Dancing on Ice (The Final 7) - Judge Cole's Verdict

Last week saw me miss the show and my blogging commentary was brief. Well tonight, I'm back!

Kerry Katona was voted out last week and all that can be said about that is that she did well to last this long in the competition.

Tonight we saw the final 7 contestants perform rhythms from around the world. It was a greatly enjoyable, internationalist feel to the evening.

The Final 7 - Riverdance on Ice!
The first rhythm from around the world was from the USA as Laura Hamilton danced on ice to the Charleston. She opened the night with a fun and really good charleston performance. She continues to remain one of the series favourites.

Next up was Jeff Brazier who again had to fight back from finishing in the skate-off the previous week. This time he was dancing the Waltz from Austria. He gave a much better performance with some good, solid lifts. The result was his highest score to date which puts him back into the mix at the top of the leaderboard. If he can keep his consistency, he could get to the final but there's no certainty of that yet.

Next up was Denise Welch with a Briazilian Samba. She gave a typically sassy performance although I felt it wasn't quite as quick a routine as the carnival music sound required. Her scores marked a slip back from her highest score from last week and she could be in trouble this week.

Next up was Vanilla Ice dancing to a Spanish Flamenco vibe. It was quite mesmeric. He gave a great performance and really got into the 'matador' character. Another excellent run of scores shows that his consistency is improving and that makes him a real dark horse to win this competition.

Next up was Sam Attwater with the Irish Riverdance. This demanded a really quick routine and he delivered! I love the Riverdance music and he gave a fantastic performance of it. It was an entrancing sight! It delivered him the first 9 scores of the series and he got them across the board for a series best overall score of 27 out of 30! After slipping back last week he was back with a bang this week! Bravo!

Our penultimate skater of the night was Chloe Madely with a Middle Eastern rhythm. It was a stylish routine and the final lift was great - it worried me as I thought she'd topple over but full credit for the result. She got her best result of the series to date and if she can continue in this vein she may well surprise me and stick around until the final.

Last but potentially least was Johnson Beharry with a Tango. He gave a rather expressionless performance I felt but actually, it was a decent overall routine. But it was lacking a certain something - class.

The Skate-Off
So, we had series best performances tonight by Jeff, Sam and Chloe. They should all be fine this week. Vanilla Ice and Laura also gave high quality performances and should be safe.

Denise however, did slip back this week I felt. It'd be nice to see her survive as I'm a fan but I think her time in the competition is now drawing to a respectable close. Johnson meanwhile showed more steady progress but surely his time must be running out?

The top 5 are a class apart from Denise and Johnson and these latter two should be in the skate-off.

Time will tell however and I'll update this post after the results...

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UNBELIEVABLE

Well that it is a crazy shock. Admittedly as I mentioned above, Vanilla Ice and Laura hadn't turned in series best performances tonight but they were still a class apart from Denise and Johnson.

These were both potential series winners and now, Vanilla has gone. Of the two, I expected the judges to save Laura and in the round, I think that's a fair judgement.

But still, it's a big shock to lose Vanilla Ice. He was improving and as I said earlier in this blog piece above I had him down as a dark horse to go on and win the competition. I've been a fan of his from early on in the series and his personality will be sorely missed.

I'm off to put my head into a sink of cold water to get over the shock of it.