Gemma Collins was determined to make an impression on Sunday night’s ‘Dancing On Ice’ after a week of headlines about her spat with judge Jason Gardiner.
The ‘TOWIE’ star took to the rink with her professional dance partner Matt Evers during the ITV live show to perform a routine to Celine Dion’s ‘it’s All Coming Back To Me Now’.
And it was all going so well... until she face-planted the ice.
Following the fall, Gemma managed to complete the routine and insisted she was “fine”, but the slip-up left her in tears as she spoke to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, admitting it had “been going so well in training”.
But when it came to the scoring, the judges awarded her 16.5, her highest score so far.
Even Jason gave some positive feedback, telling her: “I really like your mum, she gives you sound advice. When you drop The GC and apply yourself you improve, you have improved.”
He added: “My concern is, is there enough improvement and can you improve more to catch up to the celebrities who are well ahead of you?”
Earlier this week, Matt Evers revealed that he and Gemma had been putting in extra hours in a bid to up their game and keep Gemma in the competition, after they ended up at the bottom of the scoreboard last week.
“I’m actually very proud of Gemma this week,” he said. “We have put in extra time. Her skating is coming along.
“We’ve taken on what the judges have said as far as we need to work on the skills, work on the skating.”
Last week’s ‘Dancing On Ice’ featured a live row between Gemma and Jason, as she accused him of selling stories on her to the press.
Defending her outburst later in the week, she said she was sick of being “body-shamed”.
“Do you know what, I just had to say my bit because, not to be rude, I don’t need to be body-shamed, I put up with body-shaming for years,” Gemma explained.
Adding that she wanted to go on ‘Dancing On Ice’ to inspire women of all sizes, she said: “It doesn’t matter what your size is, why shouldn’t I, because I’m a plus-size girl, be successful, be on ‘Dancing On Ice’?”
Jason Gardiner immediately refuted Gemma’s claims, and his since posted a statement branding the accusation “salacious” and “libellous”.
