TV & Film
Happy Mondays’ Bez made Dancing on Ice debut wearing melon helmet and fans were loving it
The maraca shaker gave it his all on the ice
Happy Mondays star Bez blew viewers away last night with his melon crash helmet-clad debut performance on ITV’s Dancing on Ice.
It was the first time in the show’s history that a contestant has been forced to take to the ice wearing a crash helmet, following a nasty fall during rehearsals.
But regardless of the helmet, the fifty-seven-year-old ‘freaky dancer’ put his all into the performance, which began with him being lowered down onto the ice aloft a giant pair of maracas in ode to his Happy Mondays days.
Bez and his professional partner Angela Egan – who was seen practically holding him up through some parts of the performance – were then surrounded by giant watermelons as they skated along to the band’s ‘Step On’, all of which contrasted perfectly with his melon pattered crash helmet.
And, much to the delight of viewers at home, bandmate Shaun Ryder was spotted cheering his friend on in the audience like a proud dad, while also singing along to his own song.
Despite the support from the audience and TV viewers, however, Bez received a below-average score of 12.5 out of 40 from the four judges – Jayne Torvill, Christopher Dean, Oti Mabuse and Ashley Banjo.
But this didn’t deter the maraca-shaker’s spirits, who admitted to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield in his post-performance interview that he thought it would be ‘much lower than that’.
He explained: “I’ve been doing some spectacular falls, crashing into the ice. But I wear a helmet so nothing too serious… I’ve actually got a little bit better this week. I only fell over once yesterday, so I am improving.”
And while his skating skills were nothing to write home about, viewers at home were quick to take to social media to applaud his performance, noting it as ‘TV gold’.
One Twitter user wrote, “Bez is a legend! That was brilliant entertainment. What Dancing on Ice is all about!” while another noted, “Give Bez the trophy now, best thing I’ve ever seen on Dancing on ice! Didn’t stop laughing.”
A third wrote simply, “Oh my god, Bez you absolute LEGEND.”
Dancing On Ice will be airing weekly every Sunday evening for ten weeks at 6.30pm on ITV.