Dancing on Ice ... Live!

So off we went (me and my mum) to the O2 on Sunday, for the icy extravaganza courtesy of the legends that are Torvill and Dean. The same warm up man from the first Strictly live show I went to was there, with the same warm up, but it was all good fun!

T&D and the cast entered with a theatrical circus routine, showcasing the awesome skills of the pro skaters, full of pizazz. Andi Peters was host for the night, with only two of the normal judges; Karen and Nicky joined by Christopher Biggins and former champion, Kyran Bracken and all given big introductions before the "and some woman called Zoe Tyler, who's guest judge." He may have said Loose Woman, who knows? I didn't, neither did my mum.

Series Four winner Ray Quinn was up first, partnered by Alexandra Schurman - it must've been quite a shock, after partnering Dr.Hilary! Skating to I Gotta Feeling, Ray was, as ever, faultless, confident and full of musicality. They only met and began rehearsing three weeks ago and here he is, doing the Russian splits again. Fabulous. Score: 28.5.

Fred and Emily skating to Saving All My Love For You, it's very sweet, some solo skating from Emily, not too speedy but a 6.0 from me for Fred's bare chest. What? Whaaaat? Score: 18

Mikey and Melanie give us the cheeky and fun routine to Cecelia, he's skating confidently and looks really fit, very slim. Score: 21

Clare Buckfield, runner up to Kyran, is next, partnered with Lukasz to The Climb. Beautiful skating but after the recap in the intro I was expecting something with a bit more oomph, she was one of the more daring skaters in that series. Score: 25

Chris Fountain, beaten by Suzanne Shaw in the Series 3 final, skated to The Way You Make Me Feel, partnered by Brianne Delcourt and O.M.G! Headbanger? Neckripper? Absolutely unbelievable, incredible, the power in the lifts, musically spot on, dead exciting - and with more finesse than he had in the series, it was a blinding skate. Score: 28.5 (Two 6's).

Gaynor Faye, the inaugural DOI champ, danced with Matt Evers to The Power of Love, one of my all time most hated songs. Poised and elegant, even coming back from injury, only a little stutter. Score: 20.5

Gary and Maria do their Pulp Fiction number, clean skating as ever, but in direct comparison with Chris and Ray, not as explosive. Score 25

Hayley and Daniel with the routine you have to see live to appreciate every intricacy, Jai Ho. Truly stunning when not at the mercy of the camera angles. Score: 28.

The vote opened, we had a short break in which Women Power took over the O2 and we queued at the mens' loos and told them to bugger off, our needs were greater. It was a very short break. And then T&D and the pro skaters showed off their Luck Be A Lady routine, followed by exhibition skates from the contestants and pros: Gaynor and Matt with Don't Go Breaking My Heart showed why Gaynor was so popular; Ray and Alexandra to She's The One, and even though the song is slow, it's still dynamic over the ice; Fred and Melanie go crazy, leaving my bum and toes clenched as another headbanger appears with little warning, awesome routine; Hayley and Daniel with their beautiful Endless Love followed by T&D's gorgeous routine to The Buble's Just Haven't Met You Yet.

Another confident skate from Mikey and Melanie; Emily and Fred wheel out Bad Boys, Emily still needs more sass; Alexandra and Lukasz give us one of the best performances of the night, a fantastic, fast and musical skate to Footloose; Gary and Maria do What About Now, with the same level of awwww's as from the show; Chris and Brianne with Red. Again, slow yet somehow, fast! A nicely done routine to I Will Survive from Clare and Lukasz before T&D take to the air for their new, breathtaking Bolero routine - all eyes on the knot in those silks, as Jayne disappears above us.

And it's time for the results: NOT skating Bolero tonight - Emily; Gary; Gaynor; Mikey; Clare; Ray. It's Chris versus Hayley, and both deliver dramatic and passionate Boleros - overall, my vote, were I voting, would have gone to Chris. However, it's the judges who decide the winners: Karen and Nicky go for Chris; Biggins and Tyler (who ip-dipped, for crying out loud. Waste of space, much?) went for Hayley. So Kyran with the casting vote and ...it's Chris!

Terrific show, if you were thinking of going but left it too late, next year's tickets will surely be on sale soon! I recommend :-)

News in Brief: SCD, DOI, DWTS,

From the Strictly training rooms:

Ali and Brian are excited about having the opportunity to let their hair down this week - there's plenty of flirting, hip swinging and fun in rehearsals!

There have been many points of amusement for Katya in training so far this week, with Phil sniffing his armpits, chewing carrots and blowing his nose throughout rehearsals. Katya has also told him that he looks a bit scruffy and would probably dance better if he dressed a bit nicer for training!

Chris has read up on the Paso dance and discovered that the man is in charge! He took advantage of this by telling Ola she would soon be calling him Mr Hollins! I bet that didn't last long though ...

Natalie is still loving being part of the show since she has reached the halfway point but didn’t quite realise it would get so serious!

According to Anton, he has had shorter relationships than the 12 weeks he has been dancing with Laila! Laila said “Anton and I are sometimes like a married couple. We shout and scream at each other and then he tells me I’ve got to be sexy!” Towards the end of their Rumba routine, Laila started to feel dizzy. Anton, of course, thought this was because she was getting intoxicated by the Rumba and his irresistible charm!

Ricky Groves spoke of his disappointment at losing the public vote and said that you can never tell what will happen, as the last time when the judges slated his dance he still got through! The words Erin used were 'down and out' - come on now, it'll all be different again this week!

Ricky and Natalie had a lot of fun in rehearsals yesterday - Ricky performed a Beyoncé impression which, whilst incredibly entertaining, didn’t impress Natalie apart from giving her the giggles. That clip will probably be tucked away for the end credits on ITT! The fast-paced routine of the Jive seems to be taking its toll on him though, there's a lot of panting, leaning against a wall out of breath and lying flat on his back! Now that's official and not anything to do with rumours touted by the red tops, people - I know how your minds work, now stop it.

In other SCD news, Karen Hardy coaching Phil and Kate from 'The Apprentice' on Live from Studio Five; they'll perform in front of a judging panel on Friday.

Fancy a cruise? Of course you do, and even more so if it's free and you can have dance lessons with Darren and Lilia!

Camilla is a busy busy bee - not only has boyriend Kevin Sacre confimed on Twitter that she's definitely in I'm A Celebrity etc, she's also set to take over from Mr. Motivator as the fitness guru on GMTV!

According to the gossip rags, Vernon Kay is leaving ITV and coming to the Beeb - to take over from Brucie on Strictly! I like Vernon actually, and the only other person I've thought so far that would do a good job is Paul O'Grady. Like I said, that's the gossip rags ...

Ali, Natalie and Zoe have also signed up for the next Strictly tour, joining Ramps, Austin and Kelly, leaving just two places, another from the current crop and one more from an older series presumably. Who would you like to see?

Torvill and Dean say that Dancing on Ice is the toughest reality show on telly - and I'm not going to argue, you wouldn't catch me doing it! Here's a more in depth article with them - ignore the headline, it's not an attack on Strictly *rolls eyes*. It's also reported that Boyzone's Mikey Graham will be taking part as a tribute to Stephen Gately, and that Heather Mills may possibly drop out, due to the pain it's causing her.

Trav's Thoughts are in on both DWTS and SYTYCD, enjoy!