Dancing on Ice started in 2006 and has run for eight consecutive series, but now ITV has decided it has reached the ‘end of its natural life’. Taking their lead from Torvill and Dean who decided the 30th anniversary of their famous Gold Medal win at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics was the perfect time to take off their skates, or at least loosen them, the powers that be have decided to ‘go out on a high’. Over the years Dancing on Ice has received heavy criticism for being ‘basically the Poundstretcher version of Strictly Come Dancing’ but there are 400 Poundstretchers throughout Britain, and Dancing on Ice regularly attracted over 11 million viewers. More recently, however, the number of viewers has dwindled with an average of 6.94 million people watching this year’s series. Last year, Strictly Come Dancing had a revamp, introducing the former prima ballerina Darcey Bussell to the judging panel and utilising the success of the London Olympics by including gymnast Louis Smith and cyclist Victoria Pendleton. This resulted in an audience of 8.3 million for the Christmas Special alone. Although gymnast Beth Tweddle and boxer Luke Campbell joined the Dancing on Ice seems to have failed to keep evolving. Jason Gardiner and his controversial comments did return this year, after he was replaced in 2012 by Louis Spence, but it seems it may have been too little too late. Series 9 will therefore, be Dancing on Ice’s last, although we have been promised ‘nail-biting new format twists’. There will also be one more live tour starting in March 2014, which will include some of the programme’s favourite skaters from across the series. Auditions for the show’s celebrity line up are due to start shortly, although if Torvill and Dean get their way we will be seeing David Beckham and Kylie Minogue trying on their skates and Alex Ferguson on the judges panel. Never fear, however, although Dancing on Ice may be leaving the ice, we still have Strictly and I don’t think they will ever stop dancing!
So long to Torvill and Dean.
It’s been eight long years of spins, spirals, spectacular falls and a few too many Boleros, but now it’s finally come to an end. Talking on ITV’s morning programme Daybreak earlier this week Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean announced that the 2014 series of ITV’s Dancing on Ice would be the final one.