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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Jessica Sansome

ITV Dancing On Ice fans unimpressed as solo host Phillip Schofield makes final announcement

Dancing On Ice fans tuned in to the semi-finals on Sunday night to see who would be making it once step closer to being crowned the 2022 champion.

Kye Whyte, Connor Ball, Brendan Cole, Kimberley Wyatt, and Regan Gascoigne faced not one but two challenges during the latest trip to the rink.

The remaining celebrities had to start the show by showing off their ability to skate solo with all five of them on the ice at the same time, able to psych each other out.

READ MORE: Viewers brand ITV Dancing On Ice 'a joke' over three professional dancers in the final

Following the challenge, which was won by Kimberley, the couples returned to the ice for a performance inspired by something personal to them creating a lot of emotion on the ice.

After winning the solo challenge, Kimberley then went on to score the full 40 points in her second performance alongside professional skater Mark Hanretty.

Meanwhile, former Strictly Come Dancing star Brendan scored 39 out of 40 in his second performance, while singer and dancer Regan scored the full 40.

(ITV)

Despite her top performance, former Pussycat Doll Kimberley found herself in the skate-off alongside BMX Olympic medal winner Kye Whyte and The Vamps singer Connor Ball.

All three had to skate again before the judge unanimously chose to save Kimberley who therefore secured her place in the final alongside Brendan and Regan.

Following the double elimination, Phillip Schofield, who was hosting the show alone after Holly Willoughby tested positive for Covid-19, he made an announcement about the Dancing On Ice grand final.

"Our 2022 finalists," he first declared as the three couples embraced on the ice with fireworks going off in the background.

"Join us the Sunday after next, that's Mother's Day, from 7pm for a huge night of sharing," Phillip went on. "Somebody will be crowned champion but to do it they'll need to perform their biggest routines yet - including the iconic bolero."

After revealing all of the show's 2022 stars will return to the ice and Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean will once again perform, the host said: "We'll see you in a couple of weeks."

The couples celebrated on the ice (ITV)

It was confirmed last week that the Dancing On Ice final would be delayed with fans having to wait until March 27 to cast their votes for the series winner.

ITV will be airing the FA Cup Quarter final, meaning there will be back-to-back football action on the same date with the second game, which has confirmed to be between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, kicking off at 6pm when the ITV skating competition would usually air.

Saturday night TV is also affected with Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway also forced to take a week's break with the star struck final delayed until March 26 due to the rugby being shown on ITV.

The Dancing On Ice 2022 finalists (ITV)

But following Phillip's announcement, DOI fans took to social media to complain.

@gillian__glen tweeted: "How dare they cancel #DancingOnIce for the football next week."

"If there was ever a reason for me to completely and utterly detest rugby and football even more then this is it. #RugbySucks #FootballSucks #SaturdayNightTakeaway #DancingonIce," @Charlie__Tweets said.

@xliam93 commented: "With 3 trained dancers in the final and a 2 week wait for it, I feel like people are going to lose interest and viewing figures for the final are going to be the worst yet. Although to be fair, I saw this coming and lost interest way before tonight #DancingOnIce."

"God sake,why can't you put the football on ITV2 or 3 or 4, bloody ridiculous that you have to put everything on hold for 1 game when there are plenty of other options," @stew22_stew complained.

READ MORE: ITV Dancing On Ice bosses explain why Phil presenting show alone as fans complain of 'sexism'

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