Dancing On Ice judge Christopher Dean speaks, Mollie Gallagher glares
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Dancing On Ice viewers turn on Christopher Dean after his ‘rude’ and ‘sarcastic’ dig at audience

Surely he knows best though?

Dancing On Ice viewers were not happy with Christopher Dean after his ‘sarcastic dig’ at the audience last night.

Sunday’s (February 5) show saw Mollie Gallagher and her pro skater partner Sylvain Longchambon take to the ice first.

Their cheerleader-influenced routine impressed many of those watching rinkside and at home.

But the judges were less impressed – and each of them received boos as they delivered their scores.

Dancing On Ice judge Christopher Dean turning to the side during scoring
Dancing On Ice judge Christopher Dean appeared to take a ‘dig’ at the audience (Credit: ITV.com)

Dancing On Ice: Christopher Dean ‘dig’

Ashley Banjo, Oti Mabuse and Jayne Torvill each seemed a little bashful as they awarded Mollie and Sylvain 6.5.

Jayne even placed her fingers in her ears as if to ignore catcalls from the audience.

But Christopher seemed less interested in playing pantomime games, turning around to the other judges in disbelief at the reaction they received.

Slapping down those jeering the judges, Christopher remarked: “I love that there are so many experts in the room.”

Dancing On Ice judge Christopher Dean gives his score
He still scored them 6.5 (Credit: ITV.com)

‘Scoring should have been higher’

Asked for her reflections, a disappointed-looking Mollie agreed with co-host Holly Willoughby: “The lifts were great, I’ve just got to rely on Sylv!”

The Corrie star continued: “It is very outside of my comfort zone, being a cheerleader. Who’d have thought it?”

The other co-host Phillip Schofield then turned to Christopher for more insight.

Dancing On Ice judge Christopher Dean gives his view
Christopher felt Mollie’s confidence dropped (Credit: ITV.com)

“Bit of booing Chris, could have been higher,” Phil said, referring to the judges’ scores.

Christopher concurred: “And it should have been higher.

“It started off great. But when you started skating by yourself it slowed right down. And I saw that your confidence went down a little bit.

“But I understand why as this is the first time, the short turn around. You’ve only had six days to get this together.

“Normally your skating is solid but I just saw that confidence go down a bit.

“But I’m going to throw a challenge out to you: next week, do you want to be the first person to do a Headbanger?”

Mollie accepted the challenge. But it seems some fans commenting along live on Twitter did not accept Christopher’s initial reaction – or that an Olympic skating champion might know best.

Mollie Gallagher turns to Sylvain Longchambon on Dancing On Ice
Mollie and Sylvain accepted the Headbanger challenge (Credit: ITV.com)

“Well that was a sarcastic comment there from Chris #dancingonice,” one Twitter user wrote, adding a rolling eyes emoji to their words.

Another noted: “Little dig from Chris there #dancingonice.”

Little dig from Chris there.

To which another person replied: “Yep rather rude.”

Someone else mimicked Christopher’s reaction – and then insisted his gold medal career was dependent on popular support.

They tweeted: “‘I love how there’s so many experts in’ – really Chris? Just because not everyone automatically agrees with the scoring, really? Somebody clearly needs a reality check, not [one] of the judges would have a career if not for the fans FYI #DancingOnIce.”

Read more: Dancing On Ice viewers cringe as Christopher Dean calls out Oti Mabuse in ‘awkward’ moment

Dancing On Ice next airs on ITV on Sunday February 12 at 6.25pm.

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Robert Leigh
Freelance writer