Amber Davies has addressed backlash over Dancing on Ice's latest skate-off which saw her saved over Ricky Norwood by the judges, sparking fury among some fans as they cried it was a "fix".
Sunday night's episode of the ITV show saw Amber, 27, and Ricky, 40, end up in the skate-off. The judges had previously encouraged Amber to skate more independently moving forward, whilst Ricky was told to improve his technicality.
Amber and her partner Simon Proulx-Sénécal performed to Little Mix's Power in their skate-off routine, before Ricky and his skating partner Annette Dytrt took the ice together to Shawn Mendes' song There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back.
Amber and Simon were subsequently saved by the judges, with Christopher Dean saying that it's "all about the skating and technical ability now". While guest judge Johnny Weir said: "Amber, I still think you can win this whole damn thing!"
The result was met with criticism from some viewers, with one person tweeting: "Absolute p*** take! Amber's skates never hit the ice. She's carried round every week. Ricky has been mugged off." Whilst another said: "Total favouritism!"
Sam Faiers defends sleeping in separate room to partner Paul for six yearsSomeone wrote: "It's a fix.. Amber can't even skate on her own ffs open your eyes judges." A fourth person said: "Why the hell did they save Amber when she can't skate on her own?" One fan tweeted: "What a fix. Amber's hanging on to Simon for dear life. Really wanted Ricky to be in the final."
Another person commented: "What a bl***y fix on #DancingOnIce. Amber didn't let go of her partner once in that skate off." Someone wrote: "Amber looks graceful but her partner does all the skating." One fan said: "Amber did not let go of her professional skater once. Ricky was robbed."
While one fuming fan tweeted: "Wrong decision! Ricky could skate on his own! Amber cannot." Sharing their thoughts, another viewer wrote recently: "Based on that skate off alone, Ricky should have stayed. He skated on his own, Amber did not."
Amid the criticism, Amber wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, last night following the episode: "Gosh I should not have come on here." She went on to respond to an unhappy viewer, who'd written: "She should have gone tonight, she doesn't skate on her own. As for Johnny's comment of her winning ... that's a joke right?" Amber replied to them: "You try it [...] darling."
There was however support for theatre performer Amber, with one person tweeting: "[She] smashed that skate off." Someone said: "Utterly ridiculous that Amber was bottom two tonight - hopefully she bounces back next week."
Defending the Love Island winner, one fan wrote: "It wasn't a fix at all. It doesn't matter whether there was a solo skate or not Amber [and Simon were] better fair & square stop moaning - if you're not happy watch something else."
"[I'm] not understanding the Amber hate, she's an absolute star, keep shining babes and to people giving her s*** just remember it is just a telly programme," another fan tweeted. And sharing their words of encouragement, someone told her: "Your save me skate was sensational. You got this!"
Dancing on Ice continues on Sunday evening from 6.30pm on ITV and ITVX. Previous episodes of the show are available through the streaming platform.