Dancing On Ice 2022 FINAL: Brendan Cole, Kimberly Wyatt and Regan Gascoigne battle it out

The Dancing On Ice 2022 final kicked off in spectacular fashion on Sunday, with Brendan Cole, Kimberly Wyatt and Regan Gascoigne going head-to-head to be crowned series champion.

After a series dubbed the closest in the show’s history, the remaining three couples took to the rink with their Showcase before reprising their favourite skate to earn viewers’ votes, and it remains to be seen which two pairs will get to skate the coveted Bolero.

Up first were Regan and Karina with a fun-filled number to the iconic song Step In Time from Mary Poppins, transforming into chimney sweeps for the high-energy routine, and they quickly set the bar by earning top marks.

Earning the first perfect score of the night with 40 points, the fast-paced skate was lauded by the judges who noted it wouldn’t have felt out of place in a West End show.

Jayne noted: ‘From the start, the music you come alive, it’s like watching you performing in the West End it just makes it look like a really professional show, but you wouldn’t have mad eit work if you didn’t have the skating skills. Fantastic.’

Oti added: ‘You led that whole skate, it was all about you, the character you got right, there was nothing about that I didn’t love, absolutely brilliant.’

For their Showcase, Kimberly and Mark to the classic Joni Mitchell track River, channelling the Pussycat Dolls star’s childhood dream of becoming an ice skater.

Taking to the rink with a young female skater to represent her childhood self, the star delivered a quiet, stunning routine and earned another perfect score.

Oti lauded: ‘You have just become one beautiful gracious skater, that was emotional it was easy, effortless, you make it looks so easy, well done.’

Ashley Banjo added: ‘Quite frankly I’ve had enough if you two being so good, Mark you know how much I respect you and Kimberly what I love about you, you perform every inch, every fibre, it’s just like no one else I’ve seen in this competition.’

Meanwhile Brendan and Vanessa Bauer took viewers to the opera with a sensational Showskate to a Carmen medley featuring an array of difficult lifts.

Despite a slight stumble, which judge Christopher Dean blamed on the male skating ensemble, the pair earned 10s across the board.

Oti praised: ‘You took charge, you took a leap, I htink Vanssa you shone through that skate and tha’ts because Brendan is able to partner, he’s the badboy of the ice!’

Ashley added: ‘It really highlighted your strengths, but Vanessa you looked incredible, I would not want to be the public after seeing those first three performances.’

Having completed their Showskates, all three couples were tasked with reprising their favourite skate of the series, with Kimberly and Mark up first with an encore of their Tango-inspired performance to Santa Maria (del Buen Ayre) by Gotan Project.

Ahead of the final, Regan was dubbed a 2-5 odds-on favourite to win the ITV reality show, with Brendan branded the second favourite at 3-1, while Kimberly was priced as the 6-1 outsider of the final three.

Leading bookmaker Coral predicted: ‘Regan has been our favourite for a very long time now and it would be a big shock if he didn’t go on to be crowned winner of the 2022 series of Dancing On Ice. He’s odds on to get his hands on the trophy.’

PR executive Harry Aitkenhead continued of the son of former England footballer Paul Gascoigne: ‘If there is to be an upset, Brendan is the most likely to cause it according to our betting whilst Kimberly is the rank outsider of the final three.’

Brendan recently revealed it was ‘tiring’ that Strictly Come Dancing ‘pushed the same narrative for 15 series’ that he was the ‘competitive one’ on the show, telling MailOnline that he was only able to show ‘one side of him’ when he was a pro on the BBC programme.

He then lauded Dancing On Ice for ‘showing him in a lovely light’, including more of his fun personality and that he likes to ‘muck around’ with other contestants.

Two weeks earlier, Connor Ball and Alexandra Schauman, and Kye Whyte and Tippy Packard narrowly missed out on a place in the final after being eliminated in the semi-final.

It comes after the Dancing On Ice final was postponed by a week due to ITV’s coverage of the FA Cup quarter-finals, and saw host Holly Willoughby make her grand return, after being forced to miss the last live show due to a positive Covid test.

Holly dazzled in a stunning gold gown that showed off her gorgeous curves and featured a pretty sweetheart neckline along with statement floaty chiffon sleeves.

The This Morning host returned to present the show after being forced to miss the last live show following a positive Covid test.

The dress was cinched in at the waist before falling to the floor with the delicate and gold-sequin adorned layered material.

She also showed off her radiant makeup with a close-up selfie before posing with her co-host Phillip Schofield.

Holly wrote in her caption: ‘Tonight’s the night… it’s the @dancingonice grand finale! See you on @itv at 7pm… let’s do this!’

Phillip Schofield was forced to host the semi-finals solo due to Holly’s last-minute absence, but she once again took to the rink for the grand final.

The This Morning host was himself forced to take time off from Dancing On Ice hosting duties last month when he tested positive for Covid.

The presenter was replaced by Stephen Mulhern, which saw him present alongside Holly for the first time since their days hosting children’s TV together, with the pair last presenting Ministry of Mayhem back in 2006.

Opening the show, Holly said: ‘Welcome to the greatest show on Ice. You may have heard that Phil is isolating so for the first time ever he won’t be here this week. The lovely Stephen Mulhern has stepped in to save the day.’

Stephen, who was greeted with rapturous applause, said: ‘Yes, I am here guy. Please don’t stop. Can you believe it’s actually 16 years since we worked together on kids TV?’

Holly said: ‘I know and look at us now, we’re grownups doing proper grown up telly,’ to which Stephen joked: ‘Back by no demand.’

Finalists Brendan, Kimberly and Regan previously hit back at claims that they have unfair advantage due to their performance background.

Pussycat Dolls star Kimberly said: ‘I’ve been really grateful for my dance background, absolutely, but with that comes the fact that we’re going for things that have not been done before.

‘When I did the invert spinning split, no one had done that before and maybe if I did not have a dance background I would not have had the nerve to go for it. You’re never going to convince everybody that you deserve to be there or don’t deserve to be there.

Performing arts pro Regan claimed that being on ice was ‘totally different’ to any other kind of dancing he had ever practiced.

He said: ‘We know how to operate this part, but the steps and the routines are different. You do something and they go, “Oh, that’s wrong.” We all started from nothing to get here so I think it’s different.’

Sunday’s final also came amid rising Covid cases in the UK again and there are hopes among the last three contestants that thing run smoothly this weekend.