Ray Quinn and Maria Filippov have received the first full house of the series and look like they've been skating together for years. What's their secret?
Ray told us, "Maria is a fantastic partner. She knows me inside out now. She knows how I feel and what I go through. We've really developed a partnership as a couple on the ice."
Maria was initially nervous about partnering Ray, suspecting that he might be a bit full of himself. However, all that changed when she saw him skate for the first time, "I was absolutely impressed. I could not believe how confident he was on the ice and how natural. He wasn't as good as he is now but he was just so natural and so confident on the skates."
The performance element of the routines is something which comes fairly naturally to Ray. He is still just 20 years old, but has been working in showbiz since he was young. "I've danced and sang and acted since I was three, so it's something that I've grew up to love and adore. It is my life really and I couldn't live without it," he said.
Dancing on Ice judge Karen Barber, herself an Olympic skater, is full of praise for the young contestant, "The guy is just so talented. British skating lost out big time, but Dancing on Ice didn't." She puts it down to his natural ability to move, "He's a natural mover, be it dance, skate, anything. He can just feel the music all the way through his body."
However, Karen also pointed out, "You're only as good as your last performance and it is a live show, so anything could happen."
Ray's clearly having a great time on Dancing on Ice but partner Maria has had to rein him in, "He wants to do everything with such force and power, which doesn't work some times. Most of the time you have to rely on technique rather than strength." Maria has also confessed that she has had to stop Ray from working out too much so that his muscles don't get too tired.
The pair are looking forward to this Sunday's show and are relishing the challenges ahead. Ray said, "The routines are getting harder, the training time's getting harder, everything is upping the ante every week. The pressure is on for all of us but we're taking it in our stride. As a team we can do it together."
Go, the Ray Team!
