Everyone knows that men leave things to the last minute and that was certainly the case this week on Dancing on Ice. The remaining boys in the competition Kyran Bracken, Sam Attwater and myself took on the girl's team, Hayley Tamaddon, Beth Tweddle and Suzanne Shaw in a group skating competition.
Even as late Friday our routine to Billy Joel's Uptown Girl was looking very lack lustre and I thought we were heading for a fall. But after a telling off from Karen Barber the head judge we girded our loins (they are very tight trousers on DOI) and pulled out a last minute bit of revision that really did the trick.
Our live performance on the ice last night was by far the best that we had ever done and we were unanimously voted the winners of the boys vs girls competition. I've got to say it was great working closely with Sam and Kyran and they both skated brilliantly and it was a real team effort.
It was a shock to see that Suzanne Shaw was in the skate-off. She was up against Kryan and on any other week you would have had you money on her to win. But it just wasn't her night, she made a couple of slip ups and that dented her confidence and the judges voted for Kyran. He did deserve to go through, he's worked phenomenally hard in a discipline which is about as far away from his training as an England rugby scrum half as you are likely to get, but through total commitment and determination he's really cracked it. But it's always sad to see someone go and Suzanne was a great competitor on the ice.
It was pretty lively in the bar at Elstree Studios after the show - Phil Schofield and Christine Bleakley treated me a drink and Christine introduced me to her fiancé Frank Lampard. Obviously I couldn't help but ask a few footie questions to the Chelsea and England midfielder about how he thought who would win the league this season and whether he was looking forward to the World Cup in Rio.
He must have been asked this sort of stuff a million times but he was utterly charming and revealed that he's a big fan of the Dancing on Ice show but said that the last time he had ice skated himself was when he was 13 and said he was a bit out of practice. I would be happy to give him a couple of lessons but I can't imagine that Chelsea or England's managers would be too happy with the prospect of him ice skating mid-season so I think that's not likely to happen any time soon.
Well Frank the offer stands - and perhaps you might want to take me up on a quick lesson before you play against my team Everton next Saturday at Stamford Bridge.
Thanks for reading
Lots of love , Ray.
