DANCING On Ice star Matt Evers has broken the silence on the show’s fix row.
The pro skater, who was partnered with Corrie’s Sally Dynevor in the competition this year, believes that it wasn’t fair that the final three celebs were dancers.
On Sunday Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt, Strictly star Brendan Cole and dancer Regan Gascoigne battled it out for the top spot.
It was Regan who was crowned winner of Dancing On Ice 2022.
Many slammed the ITV show as a “fix” because of their dancing backgrounds.
Speaking to Vicky Pattison on her Secrets To podcast, Matt addressed the comments and said: “Is it fair that we have three professional dancers in this year’s final? Hmm… not necessarily.
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“That’s a big question mark, right?
“But yeah, we’re in an interesting situation right now that the standard of the show has gotten so high.”
The TV star – who has taken part on the show since 2006 – went onto say that he hopes that it doesn’t stop people from wanting to take part.
He continued: “I pray that this doesn’t affect future casts, or someone like yourself who’s like, ‘I would love to do Dancing On Ice but I’m never going to win because I’m not a professional dancer’.”
Matt explained the reason why the celebrities who have taken part in the competition over the past two years have been so talented.
He said: “We have been in a very awkward situation the past two years. Working in television during a pandemic is not easy.
“It is one of the biggest shows that thankfully was still being produced during the pandemic.
“So what the producers needed was a bit of a failsafe. They needed to be able to book people last year and this year whom either were not working so they could exclusively be in our bubble, or in case someone contracted Covid, could sit out for ten days, come back to the show and still be OK.”
However he has high hopes that in the years to come that viewers will be able to see more “journeys”.
Matt added: “This is a really difficult year to be in Dancing On Ice because of the standard of the pro dancers.
“Some of these performance are f***ing incredible, you know. I hope that going forward we can go back to a little bit more of like Sonny Jay’s journey, Sally Dynevor’s journey.
“I want to see somebody learn. I want to see somebody change.”
On Sunday Regan opened the final with a perfect score of 40 for his performance to Step In Time by Mary Poppins Original London Cast.
The 26-year-old, who was cheered on from the audience by his mother Sheryl and sister Bianca, was told his performance could have been from a professional West End show.
Kimberly followed with a full-score of 40 for her performance to Joni Mitchell’s River.
And Brendan also achieved top scores from the judges for his first performance – despite stumbling in his routine.
And it all left viewers furiously labelling the show a fix.
One wrote: “Dancing on Ice is such a fix man #DancingOnIce”
A second said: “My god these scores are actually such a f***ing fix #doi #dancingonice”
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Another added: “I’m sorry but Brendan had a mistake in his routine how can you then give him full marks #DancingOnIce fix.”
A fourth said: “THAT IS A BLOODY FIX HE STUMBLED #DancingOnIce”
