Dancing On Ice has seen its fair share of unforgettable moments, show firsts and heart-stopping moves over the years, and this season’s grand finale looks set to be no different.
Olympic gymnast Nile Wilson, 27, has revealed he will make history this tonight by performing a move so dangerous it's been banned by the International Skating Union (ISU), which governs competitive skating.
The sportsman will become the first male contestant in DOI history to perform the infamous ‘headbanger’ move as pulls out all the stops to win the glitter trophy against reality star Joey Essex, 32, and Welsh drag queen The Vivienne, 30.
Discussing the notoriously tricky spin, which sees a skater picked up by their ankle and spun round by their partner, Nile admitted he was “petrified”.
Speaking to MailOnline, Nile said: “Jayne and Chris have put the headbanger into the routine.
“I will be the first male contestant to be lifted in a headbanger and I am petrified.”
Due to its potential danger the move was banned by the ISU but Dancing On Ice head judges Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean regularly ask contestants to include the spin.
Nile, Joey and The Vivienne have each prepared three routines for Sunday night’s event – a showcase routine, a battle skate and for the final two, a Boléro.
In last week’s semi-final the Olympic gymnast and his pro partner Olivia Smart secured their place in the final after receiving a maximum of 10 points each from judges Ashley Banjo, Oti Mabuse, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean for a performance to Shawn Mendes hit In My Blood.
Speaking about the upcoming final, Olivia teased they will be looking to impress viewers with new and unexpected moves.
She said: "There's gonna be things that have not been seen before on the show but also in my competitive figure skating world.
"We have three routines so one of them is the showcase routine, another is a battle skate and the third hopefully will be the Boléro.
"The showcase skate will be more action packed tricks, will be bringing in a lot of Nile’s gymnastic skills into the routine so there's definitely going to be things in that routine that us pro skaters cannot do – he’s the only person that can do that."
Nile added: "We're so excited, we can't wait, we're very grateful to have got to this position.
"It's a big change this week from what it's been because we're having to learn a lot more and skate a lot more.
“We've been on the ice for five hours a day for the last two days, which has been a shock to the system to try to learn three routines instead of one.
"But we're gonna get there, we always do and we're really buzzing to show you what we've got on Sunday.
“We've choreographed these routines and it's going to bring the competition and also bring things that have never been seen on the show before for sure."
*Dancing On Ice airs tonight at 6.30pm on ITV
