As the new series of Dancing on Ice is firmly underway, professional skater Colin Grafton has said people “counted out” his partner Claire Sweeney before the live shows even began.
The 32-year-old admitted that viewers were quick to not consider Claire, 52, as somebody to watch out for as a result of her falls on the ice.
When asked about Claire’s abilities so far, Colin exclusively told Express.co.uk: “I will say that with the progress Claire has made so fast, starting out where we are at a certain level, Claire is going to surprise a lot of people because she’s getting better and better each week.
“At the beginning, people counted Claire out based off of the falls she had taken, but I think Claire is one to watch out for, she has great work ethic and she’s improving.”
Colin also shared the rituals he and the Coronation Street actress like to do ahead of their live performances on the ice. The US native admitted the pair prefer to stay calm and go through their routine before taking to the rink.
The ITV star continued: “So every team and every couple has their own things to do that work for them, Claire and I are very similar in this regard which helps us very much.
“But we really need to be in our zone throughout the whole day, other people like to distract themselves, play games but Claire and I go into our dressing room, get our ambience and lighting going and we just kind of go through our routine and stay calm.
“When Claire and I are together before we go out, we do some edges and we don’t really like to do all of our tricks right before we go out, we like to stay calm.
“Some of the things I remember to tell her are, ‘Stay calm, stay on your knees, nice knee bends and then just to breathe and have fun’,” Colin expressed.
The duo, unfortunately, found themselves in the bottom two on Sunday night’s show, but rather than the usual skate-off, their fate was decided by the judges’ scores and the public vote instead.
The pair lived to skate another day, and instead S Club star Hannah Spearritt and her partner Andy Buchanan were eliminated.
Colin and Claire had earlier performed to Cruella Deville from 101 Dalmations for movie week and impressed judges with their fun performance.
They received six points from each of the four judges, giving them a respectable 24 points out of 40.
Dancing on Ice continues on Sunday at 6:20pm on ITV1.
