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Simon Duke

Dancing on Ice's Arlene Phillips under fire from viewers over 'ruthless' marks

Arlene Phillips rubbed Dancing on Ice viewers up the wrong way on Sunday night, thanks to what they labelled her 'ruthless' marks and comments on the show

Former Strictly Come Dancing star Arlene, who left the BBC show in controversial circumstances when she was replaced by Alesha Dixon, joined the Dancing on Ice panel for Musicals Week.

She has a wealth of musicals experiences, working on the likes of Grease, Sound of Music and The Cher Show, and she clearly had high expectations for the celebrity skaters as she was rather harsh with her scores and some of her comments.

READ MORE: Regan Gascoigne defended in Dancing on Ice 'unfair advantage' row

Viewers first took exception to I'm A Celebrity 2021 contestant Arlene when she gave her feedback to Kimberly Wyatt, telling her that she wanted her to convey more of the 'women's lib' back story to her Don't Rain on My Parade performance.

People watching at home felt like Arlene expected too much of Kimberly, given the complex nature of the routine and the difficult Judge's Challenge she also had to contend with.

She sparked more anger from Dancing on Ice viewers when she scored Stef Reid 7.5 out of 10, when the rest of the panel gave the skate 8.5.

Taking to Twitter, one critic blasted: "So our paralympian goes out skates really well , nails the jumps and Arlene undermarks her....me I would give her a standing ovation," with a second tweeting: "If Arlene can sod off now! She’s doing my head in!"

Equally annoyed, a third reacted: "What is Arlene Phillips on tonight? She is talking rubbish"

However, some commended Arlene for her approach to scoring, with a fan commenting: "Because Dame Arlene Phillips has the balls to give honest scores"

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