The first celebrity was eliminated from ITV reality show Dancing On Ice tonight.
Hollyoaks actress Chelsee Healey, 36, became emotional as Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern announced she was going home.
In a brutal twist, Chelsee was immediately sent packing rather than performing in a skate-off as per previous years.
The format change was introduced reportedly to ease the strain off the celebrities who would have prepared a separate routine for the showdown.
Struggling to hold back the tears, Chelsee turned to her partner Andy Buchanan and said: ‘I feel, personally, there’s been a lot going on with me that I’ve been struggling with, so I couldn’t completely focus.
‘I’m just really grateful, I’ve had the best time.’
On X, the soap star’s fans were devastated by her departure with @tvreality93 complaining: ‘No way Chelsea deserves to go first ugh #dancingonice.’
@wildpartydude wrote: ‘Poor Chelsee Healey being first to get voted off how dare you viewers.#DancingOnIce.’
Echoing their sentiment, @hollyoaks26 wrote: ‘Chelsee did not deserve to go already #DancingOnIce.’
@HausofDylan95 added: ‘My interest in the series now Chelsee has gone. Abysmal show #DancingOnIce.’
Chelsee and Andy ended up at the bottom of the leaderboard last week with a score of 22 after the first batch of contestants had performed.
After the remaining celebrities competed on Sunday, she found herself in the bottom two against comedian Josh, who picked up a score of 20.5 earlier in the night for his routine.
Instead of a skate-off, the judges and audiences votes for each dance were combined, leaving Chelsee with the lowest score and as a result, she became the first to leave the competition.
A source previously explained the decision to The Sun: ‘On Dancing on Ice, in the past all the couples had to prepare a special skate-off dance which would be ready in case they were voted into the bottom two.
‘But that meant on top of learning their main routine, any group dances – and sometimes more – the pairs were in most cases having to learn a dance that went to waste.
‘Bosses have rethought the plan moving forwards and couples in the bottom two will now be asked to simply repeat the same dance that they performed on the main show.
‘Duty of care was also paramount on DOI but the new approach will reduce the demands on everyone and makes the most sense in terms of training schedules and efficiency.’
After the announcement, Chelsee also praised Andy for being ‘amazing’ and said she ‘couldn’t have done it without him.’
Tonight, EastEnders star Charlie Brooks opened the show and transformed into a dancing queen as she made her Dancing On Ice debut.
The 43-year-old skated to Abba classic Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) alongside professional Eric Radford, performing a rotating lift in stag position in a bid to impress the judges.
Charlie was followed by Olympic legend Sir Steve Redgrave, 62, and The Traitors star Mollie Pearce, 22, who scored an impressive 29.5 out of 40 despite missing four weeks of training after suffering an injury in rehearsals.
Fourth on the rink was stand-up comedian Josh Jones, 32, while Towie star Dan Edgar, 34, who skated to Ed Sheeran’s Bad Habits concluded the competitors’ performances.
Last week, Springwatch presenter Michaela Strachan, reality TV star Ferne McCann, Coronation Street actor Sam Aston, Love Island star Chris Taylor and soap actress Chelsee took to the rink.
Dancing On Ice continues on Sunday at 6.30pm on ITV.
Dancing On Ice fans devastated after ‘abysmal’ first elimination with brutal twist
