Dancing on Ice Final
17.05.2009
The date 22nd of March 2009. This was the day when the UK would discover who was the Ice King or Queen. Jessica Taylor, Ray Quinn and Donal McIntyre would have their work cut out, but it was going to be an amazing night. The last time I had been this excited over a reality TV show was when I watched the final of ‘I'd Do Anything’ a year before. “I think they all deserve to win,” I told my care staff that morning. Like heck I did!
From week One, even though I had met Jessica in 2003, I had been watching former X Factor star Ray, with a sense of pride as he had done brilliantly every week and seemed so at ease on the ice. Therefore, I really hope he would be the one to win. This was especially since the last time I had backed someone (Jessie Buckley in ‘I‘d Do Anything‘), I had lost out to my Mum’s choice (Jodie Prenger). How embarrassing ! But did I know my Ice dancers better than my West End stars? Only time would tell!!
As the final got under way, I really hoped that Donal would come 3rd as despite his improvement I couldn’t help but feel that because of their performance background so far in Dancing on Ice both Jessica and Ray should be the ones to do the ‘Bolero..
The first routine they had to perform was a flying routine. This involved them been strapped into a harness. First up was Donal who flew to ‘Rocket Man’ by Elton John. I noticed that he was very relaxed in the air and I thought “ the public love an underdog, he could surprise us tonight!
Then Jessica did a beautiful routine to Whitney’s ‘One Moment In Time‘. As I excepted, she was an effortless flyer and I wondered if Ray was going to be able to beat her as she was the best flyer so far.
I did not need to worry though as when Ray took to the ice with his partner Maria and flew to Take That’s ‘Greatest Day’, he took off into the air as smoothly as Peter Pan. The crowd loved it when he embraced Maria and, for good measure, all the judges gave him the full 6 points. “Result!” I thought to myself as I punched the air. I really felt like he was on a winning run.
After the flying routines, the phone lines were open while all three of them performed their favourite routine from the series. Jessica and her partner Pavel Aubrecht performed their “captivating” routine to ‘Mercy’ by Duffy which they did with a lot of energy and fun.
Donal and his partner Florentine Houdiniere, improved their tear jerking routine to ‘Everybody Hurts’ by REM a great deal, as there was more of a connection between them than when they did it the first time round. But, the best one was when Ray scored his 2nd perfect score of the night by repeating his outstanding routine to Starship’s ‘Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now‘. “If Ray isn’t in the running after that to skate Bolero I’ll eat my hat” To my delight Ray and Maria were the first ones through. “Now please let Jess get through” I thought. But, then it was announced that Donal and Florentine would be fighting Ray for the winning trophy. “No way!!! Have the viewers gone mad?” I wondered. Jessica was devastated to come 3rd as she would not get to skate Bolero.
,After that Ray and Donal performed their versions of the famous Bolero routine. For the first time that evening I started to doubt Ray Quinn as Donal delivered a much more unique Bolero, that seemed to tell a different story from the love tale of the original. I was worry that the public would see Ray as a ‘copycat’ who was afraid to take risk. ‘Donal might win’ - I thought.
Then, it was announced that “ The Dancing On Ice Champion for 2009 is…. Ray. Ray, Ray, I chanted under my breath. I wasn’t going to have it any other way “ Ray Quinn!” “That’s a boy” I thought to myself as I jump up and down with joy. I was thrilled for him as, even before the show kicked off in January, I knew from his X Factor days that he would be brilliant.
I hope I am as happy with the next talent show result as I was with this.
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