by Clare Meaney
There will be no skiing interest in the next episode of Dancing on Ice this Sunday (7 Feb 2021) after Ski Sunday presenter Graham Bell and his partner Karina Mantras went out last weekend in a skate off against Rebekah Vardy and her pro partner Andy Buchanan.
Earlier in the ITV programme the former British ski racer appeared with slicked back hair and dressed in a leather biker jacket to dance and skate to Hand Jive Baby from Grease as part of the competition’s Musical Night.
The routine failed to attract enough votes from the viewers’ phone in and so Graham had to perform another routine with his partner in the skate off.
The four judges, Olympic gold medal winners Christopher Dean and Jayne Torvill, dance choreographer Ashley Banjo, and actor and singer John Barrowman, all backed Rebekah Vardy’s performance, and Graham was out.
Asked by comperes Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby how he felt about going home, Graham replied that he felt he felt he had more to offer, wished all remaining competitors the best of luck, and added: “There’s great snow in the Alps and I can’t wait to get there.”
His first performance as a competitor in the popular TV show took place on Sunday 24 January. He was originally due to compete with pro skater Yebin Moy, but she suffered a nasty injury to her leg during training and had to take time off to recover after having stitches.
Karina Mantras stepped in to partner Graham and after only a week’s practice together, they performed a dance which included a pastiche to Graham’s work on BBC 2’s Ski Sunday.
Using the Ski Sunday theme tune and dressed in a gold lame ski suit, Graham displayed an incredible amount of determination, and to the surprise of many of the people who have seen him dance in an apres ski disco, an incredible amount of elegance too.
Graham’s determination, strength and grit, meant that he made it through to the next round.
“I’m glad we got through week two,” said Graham. “It’s always nerve wracking doing something for the first time, but I’m happy with the way we skated to Ski Sunday and I think we did great justice to the tune”.
When asked which celebrities to look out for Graham replied: “Faye (Brookes) and Hamish (Gaman) and Joe-Warren (Plant) and partner Vanessa (Bauer) are all looking good”
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