She won over the British public finishing second on X Factor UK 2016 and finally got the chance to represent her native Finland at Eurovision 2018.
And now, swapping singing for ice skates, Saara Aalto has made her debut on this year’s Dancing on Ice with her dance partner Hamish Gaman. She’s one of twelve celebrities competing in the high-stakes event.
Sporting a glittery silver and pink dress, Saara was one of six contestants kicking off the opening show on Sunday night and danced to the Lady Gaga single “Born This Way”. Jason Gardiner gave a 4.5 out of 10, a 5.5 from Ashley Banjo, Jayne Torvill gave a 5.0 with another 5.5 from Christopher Dean. An overall score of 20.5 was enough to put Saara joint second with Coronation Street actress Jane Danson.
Ashley praised Saara for her routine and being quick on the ice but mentioned that some transitions with her leg movements were scrappy. Jayne gave similar feedback regarding her arm movements. Christopher wanted to see more of a confident Saara when she quickly skated backwards on her first training session three months ago. Despite the promising anticipation to Saara’s performance, Jason felt that the choreography just became “unremarkable and typical” and felt like they ran out of time.
It was then up to the voting public to make their minds up and that was enough to ensure Saara avoided the dreaded skate-off and advanced through to the next stage of the competition. Phew!
Dancing on Ice 2019 – Judges’ scores (Week 1)
James Jordan and Alexandra Schauman – 30.5
Jane Danson and Sylvain Longchambon – 20.5
Saara Aalto and Hamish Gaman – 20.5
Gemma Collins and Matt Evers – 16.0
Didi Conn and Lukasz Rozycki – 14.5
Mark Little and Brianne Delcourt – 13.5
What did you think of Saara’s performance? Are you happy she’s through? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Saara is the Queen of Ice 😀 I did not watch this show from Germany and I haven’t watched it before on any platform. But only for Saara I have subscribed to the official YouTube channel now to see her video popping up on my screen every week 😀 Thanks for reporting, wiwibloggs!