ITV Dancing on Ice fans outage over ‘stitch-up’ rule change as contestant immediately axed: ‘You’ll pay for this!’
ITV Dancing on Ice fans were left in uproar after a key rule change led to the immediate elimination of Hollyoaks star Chelsee Healey, 36, on Sunday evening.
The soap star was the first celeb to leave after finishing bottom of the Week Two leaderboard with a score of 22.
Healy was paired with Australian pro skater Andy Buchanan for her short stint in the competition.
The pair put on a routine set to Beyoncé’s Crazy In Love on Sunday night’s show.
Show judges Oti Mabuse, Ashley Banjo, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean were not particularly impressed – scoring the couple 22 overall.
Healy’s disappointing score saw her third from bottom of the leaderboard, above only comedian Josh Jones and former Olympian Steve Redgrave.
She and Jones were placed in the bottom two following the week’s public vote.
However, the Hollyoaks star had no hope of reprieve due to a massive change in the Dancing on Ice format.
Typically, the celebs with the least votes would face each other in a sudden death skate-off where the judges would choose who to save from elimination.
Instead, the pair with the least votes overall was immediately booted from the programme.
An emotional Healy, holding back tears, said “it’s fine” as the news was revealed.
Host Holly Willoughby admitted: “I think everyone is shocked actually to see you in this position.”
“Personally, there’s been a lot going on with me that I’ve been struggling with so I couldn’t focus, but I’m just really grateful,” Healy responded.
Viewers were in uproar with the new change that saw the 36-year-old exit the competition.
One fan fumed: “You’ll pay for this @dancingonice you did her dirty by getting rid of the skate off… she wouldn’t have gone and you know it! I hope Chelsee sees all this support and knows we all love her so much. She’s been royally done over but I bet DOI has just lost several viewers!”
“Just tell us it’s queen chelsee going home so we can stop watching. we know she’s been stitched up. #dancingonice,” another wrote after the format change was announced.
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“Getting rid of the skate off is stupid! Chelsee deserved better tbh #dancingonice,” a third slammed.
A fourth proclaimed: “Petition to put Chelsee back in the competition because that ain’t cool #DancingOnIce.” (sic)