Undercover reporter Donal MacIntyre and his partner Florentine Houdiniere received less than glowing praise from the judges last week. Nicky Slater told Donal, "You're half presenting it. You have to do it as if you're presenting to an arena full of people."
Donal conceded, "I think the judges nailed me and I was guilty as charged. I didn't perform. I didn't present. In my day job as an undercover reporter, I need to be in the shadows. Of course, in Dancing on Ice, I've got to be in the limelight and I've been struggling to do that."
Skating mentor, Christopher Dean realised that Donal's music this week - Everybody Needs Somebody from the film The Blues Brothers - required him to come out of his shell, "This is really going to test his performance quality."
Donal's professional skating partner, Florentine Houdiniere, explained that she had also been working on his presentation, "I've been a bit hard with Donal this week. I've been asking him to, straight away, as we're learning the routine, to give his full body and facial expression."
Donal knew how important the performance element of his programme was going to be and was determined to do his best this week. "Florentine is desperate to turn me into a performer in the limelight," he explained, "It's an alien world for me, but I'm desperately trying."
Donal added, "I've got to entertain this Sunday, so I'm going to go all out and I'm going to go for broke."
Donal and Florentine scored a total of 16 points out of 30 - despite Donal falling during the routine.
What did the Ice Panel have to say?
Nicky (scored 4.5): “Well done. Congratulations. When you started to the music you were like a different man. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I was dancing with you. You were straight up. The lifts are strong. You fell over but you were straight back up and into the routine.”
Jason (scored 2.5): “For me musicality, musicality, musicality. Your timing is all over the place. You need to listen to your music. Last week you went to a ballet class and you came out dancing like a tiny tot.”
