Dancing On Ice professional Matt Evers has spoken out on rumours surrounding his celebrity partner Gemma Collins. The TOWIE star, who took a nasty fall on the ice during last Sunday's episode, has been plagued by rumours that she 'staged' the fall for attention by viewers of the show.
However, Gemma's partner Matt has now hit back at the rumours in an interview on This Morning, and said that it was most certainly not 'fake'.
Appearing via video link, Matt said, "I’ve been skating for 30 years - you would never want to fake a fall like that because it hurts! Part of my training as a male, you are taught to save the girl at any cost and when I saw her slide I was aware she was really close to the edge, so it was my job to make sure she didn’t slide into the barrier."
Reports also circulated that Gemma had 'blacked out' due to 'low blood sugars' just before the fall, but Matt wasn't so sure that was the case. "I think, in sport, it’s called the ‘achievement zone’," he explained. "Sometimes when you’re in the middle of a performance you actually have no idea what’s going on and muscle memory takes over.
"That’s why we train the celebs so hard, so they don’t have to really think about the performance, so I think what she experienced - it wasn’t a moment of black out - it was probably just a moment where she can’t remember what happened, because it happened so fast."
CLOSER Dancing On Ice winners - slider with cover pic
1 of 12Think you can remember all the winners of Dancing On Ice? Let's see...
2 of 12Gaynor Faye, 2006
Emmerdale actress Gaynor Faye won the first ever series of Dancing On Ice alongside her professional ice skating partner Daniel Whiston, under the watchful eye of judges Robin Cousins, Karen Barber, Nicky Slater, Jason Gardiner and Karen Kresge.
3 of 12Kyran Bracken, 2007
Rugby player Kyran Bracken won the show - and the hearts of viewers - in the second series. Beating Clare Buckfield in the final showdown, Kyran won with his professional partner Melanie Lambert.
4 of 12Suzanne Shaw, 2008
Hear'Say singer Suzanne Shaw won the 2008 series with professional ice skater Matt Evers. Both of their final performances scored a perfect 30/30, which was the first time that had happened on the show, beating runner-up Chris Fountain.
5 of 12Ray Quinn, 2009
The X Factor star-turned-Broadway star Ray Quinn won the show in 2009 alongside his professional partner Maria Filippov. The couple beat out journalist Donal MacIntyre and his partner Florentine Houdinière with their final performance. He also won the returners' series in 2014.
6 of 12Hayley Tamaddon, 2010
7 of 12Sam Attwater, 2011
EastEnders' actor Sam Attwater won the coveted prize of first place in 2011 wth his partner Brianne Delcourt, beating TV presenter Laura Hamilton. The pair also returned for the 2014 series, but finished fourth.
8 of 12Matthew Wolfenden, 2012
Emmerdale actor Matthew Wolfenden won the 2012 series with his professional ice skating partner Nina Ulanova, beating fellow soap star Jorgie Porter to the top. This was also the year that Louie Spence joined the judging panel, if you remember...
9 of 12Beth Tweddle, 2013
Olympic champion gymnast Beth Tweddle won the 2013 series alongside her partner Daniel Whiston in his THIRD win on the show. She beat out EastEnders actor Matt Lapinskas and his partner Brianne Delcourt, and came third in the 2014 returners' series with Łukasz Różycki.
10 of 12Jake Quickenden, 2018
The X Factor and I'm A Celeb! runner-up Jake Quickenden finally won a reality show when he took part in Dancing On Ice in 2018 with his professional partner Vanessa Bauer, beating Coronation Street's Brooke Vincent - and she was NOT happy.
11 of 12James Jordan, 2019
James Jordan and Alexandra Schauman won 2019's trophy despite some fierce competition from Love Island's Wes Nelson and his partner, last year's winning professional Vanessa Bauer.Judges called their rendition of the famous Bolero "the best the show had ever seen" despite the first dance of the final failing to top the leader board. Early on in the 2019 competition, James was criticized for having an unfair advantage over the other contestants because of his extensive dancing experience.
12 of 12Joe Swash, 2020
Joe Swash and Alex Murphy took home the 2020 trophy, despite Diversity's Peri Kiely being the bookies favourite since the beginning of the competition.However, it wasn't all plain sailing for Joe throughout the competition. Not only did he find himself at the bottom of the leaderboard in week three and have an ear infection, he also had to swap professional dance partners after Alexandra Schauman fell and injured herself during rehearsals, forcing her to drop out of the show.
But Matt also revealed that Gemma has been determined to return to the ice, and updated fans on her condition, "She is OK, still bruised, she’s still icing her knees, but she’s back with fighting spirit. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger that’s for sure.
"She is not wheelchair-bound, but she was having trouble walking on Monday and those paps shots were just to get her into the car before she saw physio," adding that they trained with Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean yesterday, and that they were about to have another one.
Dancing On Ice continues on ITV every Sunday at 6pm.
Here's everything you need to know about this year's series of Dancing On Ice.
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