Dancing on Ice: Gareth flies home after illness

Harnesses and wires were all strapped on last night as the final four took to the skies in what can only be called ‘Flying Week’.

The semi-final saw all sorts of shocks, but the biggest one of the night was the fact that there was no skate-off as Gareth Thomas left the competition after being too sick to perform.

The decision was made after Gareth had become ill with nausea and vomiting after the ‘flying’ element of this week’s performances. It was something he’d been suffering from all week.

Philip Schofield looked worried after speaking to Gareth earlier on in the night, pointing out that Gareth did not look ‘with it’. Later, his partner Robin said he was ‘a little bit out of it’ and could not remember their performance.

So, with Gareth no longer in the running, the final three are:

Matt Lapinskas

Flying high on his score of 38 last week, Matt, or ‘Mr Showbiz’ as Karen renamed him, was undoubtedly the star of last night. He received three ten’s for his flying routine which was hailed by the judges as the ‘the best male flying we’ve ever had in all of our series so far’. He ended up with a massive score of 39 and at the top of the leaderboard. Will Matt skate his way to the winner’s crown next week?

Beth Tweedle

Jason slammed her (yet again) last night after her first dance for being ‘dead behind the eyes’ (although I must say, it doesn’t compare with saying Shayne Ward had ‘locked-in syndrome’.) However, Beth finally turned Jason’s rather low opinion of her on its head, with an amazing flying performance in which he claimed her eyes were finally alive. Given that she spent the majority of the performance about 20 feet in the air, could he even really see this? Anyway, she ended up with a score of 38 – a close second to Matt!

Luke Campbell

Luke struggled with motion sickness when training for his flying skate and he also struggled to convince the judges that he was semi-final standard. After the flying routine, Jason Gardiner told Luke: “that is exactly why I don’t like watching boys fly because unfortunately you do not exude or express anything when you are in the air.” Oh dear, Luke…

Gareth’s untimely illness meant Luke had a safe place in the final, but with his scores being significantly lower than his fellow finalists, how will he fair next week?

What did you make of last night’s show? Who do you want to win next week’s final? Let us know below.