It Takes Two’s Rylan makes cheeky joke about Dancing On Ice’s same sex dance partnership as he couples up with ex Strictly star Artem Chigvintsev for a rumba
IT Takes Two host Rylan Clark-Neal made a sneaky gag about Dancing On Ice’s same-sex pairing on last night’s show.
During a segment with former Strictly pro Artem Chigvintsev where the pair demonstrated a rumba, Rylan referenced the rival ITV show’s ground-breaking move.
As he and Artem cosied up to show viewers the cucaracha move from the rumba, Rylan looked to the camera and said: “It’s not just Dancing on Ice that got the first [male partnership]. Have a look!”
Artem then put his hands around Rylan’s waist as Rylan made the figure of eight with his hips.
Then Artem put his hands around Rylan’s head as they started into each other’s eyes.
When Artem first suggested re-enacting the move, which Kelvin Fletcher and Oti Mabuse performed on Saturday night, Rylan joked: “I’m a happily married man.”
Strictly Come Dancing has come under fire from some fans for not having a same sex partnership on the show yet.
It was beaten to the telly landmark by Dancing on Ice, which announced last week that it would feature two men dancing together in the 2020 series.
Steps star Ian ‘H’ Watkins and US skater pro Matt Evers will be performing together in a UK first.
And fans have praised the decision.
One tweeted: “Yay! So happy about this! Another step forward for #LGBT+ equality! Can’t wait to see H and Matt in action!”
A second said: “Congratulations @dancingonice for getting with the times!!! Exactly what we need to be seeing on our televisions!!!”
A third wrote: “Well done @dancingonice. A first for the UK Unlucky, the other dancing show #snoozeandyoulose”
Even celebrities weighed in with Emmerdale star Lisa Riley tweeting: “Massive massive congratulations @itv @dancingonice @ianhwatkins”.
H even took to twitter to reveal how overwhelmed he was by the reaction to the news.
The former Steps singer, 43, said how touched he was by fans’ support after The Sun exclusively broke the news.
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Totally overwhelmed today,” he wrote on Twitter. “I’ll need some time to take it all in !!”
He added: “I’m just totally blown away by your incredible support and messages! Thankyou so much, truly xx xx #dancingonice2020 #dancingonice #iceskating #iceicebaby #samesexdance #Equality #lgbtq #TeamH”.