DANCING On Ice star Claire Sweeney has addressed her show exit for the first time following last night’s elimination.
The Coronation Street star, 52, lost out in the skate-off to Lou Sanders, having been plagued by injury this week.
Reflecting on her show journey on Instagram last night, Claire told fans: “This has been the most wonderful experience of my life.
“Thank you to everyone involved in the show and to my wonderful partner Colin Grafton.”
The brave actress battled on after a heavy fall in training that saw her injure ribs and dislocate her shoulder.
Claire’s exit led to some viewers to claim the result was “fixed”.
One person wrote on X: “That was a ridiculous fix/rig result for Lou.”
Another fumed: “Claire was injured and did better in the dance of and skating than that Lou. Shows how much this show is a fix.”
A third said: “I’ve no idea what the judges just watched, I saw one girl who couldn’t give a toss & another girl who put her all & more into the performance.”
Last night’s eliminator was the second time that comedian Lou had taken part in the skate-off
She and pro partner Brendyn Hatfield danced to the Pink track Try, while Corrie star Claire and her pro skater Colin performed an up-tempo routine to Take That hit Relight My Fire.
Ashley Banjo, Oti Mabuse and Christopher Dean all opted to save Lou over Claire.
Jayne Torvill was not required to vote as a result of Chris being head judge.
Elsewhere on the programme, some fans were unhappy with the show’s judges for allegedly “over-marking” stars.
First up on the night was BBC Radio 1 star Adele Roberts who has continually impressed the panel with her moves and found herself comfortably near the top of the leaderboard.
Performing a Charleston, she received rapturous applause but viewers felt the judges were a bit generous.
One viewer said: “I love Adele as a person but she has been over marked this week. She was flailing all around the ice there and very shaky indeed.”
Also on the show, former Coronation Street star Ryan Thomas was involved in a scary tumble when he dropped dance partner Amani.
Ryan and Amani’s terrifying fall came just 24 hours before they were due live on the ITV contest and the moment was all caught on camera.
During preparations for the steamy routine, Ryan became unsteady on his feet and he and Amani crashed to the ice at one of the show’s most crucial points.
Checking in that she was okay, the former Coronation Street actor was visibly shocked at what had happened.
He said to Amani: “I’m so sorry.”
Dancing On Ice continues Sundays on ITV.
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