Dancing on Ice star Joey Essex has finally addressed being 'pied' by Vanessa Bauer live on the show. The pair have made it through to the final of the ITV skating competition which takes place on Sunday (March 12) following an emotional skate last weekend.
During the penultimate show of the series, former The Only Way is Essex star Joey performed a tear-jerking skate with Vanessa to High by Lighthouse Family in memory of his mother, who took her own life when he was aged 10. In the video before his routine, Joey called himself a "mummy’s boy", adding that the track reminded him of a time just after her death when he was in Marbella.
After scoring 38, the reality star said: "I did it for my mum, I also did it for Vanessa, she lost her dad last year. There is light at the end of the tunnel," which led to his skating partner bursting into tears. Also struggling to hold back his tears, judge Christopher Dean told Joey: "You did your mum proud."
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Speaking to the Daily Star, Joey has shared how he felt Tina's spirit on the set of the competition show as he performed a routine in her honour. "My mum passed me a silk scarf when I was younger and I had a flashback of that hanging in my old house that I lived in. And my nan brought that to the studio.
"I didn’t even know she brought that with her. She had it in her pocket when she was sitting in the audience. I feel like my mum was definitely looking down on me. I believe she was. I do have them sort of feels sometimes. I’m not superstitious, but I do believe that my mum is still here looking over me."
In a lighter moment, Joey finally addressed being 'snubbed' by Vanessa when he tried to plant a kiss on her at the end of one of her routines. Last month the pair, who haven't confirmed they are dating but have been subject to heavy romance rumours, performed a routine to Breaking Free from the musical film High School Musical.
Dressed as basketball player Troy Bolton and love interest Gabriella Montez, at the end of the skate, Joey appeared to lunge for a kiss with Vanessa, but she awkwardly pulled away, leaving fans in hysterics at his attempt. But Joey has now revealed they did in fact discuss the kiss beforehand but Vanessa was "too overwhelmed" to go through with it.
"Basically we planned to kiss before we went out, didn’t we?" he told The Sun. Vanessa commented: "It was overwhelming for me in the moment in the live show with the camera on us." Joey continued: "And I asked Vanessa over 10 times 'you wouldn’t pull away, would ya? You want me to kiss ya right?'
She goes 'yeah, I want you to kiss me’, I go ‘OK, you wouldn’t pull away though?’ ‘I wouldn’t pull away’ and yeah… She says she still thinks she didn’t pull away, I said ‘did you see the picture’? Anyway, it’s very fresh to get pied like that. I feel like it was good for me and I’m taking it as a positive. Yeah I styled it out well."
Joey and Vanessa will take on Olympic gymnast Nile Wilson and drag queen The Vivienne during the final which will air on Sunday night, hosted by Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield.
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