Lancashire Corrie star Sam Aston makes Dancing on Ice final amid show uncertainty
A Lancashire soap star has made it to the final of Dancing on Ice after eight weeks of glittery graft.
Actor Sam Aston, who has played Chesney Brown in ITV’s Coronation Street since 2003, has made it through to the Dancing on Ice final alongside professional skating partner Molly Lanaghan.
Having started out as one of the favourites to the win show, the 31-year-old form Burnley isn’t looking likely to cause much of an upset as he sailed through last night’s results show clear of the skate off for the eighth consecutive week.
Sam and partner Molly scored a health 48.5 out of a possible 50 over the weekend, second only to presenter Michaela Strachan and partner Mark Hanretty.
Unluckily for our Lancashire lad, the bookies do currently place Michaela as the favourite to win with odds of 1/1 compared to Sam’s 2/1.
There is a glimmer of hope for Sam though, with the Lancashire actor having matched Michaela’s score in the solo skate routine.
As we have previously reported too, odds expert Slotozilla had named Sam the favourite purely using data from the previous 15 series.
According to them, if past winners are anything to go by the winner this year will be a male actor, aged 26-35 from the North West of England who is an aquarius, and Sam, regardless of skating ability still fits four of those five criteria!
Regardless of who will raise the Dancing on Ice trophy, the final comes shrouded in uncertainty with talks that it may be the last Dancing on Ice episode ever.
Rumours first started whirling when, at the start of the series, ice skating icons and judges Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean announced their retirement from live performances.
The series itself has then proven not to be as big of a hit with audiences as first hoped, securing its lowest ever ratings - avergaging 3 million viewers in the first six weeks compared to a heydey of 12 million.
Dancing on Ice is an expensive show to run thanks to the sums earned by celebrity contestants and the fees paid to presenters Holly Willoughby and Stephen, the 12 professional ice-skaters and four judges - Torvill and Dean plus Strictly star Oti Mabuse and fellow dance expert Ashley Banjo.
According to The Mirror this week, ITV chiefs believe the only way to justify these huge costs going forward is by attracting a blockbuster audience, which just is not happening.
One source told the paper: “There are very real fears this is the end of the road for Dancing on Ice. It’s had a good run for nearly 20 years and has a very loyal set of viewers who really love it but the sad truth is there’s just not enough of them. We need bums on seats but the ratings have dropped to a point where it’s difficult to justify the cost.”
When approached by The Mirror about Dancing on Ice’s possible axe, an ITV spokeswoman said: "The Dancing on Ice team is fully concentrating on the much anticipated series finale this coming Sunday and therefore no decision has been made.”