http://entertainment.stv.tv/tv/15481...and-hard-work/

Danny's take on it

Given the timescale, the amount of weekly tuition and practice they're getting and what they're being asked to achieve it's probably quite normal that they will fall a lot, some more than others depending on aptitude etc.

In my early 30s I learnt to skate to a fairly basic level, doing most of the things they are currently doing, i.e. skate forwards, backwards, a few different stops, use of edges to do "figures", forwards and backwards crossovers, crossing one foot behind the other, a "three turn", slip steps and kicks. I also learnt basic foxtrot and waltz dances, but not any lifts or jumps. Never having been on the ice before I started, I fell a lot at the beginning, and feared moving away from the barrier.

Eventually I reached the stage where I fell relatively rarely, that took about six months with weekly lessons lasting about 1.5 hours, one hour in a group and half an hour individual, I also practised at least a few hours each week but in public skating where it's hard to practice moves properly. In my late 30s I developed middle ear problems which affected my balance and so regrettably I had to pack it in.

Falls and accidents are surely part of a skaters life! Even the world class professionals take tumbles - the harder their routines get, the more accidents they have trying to perfect them.

Dancers don't have the problem of ice to deal with, but even ballroom dancers rarely get through a weeks training without adding some bruises, and broken bones through falls are not uncommon. It's all par for the course!

At the last winter Olympics the Canadian pair ( who were set for a medal ) fell during the Original dance and had to withdraw from the free dance as she was so badly bruised she could barely walk let alone skate....and who remembers the scary Italian Woman who glared at her Husband for dropping her at the end of their programme and blew their chance of a medal!

Oh yeah! The singles skaters do a lot of falling over as well - I think in the last Olympics the Japanese girl who won was about the only one who didn't fall over in a jump.

One of the Japenese girls fell coming out of a throw and hurt her knee and had to take a few minutes to recover before they carried on with the performance, the pairs skaters fall more often than ice dance pairs but it does happen!

If you don't fall, you don't learn

And with jumps etc getting more and more adventurous falls become more frequent. There was a time when doing a 'double' jump was considered fantastic, now it's quads.... how long before someone achieves a fiver!

Who remembers Joanne Conway - such an elegant skater and once Britain's hope for international glory.

In rehearsal there wasn't a single element she couldn't perform - but when it came to the real thing she rarely performed without falling.

I think Nicky used to fall quite a bit during his and Karen's programmes!

Didn't Robin lose a major final because he fell?

I think he did - won the Olympics but lost the Worlds, thus failing to emulate John Curry.

Oh John Curry was something else, wasn't he? Never mind "Dancing" on Ice, he was just "Ballet" on Ice - beautiful.