Ahead of the launch of the new series this Sunday, ITV’s Dancing on Ice has revealed the songs that the first batch of celebrities will be skating to. Comedian Rufus Hound and his professional partner Robin Johnstone will skate to Daði & Gagnamagnið’s “Think About Things”.
The show, which began in 2006, sees celebrities trying out figure skating as they compete against each other to become the series champion. The celebrities have nowhere to hide as their every move is watched by the judges – Diversity’s Ashley Banjo, actor John Barrowman and 1984 Winter Olympic champions Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean.
A Eurovision skating history
“Think About Things” isn’t the first Eurovision song to feature on Dancing on Ice. We’ve dug into the skating archives and found some past performances to some Eurovision classics.
Back in series 5, cookbook author Tana Ramsay and her partner Stuart Widdall skated to ABBA’s 1974 winner, “Waterloo”, scoring just 12 points out of a possible 30. She was eliminated in the same week.
The next Eurovision song wouldn’t be heard until series 10, when Dancing on Ice returned after a three-year break. Bucks Fizz’ Cheryl Baker skated to their 1981 winning entry, “Making Your Mind Up”, with partner Daniel Whiston. She only scored a total of 11.5 from the judges, but lasted in the competition until week 5.
Another Eurovision winner featured the following year – and it was skated to by a Finnish Eurovision star! Saara Aalto and her partner Hamish Gaman skated to Sandie Shaw’s “Puppet on a String” in week 5 of the competition, scoring 33.5 points. She skated to the song again in the final, where she placed 3rd – despite getting full marks from the judges.
As well as Cheryl and Saara, three other Eurovision alumni have taken part in the competition. Back in series 2, Ulrika Jonsson – who hosted the 1998 contest in Birmingham – placed 9th. In the same series, Blue’s Duncan James managed to finish in an impressive third place. Unfortunately, Angela Rippon – who hosted the 1977 contest – didn’t have the same luck and she was eliminated in the qualifying week in 2011.
Daði Freyr at the Eurovision Song Contest
Along with his band Gagnamagnið, Daði Freyr won the 2020 Icelandic national final with the song “Think About Things”. They were set to represent Iceland at Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam. He was no stranger to the Eurovision world already, taking part in Söngvakeppnin 2017 with “Is This Love?”.
They quickly became one of the favourites to win. Unfortunately, along with the other 40 acts, they were unable to represent Iceland in Rotterdam due to the contest being cancelled.
Dancing on Ice returns to ITV this Sunday at 6pm. If you’re from the UK, you can watch the show live on the ITV Hub.
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