Dancing On Ice’s Dan Whiston reveals decision behind Bez’s bizarre watermelon crash helmet

Dancing On Ice swished and swirled back on to screens on Sunday evening, in an incredible 2022 debut that saw Bez, Brendan Cole, Sally Dynevor, Ria Hebden, Kye Whyte and Kimberly Wyatt as the first celebs to take to the ice.

The show, hosted by This Morning duo Holly Willoughby, 40, and Phillip Schofield, 59, sees a star-studded lineup skate on the ITV show, after months of training.

On the launch night on Sunday 16 January, it was Strictly's Brendan who topped the leaderboard with 30.5 out of 40 points, but it was a different story for TV presenter Ria Hebden and partner Łukasz Różycki, who landed in the skate off.

And, after a packed show that saw glamorous outfits, routines that packed a punch and Bez making history in a watermelon crash helmet, Associate Creative Director Dan Whiston weighs in on the first performances in his OK! column.

Dan began: "It was an amazing evening. We're so happy and it really was a success with a great buzz with it. Just as you think you've seen it all, we pushed the boundaries and now we've got skating melons!"

Here's his scoop…

BEZ MAKES HISTORY

Bez is one of the most lovely people I've ever worked with. He's such a great guy and he tries so so hard but unfortunately in practice he had so many falls and kept hitting the back of his head so for a safety measure we put him in a crash helmet just to keep his head safe. We'd hate for him to fall and hurt himself so obviously safety has to come first. Then there was a great idea of working it into the creativeness and we decided to make it into a watermelon. Everyone seemed to really hook into it and enjoy it. I would say watch this space with Bez because I think he's a firm favourite and the beauty about the show is that the audience have their say. The audience can vote and have their say on who can stay in. So you never know he could be working towards a purple helmet for the Boléro.


PUSHING BOUNDARIES

I really feel like we pushed the boundaries last night with all sorts of things, including bikes on the ice. We had to have special tyres developed with spikes in them so they'd stay on the ice. In rehearsals, Kye had a little slip and his tyre slipped on the ice underneath him and he slid his bike into the set. There were so many things in the rehearsals that could've gone wrong. If that bike had slid into the set on the live night with fireworks on the set, well, can you imagine? Kye is a real hard worker, and he just laughed it off, got up and off he goes. We put extra spikes in his tyres to make sure they gripped the ice, and they did.

ONE TO WATCH

Last night Brendan was the top of the leaderboard, and he did a great job. He's a real perfectionist. I come in very early on show day and he was already on the ice going through his steps in the corner. I thought that was brilliant, and I said 'you've got this Brendan.' He was walking through it all and pacing through. He put so much work in, as everybody did, but he's a perfectionist and he goes through it over and over again. That kind of attitude will get the results.

OTI JOINS THE JUDGES

When Oti stepped out on that stage my heart nearly skipped a beat, she looked so beautiful. And I think she was an amazing addition to the panel. The judges all gelled really well together and scores were really fair. Oti is a great choice, especially because she's worked that process for so many years in Strictly. She's won Strictly twice before and she's judged other competitors, so she's completely and utterly qualified for that role and I'm really excited to see what she's going to bring to the show. She'll be a great bonus to the judging panel.

ICE ACCIDENTS

There have been loads of accidents already. There are falls all the time. It's been one of the strongest casts and everyone is so happy because the last couple of years have been a challenge for everyone and there have been shows all over the place taken off or postponed because of Covid, so everyone in the show this year is 100% happy to be in it give it their all. They're pushing the boundaries because of that. There have been lots of falls, bruises, twists and turns and all sorts of things, however everyone is OK. It's all part of the process and to be honest, if you want to be a good skater, you're likely going to have to spend a good bit of time on your bum!

Head coach Karen Barber and I will always sit in the same place each week during the shows, and throughout the night there were hundreds of looks shot our way through panic by the celebs. Before the music goes on just as you're getting ready we can see the celebrities looking over as if to say 'help!' Last night there were a few wobbles and mistakes but nothing big enough to talk about. If people had a little slip they recovered really well.

FORMING FRIENDSHIPS

Everyone on the show has been just gorgeous so far. I really do have a special place in my heart for Corrie's Sally Dynevor. She's a fellow northerner and she's such a delight to teach. Her schedule is so full on too! Often she'll be up at five or six in the morning and she'll go and film Coronation Street and do quite a few scenes. Then, she'll come back and train on the ice, before going back on set to go back on set to continue filming for Corrie. It's incredible. I've been spending a lot of time with everyone but I think I've really hit it off with Sally. She does remind me of some of my old partners I've had in the past, like Hayley and Gaynor who were both in Corrie. And when someone tries so hard it really warms your heart doesn't it. I was really proud of Sally's first performance. She is tough on herself, but I want to affirm that she's done so, so well.


PRO POWER

There's a Dancing On Ice WhatsApp group that all the professionals are in and it's such a supportive group. Everyone is a big family – we all jump in and chat on it. If someone has an issue another person will try and help out. There's a very big family feel on there and it's just growing and getting bigger.

Dancing On Ice continues on Sunday 23 January on ITV

For all your updates on Dancing On Ice, sign up to our daily OK! Newsletter here, and keep an eye out for Dan's next column.

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