank Spencer would have been proud.

It is difficult to describe, but you don't have to take my word for it, thanks to the miracle that is youtube you can see this glorious moment for yourself.



Needless to say here at 15 Bytes we are now fully behind Todd :-)

Dancing on ice - Jeremy Edwards gets the boot

There are in full cull mode on ITV's Dancing on Ice and the latest celebrity to be kicked off is Jeremy Edwards formerly of Holby City and more recently an assortment of increasingly desparate reality TV shows.

Jeremy was in the bottom two with Rugby legend Ellery Hanley but was eventually booted out by the panel of Judges

Amazingly the incredibly shaky Todd Carty continues to thrive in a John Sargeant-esque fashion and it seems in Todd the great British public have once more found a celebrity underdog to vote through irrespective of his performance. Power to the People I say!