Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu has taken to Twitter to hit back at her critics after discovering she is set to take part in the first Dancing On Ice skate-off of 2023.
The 2022 Love Island winner, 28, and her professional partner, Brendyn Hatfield, took to the ice on Sunday night to perform their first ever routine on the show, to Britney Spears’ hit song Toxic.
Donning a glitzy outfit, consisting of a bejewelled leotard over tan tights, Ekin-Su incorporated her infamous Love Island crawl into her routine, getting down on all fours on the ice.
However, their skate was didn’t wow voters with the pair coming bottom of the public vote.
Despite the routine not landing with the public, the judges' scores put Ekin-Su and Brendyn in the middle of the leaderboard.
The pair will face another couple in the skate-off next week. The second couple will be revealed after the other half of the contestants have performed.
Ekin-Su initially looked stunned by the news that she would be appearing in the skate-off, looking in disbelief at Brendyn.
She went on to tell host Phillip Schofield that she had been unwell during training.
However, once the news had sunk in, Ekin-Su picked herself back up, posting a defiant message on Twitter with her 105k followers. She wrote: “I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their lives. Life seems to be going fast, and we should live it.”
“Don’t let anyone bring you down because you’re worth more than that,” she added.
Her fans were quick to share their support for the Turkish actress, with one writing: “Hope you are ok! You were incredible yesterday and looked just stunning".
Another replied: “You did amazing yesterday and you’ll do amazing this Sunday too. we are all proud of you".
A third said: “You have everyone talking as always, you bring everything to these shows, without you they would be nothing! Rooting for you.”
Ekin-Su also liked some supportive tweets that praised her performance on the show, including one that read: "All the hate @ekinsuofficial is getting is absolutely disgusting!
"She obviously didn’t choreograph the dance or style her outfit herself. Online trolls are attacking her for something that’s completely out of her control. She looked and preformed incredibly! Well done Ekinsu.”
Another one of her supporters wrote: “Hate her, Love her; one thing is sure, you will be talking about her all season. Well done Ekin Su, you smashed it.".
