Dancing On Ice / Chicken Dinner / 21 January 2008 / 1 Comments

As Pinkham follows Greene out of the door marked 'Exit', Chickendinner say the field is beginning to separate out...

Poor Natalie Pinkham - first she had to put up with rumours that Prince Harry had put his tongue in her mouth and now she's received the boot from Dancing On Ice. Her profile problems (i.e. she doesn't have one) didn't help, and when it came to the skate-off the judges couldn't resist former Mr. Blue Peter's steamy half-grin. Even so, Vincent ([23.0] to win on Betfair) shouldn't get too comfortable - last year found Ulrika surviving the second episode skate-off, only to crash out the following week.

The general rule is that the best skaters survive, and Vincent scored higher with the judges than Pinkham - only once last year did the higher scorer in the bottom two go (week one, Kay Burley was preferred to Neil Fox).

Hence the groups are starting to form.

The Strugglers
Aggie MacKenzie ([120.0] to win), Greg Rusedski ([25.0]), Vincent and Steve Backley ([23.0]) are all wobbly on current form, with the two sportsmen in particular looking just moments away from a hideous teeth-shattering fall whenever they step onto the ice. This obviously makes them hugely watchable. Yet the ice-voting demographic appears to be made up of figure skating fans who want to see beautiful dancing, not celebrity blood spattering all over presenter Philip Schofield's face. Hence, history would have it that MacKenzie and Rusedski go next - five of eight shows last year saw the lowest scorer tossed aside, and the early stages were devoid of any big upsets. Backley seems pretty likeable, and his colossal family man status should garner a handful of votes from any teatime housewives watching, meaning he should be safe for the next fortnight.

The Middle Grounders
Solid but unspectacular are Linda Lusardi ([24.0]), Samantha Mumba ([17.0]), and Michael Underwood ([13.0]). Despite no one knowing whether he is a celebrity or not, Underwood smiles a lot and it looks like it's working - the whisper is that he works on GMTV, which gives him a huge advantage in a show presumably watched with demented zeal by GMTV fans.

Mumba's previous visit to the bottom two (Week One) means that she is already of suspect popularity, and alongside the other youngsters on the ice, she seems bland. Girls will be far more inclined to pick up the phone and vote for gutsy Suzanne Shaw - another former pop star.

Lusardi should be okay until the other middle-ager MacKenzie goes, but after that she might be considered too old for the demanding teatime audience, who can't stand the sight of over-40s dancing on their screens.

The Front Runners
Suzanne Shaw ([3.4]), Gareth Gates ([3.65]) and Chris Fountain ([4.0]) are already running away with it.

Fountain, a former ice hockey player, has fallen behind the other two, which must surely be down to him being seen to have an unfair advantage. Viewers are fiercely picky when watching these shows, and tend to be moved to outrage the minute they hear that one of the contestants didn't embark on their 'journey' as a total novice (potentially harmful rumours were sloshing about all the way through Strictly Come Dancing about Kelly Brook and Alesha Dixon having been fully trained dancers in their youth). So it could turn into an all out battle between the former 'Pop Idol' (Gates) and the former 'Popstar' (Shaw). By cutting her head and not crying in this weekend's VT, Shaw came across as ballsy and elegant, a winning combination.

She is the one to beat, but Gates is still popular with ITV's teatime crew who once voted for him to come second to Will Young.

Tags: aggie mackenzie, gareth gates, suzanne shaw