It was horrible and you wouldn't mind if the move was good to watch. It's not a dance move in my opinion; how can swinging someone around by their ankles ever be one.

It's like watching a circus act where you just can bear to look.

i was watching thru my fingers the fact that it is clearly very dangerous ups the wow factor for me and i thought Laura was fearless, it made me pick up the phone & vote for her, cant help but feel the single skate was brought in to ensure that Johnson went home.

agreed

I found it hard to watch, it seems to be a really dangerous move. I was worried she was actually going to hit her head on the ice.

Laura stayed straight in her position, she clearly trusted Colin (although he let it get way too close IMO).

But I think if Brianne had stayed straight she would have ended up in hospital. While S&B walked over to Phil the headbanger footage was being replayed, and when they cut back to S,B and Phil I thought Brianne looked like she felt sick watching it!

I found both equally sick making to watch. I guess it demonstrates courage on the part of all parties (but especially the female partner) and skill (especially on the part of the male partner), but it turns up increasingly regularly in every series and it's as though ITV are playing Russian roulette with the skaters. One day there'll be a horrible accident and they'll finally stop doing the "headbanger" (and probably Dancing on Ice, too).

Colin was twirling round very fast it's lucky he didn't lose control. It might be easier to perform it with someone lighter like Chloe.

An excuse to have a dig at Laura. Colin and Laura performed it brilliantly thank you.

i thought she was awsome last night.

Seeing as she had an extremely off night; I would say if he performed it with Chloe it would've been very very dangerous.

Thankfully it was left to someone who could actually stay up on the ice and managed two brilliant routines

They did - but I don't like it. I can hardly bear to watch especially with it being a live show.

Colin could move fast enough to get centrifugal (??) forces helping to hold Laura up, as well as being strong enough. The angle Sam was holding Brianne at looked to me more like it was his height and her holding her body stiff and being short, that was keeping her off the ice as his spin speed wasn't high enough? Whatever the reason, his didn't look right.

Laura did it well but Matt and Suzanne probably did it better and had even more wow factor. This is the tour version and the variant she did - in week 5 - was even more exciting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-FumtSkiU0

Colin was so much in control it was spooky, being able to sense in the heat of the moment that he could take the move further than they'd rehearsed. Brianne presumably would have been trained in some sort of safety measure, like when she had to put her arm down when Sam tried it in the earlier show.

It made it a nerve-wracking show to watch, but in a good way for me. I'm glad neither of them had to skate-off and try that again!

I'd hate it to get to the stage, though, when potential winners feel obliged to do one.

Anyone found a clip of Matt and Suzanne's headbanger done during DOI?

I don't think it's on youtube .. which is strange as most of her other performances are

I remember her hairpiece really sweeping the ice during it

She did the same this time round, just not as much or as noticeably.

I hate that Headbanger I don't care who has it in their Routine it's so uncomfortable to watch...Nothing Graceful or Elegant about it...Horrible IMO...:sleep:

hopefully now that a few female celebs and a male celeb have done it they'll retire it next year but I wouldn't hold my breath

What's spooky about that? He's a professional show skater. He should be a hell of a lot better at it.

Both head-bangers were unconventional, because Sam is much less experienced than the vast majority of male skaters who would try it, and they did take advantage of the height difference. Not that it undermines how impressive it is that Sam was trusted to execute the move.

The opposite is true for Colin and Laura. Most of the female professionals who do that move regularly are tiny, with male partners who are much taller. Colin isn't that much taller than Laura, so you could see he really had to lean back to get it to work and I don't think it looked that great from a dance perspective, although massive credit to Laura to do it from a standing start, and I think it's good that she waited until now before doing the move. She's concentrated on her skating, which is probably one of the reasons she was able to do it from standing.

The headbanger doesn't really lend itself to tall girls - they're just too angular. There are many moves Chloe could perform well - the headbanger is not one of them.

"Lighter" ? If Chloe's taller, which she is, surely she would be heavier than Laura ?

That's possible.

Not in Chloe world.

Yes I'm amazed ITV and Health and Safety allowed a complete novice to attempt such a dangerous stunt. One slight mistake and she could have ended up a vegetable.

On top of everything else - talent, beauty and vivacity, the girl's got guts.

The complete package.