‘Don’ Redgrave survives and bids to silence critics

SIR Steve Redgrave served up a routine that could not be refused as he was again saved by the public vote on ITV’s Dancing on Ice.

He portrayed the character of Vito Corleone from The Godfather for the “movie night” theme of Sunday’s show

Together with professional dance partner Vicky Ogden, the pair was awarded 20 points by the judging panel, besting the previous week’s score of 17.5.

But they again scored the lowest score of the nine couples and it was the public that kept them in the contest to compete in the third round on Sunday.

Sir Steve, dressed in a grey pin-striped suit with a red rose attached to his lapel and wearing a black homburg hat, started the routine sitting at a desk on a dimly lit ice rink.

He also wore a “moustache” to imitate the one actor Marlon Brando has in the film and he began “arguing” with another man in a suit and hat. The man pleaded with him as he defiantly hit his hands on the desk and then ordered the man away.

Sir Steve then stood up from the chair and skated to the side of the desk, turning to face his partner, who was standing opposite him. They held on to the table and spun it around in circles before Vicky held the desk and cartwheeled over it to join Sir Steve on the other side.

He lifted her and then turned her to face away from him before joining hands and skating away from the table. As he held her hands, she lifted a foot backwards and into the air and began skating on one foot.

As they skated, red and orange lighting illuminated the rink to reveal a backdrop of the Sicilian countryside. Sir Steve then turned her around again and she skated with one leg in the air moving backwards. She then skated a circle around him while he let go and then re-took her hands.

They then skated hand in hand across the ice, facing the same direction with Vicky in front, before he held her hands as she knelt forwards into a lunge, her back skate rested on top of his.

They joined in a “waltz” position and he lifted Vicky off the ground. As she was lifted, she kicked twice in the air.

He then returned her to the ice and she skated away towards the desk as he posed with his head down and arms crossed.

As Vicky perched on top of the desk to end the routine, the crowd erupted in applause.

Before responding to host Holly Willoughby’s questions, Sir Steve paused to pull a piece of cotton wool out of his mouth. He joked: “Marlon Brando wore cotton wool to puff his cheeks out, so you’ve got to take the whole process.”

Oti Mabuse, who awarded the pair 4.5 points, the lowest awarded by the judges, said: “I thought you were dancing in time, I thought the two of you stayed in character and you told the story really well but I did also think it was really slow.

“I felt like when you were pushing, it was a little bit laboured, I felt like Vicky was pulling you and then pushing you. For next week, if you are here, I’d love to see you do a lot more on your own and show us a lot more skills.”

Jayne Torvill, who awarded them 5.5 points, said: “We know you’re not the strongest skater but I think for you personally I can see an improvement in the skating this week. What I really love is your commitment in getting into character and performing, so well done.”

Sir Steve, 62, the former chairman of Henley Royal Regatta, told the Henley Standard that a mishap during a dress rehearsal had worked in his favour.

He said: “The dress rehearsal went a bit wrong because the cushion came off of the seat and slid under the table, which was very, very amusing but actually put me in good spirits for putting on a good show.

“The cushion on the chair, we only got the table prop on Friday, and we got the chair on Saturday, so we only had three practices with the table and chair together.

“The table was moving, obviously we spun it around and the chair was the fixed point, so when we were practising Friday with the table, I was crouching over it pretending I’m sitting down because there was no chair there.

“When they eventually brought the chair in, I was perched on the front of the chair and because the table is quite close to me, I had to push it away to be able to stand up to be able to skate around to the end.

“As I pushed the table away the cushion lifted up and me and the cushion went underneath the table and I’m thinking, ‘Oh god, it’s a dress rehearsal, they’ll stop that and we’ll start again’.

“But then, as I was lying underneath the table I’m thinking, ‘No they won’t, this is a dress rehearsal, this is live, I’ve got to get back up and make the best of the routine, which we did quite well.

“When we got up to the balcony where we’ve got pros and celebs watching us, they said ‘Oh, we thought that was part of your routine!’.

“We disguised it quite well in rehearsal but fortunately on the night it went well. They Velcro-ed the cushion down so it would stay.”

Sir Steve said that now he had made it through to the third round, he hoped he would have the chance to put to bed some of the judges’ criticisms in the next performance.

He said: “All of the lifts I have done so far have been stationary, we’ve got two moving lifts this week, so hopefully the judges can’t say that I’m being dragged around the ice by my professional skater.

“I’m hoping that will settle some of the criticism they have of me so far.”