Christopher Dean says Gemma Collins' fall on 'Dancing On Ice' 'wasn't deliberate'

Christopher Dean has weighed in on the debate – such as it is – over whether Gemma Collins deliberately fell on last weekend’s Dancing On Ice.

Some viewers have peddled the theory that she hit the deck on purpose in order to boost sympathy and drum up support.

It follows rumours of diva behaviour, while she’s clashed with judge Jason Gardiner, who’s branded her lazy, on a number of occasions.

But skating legend Dean has defended her.

“It was definitely not deliberate. It was all genuine,” he told the Radio Times, while the show’s head coach Karen Barber added: “I coached Gemma throughout the week and it was an out of the blue… nothing was predicted about that.”

Collins herself has since claimed that she ‘blacked out’ while performing her routine live on Sunday night.

“It definitely wasn’t faked, one million per cent. If they knew the pain I am in with my knee, they would understand,” she told The Sun.

“I didn’t fall, I passed out. I was just going and then, next thing, on the ground. What is scary is my teeth could have been smashed out. It was so weird. I don’t think I tripped, I think I blacked out.”

Her pro-skating partner Matt Evers, however, isn’t so sure.

He said in an appearance on This Morning: “In the high level of sport, it’s called the achievement zone and sometimes when you’re in the middle of a performance you have no idea what’s going on and then muscle memory takes over. That’s why we train the celebs so hard so they don’t really have to think about the performance.

“I think what she experienced wasn’t a moment of black out per se, but she probably just can’t remember what happened because it happened so fast and she was in such an incredible performance mode.”

Despite appearing at her house in a wheelchair following the fall, and having posted pictures of her swollen knee and bruised legs on social media, she’s confirmed she’ll be back on the ice this weekend.

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