Dancing On Ice / Chicken Dinner / 03 March 2008 /

As we arrive at the "business end" of the competition, ChickenDinner has a few suggestions for those of you still looking for some value in the Dancing on Ice market.

So, just four dancers left, including three who have never featured in the bottom two. The fourth, Zaraah Abrahams, who has been in the skate-off three times in a row, is not surprisingly lagging at the back of the pack ([32.0] to win). Being a late starter, she simply can't compete with the fan bases built up by Gates, Shaw and Fountain and like Steve Backley before her, she looks set to go at the fourth time of asking.

Suzanne Shaw further proved herself as a mind-boggling human being, by almost doing an Eduardo on her ankle, yet still competing. Someone should really tell her that it's a moderately popular television programme, not the Olympics. Her never-say-die attitude will appeal to the more 'Girl Power!' types watching, and she has recently been voted Celebrity Mum of the Year (beating stiff competition - Heather Mills!), which means she may yet be a force to be reckoned with - voting mothers who take notice of that kind of thing will see her as an inspiration.

At [4.9] to win on Betfair, she looks like a decent bet, and remember, Kerry Katona was once Celebrity Mum of the Year, and she won I'm a Celebrity...

A far more intriguing proposition, however, could be Gareth Gates. He has done little that sticks in the memory throughout the show, never really producing a memorable performance, and yet he has remained solid as a rock in the voting.

Before the show, he was one of the bigger names, having once been hugely popular for around a year after the original Pop Idol. His fanbase might have diminished in the music charts, but his former glory as a solo star could see him produce a shock - he's still [6.0] to win. If it came down to the most fancied male winning, he'd push Fountain very close, and like Shaw, he will be seen as something of an inspiration, having overcome a terrible stuttering problem. Working against him, however, is that pop stars don't tend to win. Duncan James was supposedly a big name before last year's show, and he skated out in third place.

And so to Fountain ([1.49]) who has consistently outskated all the other contestants. He has won six of the eight shows so far on points, enjoying a terrific average score of 24.3. At this stage, the trend is for the best skater to win, but Fountain suffers from being somewhat impossible to like. Previous winners (Kyran Bracken and Gaynor Faye) went on more of a 'journey' (ie. started a bit shaky, got loads better), but Fountain has found the ice something of a doddle from day one - he was, after all, once a semi-professional ice hockey star. This could turn portions of the audience against him - no one likes teacher's pet - and those looking for the 'journey' will be far more inclined to Suzanne Shaw, just as long as her bruised and battered body can cope with another two weeks of punishment.

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