Dancing On Ice fans complain over show twist – but who went home?

Dancing On Ice fans have complained about a harsh twist which sent one couple straight home rather than giving them the chance of a skate off.

Michelle Heaton and her partner Lukasz Różycki became the second couple voted out of the contest after a format change that scrapped the skate off and saw the couple with the lowest score from the combined judges' points and public votes sent out of the competition.

Read more: Who's in Dancing On Ice 2023?

The skate off has been dropped for one week only and will return next week – but Heaton looked devastated at the news that she would not be performing again.

Asked how she felt at leaving the ITV1 contest, she said: "Gutted."

She added: "I've loved every second of it and I loved everything I just did there and I'm so sorry it's been cut short," as the episode rushed to a close.

Viewers were equally unimpressed, as celebrity fan Denise Welch tweeted: "There is no way Michelle should be at the bottom!!! Totally ridiculous!!!!"

Read more: All the Dancing On Ice winners so far

Someone else added: "Personally that is ridiculously unfair on Michelle that she did not get to skate off, that is not right."

Another viewer wrote: "Shocking result, the Judges stitched Michelle up with those scores. She was meant to do the show in a previous series, has fought her way back to health & is trying to build her confidence. Worked so hard & wasn't given the chance to save herself. What a shame."

Dropping the skate off was an unpopular decision as one viewer tweeted: "Sorry I’m missing something. When did they decide to get rid of the skate off tonight. Why was there no skate off this week?"

Someone else wrote: "The whole show is a scam. Why did they ditch the skate off? Funnily enough the week Michelle happened to be in the bottom? I’m fuming. So so angry for her"

Another annoyed viewer added: "Why no skate off tonight though? Don’t know how to feel about that."

Someone else had predicted: "No skate off, lowest score leaves the competition, this is going to be brutal."

Earlier in the show, judge Oti Mabuse backed Ekin-Su Culculoglu about the previous controversy over her outfit, saying: "I want you to stay true to yourself because you're such a beautiful young girl. Remember that, like it's not a bad thing to be sexy, it's a power that we as women have."