I missed Dancing On Ice last week thanks to having a sick kid (he’s better now, thanks for asking). So what did I miss? Cleavage-gate. Michael Underwood breaking his ankle and being replaced by someone I’ve never heard of out of Coronation Street. And Samantha Mumba going out. Meh.

This week’s theme was Broadway and the required element was the shadow step sequence – that’s the celeb and the professional doing exactly the same steps in synch (but without touching). It’s a toughie. Can they handle it?

Tim Vincent opened the show with a great Grease-inspired routine to The One That I Want and it was great fun, great interpretation of the music, it held my attention and made me smile.

Linda Lusardi skated to I Know Him So Well from Chess. There were some fabulous lifts – one of which gave me the shivers – but her partner Daniel seemed to be talking her through it, which isn’t good. Even so, they scored their best so far (by 0.5).

Steve Backley, who was saved by the judges last week, skated to Hello Dolly and looked stiff, stilted and uncomfortable. I was embarrassed watching him.

Suzanne Shaw’s programme to Fame was completely amazing, but it actually seemed like a bit too much too soon. She wobbled a couple of times and I think such a mega routine should perhaps have been saved for another couple of weeks, but it was still amazing. Particularly since she’s got a cracked rib. They scored 22.

Aggie Mackenzie – who, judging from the clip was even worse last week than in previous weeks – skated to I Feel Pretty from West Side Story and she fell during the shadow steps, i.e. the only time she had to skate on her own. This week she reminded me of Fiona Phillips on Strictly Come Dancing (in other words, beyond bad), plus she had a half-witted look on her face. Dreadful and not in a good way.

Judge Jason Gardiner said “I feel pity” (heh) for the song choice, since I Feel Pretty is about a young girl experiencing love for the first time. Even Karen Barber said “I’m always relieved when the music’s over and you’re in one piece.”

Last week, Chris Fountain scored the highest in the competition so far and his routine this week was completely thrilling. Loved it. It was to The Time Warp and it was, as commentator Tony Gubba said, “full of fun”, but not just that, it was full of the most amazing steps and lifts too. Every judge gave them 5.0, giving them 25 overall. Brilliant.

Greg Rusedski really is quite hopeless. He was out of time with his partner during almost the entire routine and there was just nothing interesting in there at all. It looked like week one. Gubba pointed out that Kristina was talking him through the steps too. Not good enough.

Last week’s newcomer, Zaraah Abrahams, skated beautifully, but looked a bit wobbly. Interestingly, in the VT she was showing her partner, Fred, how to act “emotion”, but he was actually better at that than she was. She looked like she was concentrating really hard.

Gareth Gates was last out (that went pretty quick, didn’t it?) skating to Razzle Dazzle from Chicago and looking very fetching in a transparent top. Yeah, I said it. I was a bit razzled, but not too dazzled. In other words, it was good, but there was just a little something lacking. Much like when he was in Pop Idol, he struggles a bit to let his personality show through.

Finally hapless Aggie Mackenzie was in the bottom two, along with Steve Backley, which was fair. Inevitably, the judges all saved Steve and Aggie was no more. I imagine everyone was relieved. I know I was.

Now that there are fewer contestants and some of those remaining are so good, I might actually start to enjoy this show. I said might.

Dancing On Ice Week 1 | Week 2