UK Celebrity News, Fashion Tips, Gossip and Pictures

I am a huge fan of Dancing on Ice and after going to the live tour last year I was back there again at the Manchester Evening News Arena on Saturday 18^th April 2009 for the Bolero Tour.

The lights went down and the professional skaters took to the ice dressed in Victorian costumes of black, white and purple with white masks on. The routine was seamless and captivating to watch. The circular lighting unit in the middle was slowly lowered down and a white drape dropped down to hide what was going on behind. Images flashed across the drape of countries who had taken part in the 1984 Olympics; when the drapes dropped to the ice Torvill and Dean were there in position to start the world famous Bolero routine.

The first half of the show was set out like the TV programme; each celebrity skater danced one of their favourites from the series and the judges marked them out of a possible 6. The panel was made up of Karen, Robin, Ruthie, Nicky and a surprise judge; in my case Salty from Real Radio. Andie Peters hosted the event with Jane and Chris offering their comments. The celebrity skaters were; Kyran Bracken, Todd Carty, Melinda Messenger, Roxanne Pallett, Ray Quinn, Zoe Salmon, Suzanne Shaw, Jessica Taylor and my personal favourite Chris Fountain.

All the celebrity skaters were excellent, with those who were from past series skating to new routines. Todd Carty provided the biggest laugh with his routine of ‘Help’ by the Beatles and even managed to stay on his feet throughout the performance. The technical footwork and lifts by the likes of Ray and Chris were amazing to watch.

During the interval the audience could text with the person they wanted to skate Bolero in the final. Like the TV programme those were added to the judges scores and the top 2 fought it out to be champion of that particular show.

The second half started with a dance by Matt Evers, Dan Whiston and Frankie Poultney. They were amazing and the routine, lifts, footwork -breathtaking. You actually held your breath on some of the lifts wondering how on earth they did it and made it look so easy and seamless to the routine.

After that each of the celebrities skated one more routine and there were two performances from the professionals; Alexandra Schaumann and Lukasz Rozycki and Melanie Lambert and Fred Palascak (my favourite). Both routines were captivating to watch as they glided across the ice in perfect harmony to each other.

At the end the celebrities all came back onto the ice whilst the two finalist were announced; it was Ray and Chris, which I was really happy with as it meant I got to see Chris skate Bolero. They both did fantastic performances; however, the judges voted for Ray to win…..was not happy!!! The finale was an upbeat number with all the professionals, celebrities and Jane and Chris taking to the ice to skate one final performance. The whole show was breathtaking from start to finish and I’ll be going back again next year.

As the month on January comes to an end – where our new years resolutions are quickly fading and the visits to the gym are becoming less frequent, we all need a bit of a kick up the bum to get back into our strict routine we started at the beginning of the month, and one great way to do this is to exercise at home, along with your favorite celebrities and their never-ending workout videos which appear to flood our screens at the start of every new year in order to help us lose the christmas calories. 

So just for all my lovely celebricious readers, i have researched and put together a few of the best celebrity work out videos out there at the moment for you all to have a read of and find out which is best for you! 

Mel B has had two children and is in her thirties, but the ex-spice girls still has one of the most envied figures in Hollywood. Mel keeps her fantastic figure by not spending hours in the gym, but just sticking to the same routine and working out for an hour three times a week. She describes her DVD ‘Totally Fit’ as a fun process and it isn’t like your average fitness DVD, throughout it she moans and sweats and feels the burn! So if you use Mel’s DVD three times a week and eat healthily you will see the wonders happen! The workout is easy to follow, gets our heart rate up and focuses on toning each muscle group, you will definitely feel the burn the next day too! There is also a nutrition section full of healthy eating tips. 

Letitia Dean is another celeb who has recently lost two stone, and this being done through using her new workout DVD ‘Lean Routine’, her DVD consists of a four section work-out, including a warm up which is a latin dance routine and a section completely aimed at those awful bingo wings and another for muffin tops – to banish that extra bulge most of us suffer from after christmas. ‘Lean Routine’ certainly gets you fit and there is an eating plan section too with a great selection of meal plans.

After recent popularity of the TV competition ‘Dancing on Ice’, what better way to promote fitness and health than for Jayne Torvill to show off her fantastic figure at 50 years old! Jayne has a figure of someone half her age, and she clearly enjoys showing it off as she wears a teeny skirt and crop top in her DVD, the workout consists of aerobics and short bursts of high-intensity exercise, including a warm-up, two aerobic sections and a routine which focuses on toning only, overall it will be your heart pumping but the DVD isn’t too exciting and a little drab…

Claire Richards ex steps singer put on alot of weight whilst pregnant with her son Reece, and her ‘5 Step Fat Attack’ DVD shows you many before and after images – which is something to give you the initiative to stick to the hard work when you see the end results. The DVD is very dance focused and takes you through workouts choreographed to Steps songs! Claire works out alongside a team of fit men, who at one point take off their tops to show off their buff bods. The DVD is broken down into sections – aerobics, combat, fat assult and toning, including a warm-up and cool down. 

So, now you have no excuses, i have given you the lowdown, now get out there and get those DVD’s bought! And don’t let your New Year’s routine slip at the end of January!

Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood, who labelled Letitia “fat”, has praised her slimmed-down figure. When she appeared on the BBC’s hit dance series, he’d said: “Fat people can dance, but she needs to sort out her stomach and do more sit-ups.” Since then, the actress has lost two stone in weight and seven inches from her stomach.

Craig said, “She looks fabulous. It’s an amazing transformation and I’m thrilled she took my advice in such a positive way. People thought I was being cruel saying she needed to do sit-ups to strengthen her core, but actually I was just trying to be constructive and I’m delighted she took it on board and has got into such incredible shape.”

Letitia Dean, who is best know for her role as Walford’s Sharon Watts, weighed nearly 11 stone at her heaviest. She has now slimmed down to a size 6 to 8, weighing 8 stone 4 pounds, but she has not lost her famous curves.

She said: “My boobs are still huge although they have shrunk from a 39EE to a 32DD.” During the first few episodes of Strictly Come Dancing, she struggled to find her dancing feet. But like Albert Square’s feisty barmaid Sharon, she kept going.