How does the duel work?

Is it two couple skating the same routine (skating to the same piece of music) - one the first half, one the second

That's what they did last year and they paired them up based on their position in the leadership so Ray would be against Hayley etc. I really didn't like it last year. Why should one of the bottom two be saved when one of the top two are definitely in danger.

Absolutely ridiculous why are they ruining the final series with this crap again. This series should have gone back to it's roots with skills tests, required elements but no they go back to the ridiculous twists.

If four win immunity, that leaves four for the public vote, two in the skate off? It's ridiculous. Talk about manipulating the outcome.

Agree - this is ridiculous. Gareth & Bonnie should really be in the skate off together, whereas one of them will get saved & some top talent will be at risk of the skate off.

Indeed, Ray over Hayley is a forgone conclusion . Beth over Sam depends on the routine - she's the only one Robin might save over a male. Suzanne v Kyran would see Robin vote for Kyran. Bonnie v Gareth is a win for Bonnie - unless Robin again goes just for skating ability.

I couldn't agree more with this. Replacing the required element with the 'twists' have been part of what has contributed to the demise of Dancing on Ice

What baffles me most, is why do this silly twist now rather than say 2 weeks ago when there were more contestants? Only having 4 to choose from will be daft, especially as 2 will then be in the skate-off and the judges will then save one of those. This is giving the judges far too much power!

If they're going to do it, they should pit the top against the bottom, 2nd against next to the bottom and so on. I can't believe that if Ray and Hayley are against each other that one of them will be eliminated though. If Ray wins and Hayley is one of the 4 that the public have to vote for, then she'll get through on public vote.

I agree, it could have been done last week. There aren't enough contestants left and there is now a risk of someone really good going.

It worked when there were only one or two good contenders - one in the top two would survive being up against any one a lot of notably worse people. If you split 8 all stars contestants into pairs, and one of each pair is up for the vote, you only need the worst person to get more votes than two random better people to put someone who is fifth best at major risk. If Gareth or Bonnie, has more votes, than say Suzanne or Kyran, you lose a real contender and have one safe, weakest two, skater automatically through.

If it goes the way it has in the past....

Ray will beat Hayley
Sam will be saved over Beth unless she keeps up her improvement
Suzanne will beat Kyran
Bonnie will beat Gareth

So the skate off will be between Hayley, Sam/Beth, Kyran and Gareth - and Gareth would go against any of the others if he was in the bottom 2.....

Gareth won't go next week! Just have a feeling

Well I agree Ray would win. Not sure Sam would beat Beth and agree Suzanne would beat Kyran. Gareth/Bonnie is too close to call with Gareth being the better skater and Bonnie the better dancer.

They will save Sam over Beth - they know she has the public support and he doesn't. I guess they'll be aiming to get Bonnie or Gareth out, so putting Beth up for the vote will help do the job.

I'm not so sure that Suzanne will beat Kyron, it will depend on the style and content of their routines.
She doesn't do so well with less emotional or characterised routines. Kyron's skate off showed tonight he can deliver in a more elegant style than he's had so far this series.
Ray would have to totally mess up to lose to anyone (and I'm a Beth fan).

Putting the girls up against Gareth in a public vote might be the best way to get rid of him. Sure one of them will end up there in the process but we all know he will surely go when he does end up in the bottom 2. If the boys are up against him we might end up with a Sam v Kyran skate off.

They should of course just judge on what they see but who knows.

Based on performances to date Ray is the only foregone conclusion for me.

Beth has beaten Sam the last 2 weeks & is improving all the time so for me she would be favourite but I wouldn't rule out Sam.

Suzanne v Kyran is the closest one on paper. She scored higher than him in the first routine, last week he scored better. This week she scored higher but the skating judges scored Kyran higher. It may well come down to a split between the skating & dance judges again which would see Kyran through on Robin's casting vote but if Suzanne can recapture her week 1 magic then Robin & Karen would also likely vote for her.

At their best Bonnie should beat Gareth but Bonnie has been below par the last couple of weeks & any mistakes could be crucial.

There would be no point in the ones at the bottom even skating if it was to work that way. If they are going to do the stupid duel then pairing them based on the leader board is the fairest way

This is the point, though, isn't it? These "twists" are never designed for our sake - the viewer. They're designed so the producers can manipulate the outcome(s) they want.

Duel week is always dull and robs us of, in this case, eight potentially decent/good/great performances. Personally, I can't ever strike up any excitement whilst watching it, because I'm sat there thinking about how manipulative it all is.

All it does it drag the show down, and for what? So we can get rid of Gareth sooner? I'd rather they just let it play out 'naturally', but I guess there's no point moaning - it's happening whether I like it or not and as it's the last series I should just try and roll with it. Can't deny I'm disappointed, though; I really thought we were past the twists after the double eliminations fiasco.

This is stupid, no wonder itv have axed it.

delete

delete

It's shocking. No need with these 'twists' - plus the big reunion with Gareth starts Thursday... That should get him a few more votes

I'm so annoyed they're doing things like this again, what is it supposed to achieve? Do they not look back and realise that the highest rating and most successful series did not include these ridiculous twists that nobody likes? It's particularly stupid now considering there's only 8 left so will be 4 up for the vote, and it means the voting is not combined with any judges scores so Gareth will probably be safe again I pray to god they don't do the ice pick and ridiculous group dance that doubles their scores this year!

I saw the DOI segment on This Morning today. Jeff Brazier seems to think it will be boy v boy and girl v girl, so Ray will be probably be against Sam. Also two from Hayley, Beth and Susanne could go either way as they are all about level.