Now that the final three contestants have been announced I thought it was probably time to get round to completing my ridiculously early predictions. If you missed part one you can find it here.
Freestyle rapper, Lady Leshurr (born Melesha Katrina O’Garro) is one of those contestants that I have to admit to only knowing from being a ‘celebrity’ on another show. That said from this year’s Celebrity Masterchef she came across as willing to learn and game for a laugh. With a 2016 MOBO award under her belt, it would be hoped that the thirty year old midlander would have a good grasp of musicality. However, while the cooking show portrayed her as a thoroughly pleasant lady she did also appear to be rather goofy. With (like many of this year’s stars) little to go on, at this stage I predict a lower/mid-table finish.
Billie Shepherd (known as Billie Faiers prior to her marriage in 2019) is one contestant that i have baseless high hopes for. generally speaking Towie/the Mummy Diaries aren’t really my type of shows. However having been bored in hotel rooms on too many occasions I have seen far more of Billie than i’d care to admit and unlike many in those programmes, personally I think she’s always come across quite well. Whether it’s her build or height (1.63m to Jayne Torvill’s 1.6m), I’m not sure but I’ve long thought Billie would be a good fit for DOI. Plus she’s since been paired with Mark Hanretty a personal favourite who did such great work last season with visually impaired (functionally sightless) paralympian Libby Clegg. Based on nothing bar my own enthusiam and longing for a female Ray Quinn I predict winner!
Which brings us finally to Rufus Hound (41) comedian who’s stood (unsuccessfully) for election to the European Parliament and endorsed, re-endorsed and defended former Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn, including performing at the 2016 “Keep Corbyn” event in Kentish Town. While ten or so years ago, Rufus was a fairly regular face on talk shows and panels, controversies such as his much derided tweet in 2017 labeling the bombing of the Arianna Grande concert at Manchester Arena as a “false flag operation” allowed by Theresa May in order to increase her poll ratings have done little to boost Hounds’ popularity. Lack of mass recognisability isn’t always that much of a handicap on talent based celebrity shows. However while I suspect Lady Leshurr and Sonny Jay fans will tune into any shows they appear on, I’m unconvinced Rufus Hound fans will do so in sufficient numbers to compensate. I also (again like most of these predictions based on never having seen Rufus in skates) am not foreseeing great things. I predict he will be in the first skate off with Rebekah Vardy.
How likely are any of these predictions to come true? No idea, but I thought it would be fun to do these early and see how quickly and how vastly opinions change once the show begins or even once training VTs begin to emerge. Some of the celebrities I now know who they’ve been partnered with but I’ve purposely tried to stay clear of allowing them to colour my judgement (and aside from Billie as mentioned above) did not have that info when I formed my initial prediction.
I’d love to know what folk reading this think? Do you have a favourite already? Who do you think is going to suprise us? Do you have any ideas of posts you’d like to see? Feel free to comment and let me know. In the meantime, enjoy this proof that 2021 preparations have officially begun!
White Skates 