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Link to the Daily Morror News Item dated 9th February, 2013

The ice axe: Dancing on Ice faces the chop as ratings slump

Flagship ITV show in trouble despite splashing out on stars

Dancing on Ice is on the skids after being trumped last week… by Countryfile.

Insiders say ITV bosses are *considering *dropping the flagship show because the latest series has had some of the poorest viewing figures since it began in 2006.

The Sunday Mirror can reveal DoI has lost half of its viewers since the first series when 13 million tuned in to see Gaynor Faye triumph.

An ITV spokesman insisted *yesterday they were “planning” for the show to return again in 2014.”

But a TV source said: “There’s been a lot of chatter on set that there will not be a ninth series. The *powers that be are unimpressed with viewing figures, *especially considering how much it costs to produce... they don’t know what to do.”

Problems with the show, hosted by Phillip Schofield and Christine Bleakley, *surfaced last year when ratings hit an all-time low of*6.4 *million viewers.

But, rather than *pulling the plug, bosses decided to plough in vast sums of cash in a bid to turn the show around.

They brought back Jason Gardiner as a judge after he quit the previous year and forked out a *record-breaking £150,000 for Pamela Anderson.

But the former Baywatch star was kicked off in the first episode, *meaning she was paid £1,000 a second for her time on the ice. Last Sunday’s spectacular was watched by 6.73 million and was beaten in the ratings by BBC One’s Countryfile. The DoI *results show fell even further, *attracting a poor 5.4 million.

DoI’s position was weakened when it ditched its *previously lucrative UK and *Ireland tour. This was blamed on the recession but many believe it was due to a slump in popularity.

The source said: “The format was a gamble but it turned into a success story. The first final with 13 million viewers was an *incredible *achievement and ended up being the third-highest rated show of 2006.

“Those kinds of figures were *maintained for the next few years and DoI became one of ITV’s flagship programmes.

“Even when viewing figures *started to slip a little bit, there was no sense of panic but last year was a cause for concern. The first show launched with a *respectable 8.4 million, but lost two* million *viewers halfway through the *series.

“To be fair to ITV, they refused to be *defeated and ploughed a huge amount of *money into thisyear’s show.

“They got rid of Louie Spence from the panel and brought back Jason, who has *definitely added spice.

“Then they paid their highest-ever celebrity fee to bring in Pamela, but that was an absolute disaster.

“They even had a celebrity *romance between Samia Ghadie and Sylvain Longchambon, which usually boosts ratings, but that had no effect.

“It will be a big decision for ITV, because 6.7 million viewers is not to be sniffed at in this day and age.

“But the Sunday-night slot is as primetime as it gets and they’d be expecting more people to tune in.

“A show like Downton Abbey was consistently topping 10 million *viewers and the X Factor results show does the same.

“Getting beaten by Countryfile is not good news and will have been a bit of a wake-up call at ITV.”

Karen Barber's rinkside seat

It’s love week and we’ve tried our best to bring the romance to the ice – but for Joe Pasquale, it’s just never going to happen.

When I look at him he makes me laugh. He has a naturally funny face.

One celebrity who has had a big breakthrough is Gareth Thomas.

In the past, he’s found it difficult to show emotion. But this week his number is slow, romantic, and it’s clear he cares about skate partner Robin Johnstone. In training, Beth Tweddle had a fall and practically bounced off the ice. It shook her up, but she’s tough. And I’m worried about Matt Lapinskas – he’s had three days of sickness.

In my opinion, neither he or Shayne Ward should have been in the skate-off. It’s important people vote for talent at this stage.

No one is safe. I’ve learnt to expect the unexpected...