Dancing on Ice star Gary Lucy has been continuously praised for his solid skating skills but encouraged to come out of his shell more.
Determined to find the real actor in him, Jayne and Chris created a fun-loving routine for the 28-year-old this week to the Beach Boys classic Good Vibrations.
During training, Gary said: “It is very kind of surfer dude, messing about, it is just a really fun routine”
But despite the upbeat song, Gary self-conscious feelings were creeping back so Jayne and Chris sent him straight off to Hairspray star Brian Conley where he was given a taster of life behind playing the eccentric role of Edna Turnblad.
After dressing up in drag and dancing about the stage in the larger-than-life outfits, Gary Joked: “The judges wanted me to come out of my shell a little bit this week, I think I have pretty much did that today. After this, I think Sunday will be a piece of cake!”
And the dresses seem to have done the trick as Gary and his partner Maria pulled off a routine on the night which featured barrel rolls, a surfing manoeuvre, a swim lift, hitch lift, two fan kicks and wraparound finish.
After the performance, Gary said: “I had a fantastic time both tonight and during the week so I want to thank everyone for giving me that opportunity to have fun and loosen up a bit.”
The Ice Panel were also pleased with the transformation with Baby Spice Emma Bunton noting: “Slowly but surely we are getting to see the real Gary. I’m very happy about that.
“I thought it was a lovely performance. I can see your personality coming through and you seemed to own the performance tonight and that is exactly what I wanted to see, well done.”
Nicky was also pleased but had some requests for the actor: “I’m a very big fan of your skating and I’ve been so frustrated that you’ve almost been apologetic in your presentation. Whilst it wasn’t as clean and assured as it could be, it really is wonderful to see you having fun and letting go.
“Can we please move up another gear from this for next week? We want to see the showman come out. I don’t want to hear you say ‘I’m self conscious.’ You’re an actor, act rock star out there on the ice. I think that’ll make a real difference.”
Robin closed the comments: “Get off those toe picks, enjoy it and stop making excuses for being good.”
