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Dancing On Ice: Happy Mondays Bez performs in watermelon crash helmet

This image and the information contained herein is strictly embargoed until 00.01 Tuesday 11th January 2022

From Lifted Entertainment

Dancing on Ice: SR14 on ITV and ITV Hub

Pictured: Bez.

This photograph is (C) ITV Plc and can only be reproduced for editorial purposes directly in connection with the programme or event mentioned above, or ITV plc. Once made available by ITV plc Picture Desk, this photograph can be reproduced once only up until the transmission [TX] date and no reproduction fee will be charged. Any subsequent usage may incur a fee. This photograph must not be manipulated [excluding basic cropping] in a manner which alters the visual appearance of the person photographed deemed detrimental or inappropriate by ITV plc Picture Desk.  This photograph must not be syndicated to any other company, publication or website, or permanently archived, without the express written permission of ITV Picture Desk. Full Terms and conditions are available on the website www.itv.com/presscentre/itvpictures/terms

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Bez made his 'Dancing On Ice' debut wearing a crash helmet. (ITV)

Bez has become the first ever to perform on Dancing On Ice wearing a crash helmet.

The Happy Mondays percussionist - known for their hit Step On featuring the line 'You're twisting my melons man' - took to the ice wearing a watermelon crash helmet and performed surrounded by giant dancing watermelons and a pair of giant maracas.

Bez, 57, confessed afterwards that he was not just wearing a crash helmet, adding: "I've got everything - knee pad, elbow pads, back brace and of course [gesturing] protecting my old maracas!"

Read more: Bez suffers dramatic head-banging fall in 'Dancing On Ice'

Host Phillip Schofield told him: "You're the only person we've ever had to send out on the ice with a crash helmet on. We're protecting your melon!"

Bez scored 12.5/40 from the judges after skating awkwardly around his partner Angela Eagan but managing to stay upright.

Watch: Bez suffer dramatic fall in Dancing On Ice training

He said: "It's more than I thought we'd get!"

Head judge Christopher Dean said: "He's taken some massive falls in training and it's not how you fall it's how you get up - and he gets up every time!"

He added: "Skating is hard and you showed us how hard it is. But you got a mark for turning up, a mark for skating and a mark for that jump in the middle."

This image and the information contained herein is strictly embargoed until 00.01 Tuesday 11th January 2022

From Lifted Entertainment

Dancing on Ice: SR14 on ITV and ITV Hub

Pictured: Bez and Angela Egan.

This photograph is (C) ITV Plc and can only be reproduced for editorial purposes directly in connection with the programme or event mentioned above, or ITV plc. Once made available by ITV plc Picture Desk, this photograph can be reproduced once only up until the transmission [TX] date and no reproduction fee will be charged. Any subsequent usage may incur a fee. This photograph must not be manipulated [excluding basic cropping] in a manner which alters the visual appearance of the person photographed deemed detrimental or inappropriate by ITV plc Picture Desk.  This photograph must not be syndicated to any other company, publication or website, or permanently archived, without the express written permission of ITV Picture Desk. Full Terms and conditions are available on the website www.itv.com/presscentre/itvpictures/terms

For further information please contact:
james.hilder@itv.com / 0207 157 3052
Bez is partnered with professional skating partner Angela Egan. (ITV)

Judge Ashley Banjo told him: "Anybody else if they needed to wear a crash helmet, they wouldn't come out. Skating is dangerous but you have come out with a watermelon crash helmet on and you've entertained him."

Bez was cheered on by his bandmate Shaun Ryder from the side of the ice rink.

Ryder, 59, said afterwards: "I believe in my bumblebee and he can win this!"

Last year's contest featured a record number of celebrity drop-outs due to injury and illness, making the stakes even higher for this year's brave cast.

This image and the information contained herein is strictly embargoed until 00.01 Tuesday 11th January 2022

From Lifted Entertainment

Dancing on Ice: SR14 on ITV and ITV Hub

Pictured: Ben Foden, Kye Whyte, Kimberly Wyatt, Stef Reid, Brendan Cole, Liberty Poole, Sally Dynevor, Bez, Regan Gascoigne, Rachel Stevens, Connor Ball and Ria Hebden.

This photograph is (C) ITV Plc and can only be reproduced for editorial purposes directly in connection with the programme or event mentioned above, or ITV plc. Once made available by ITV plc Picture Desk, this photograph can be reproduced once only up until the transmission [TX] date and no reproduction fee will be charged. Any subsequent usage may incur a fee. This photograph must not be manipulated [excluding basic cropping] in a manner which alters the visual appearance of the person photographed deemed detrimental or inappropriate by ITV plc Picture Desk.  This photograph must not be syndicated to any other company, publication or website, or permanently archived, without the express written permission of ITV Picture Desk. Full Terms and conditions are available on the website www.itv.com/presscentre/itvpictures/terms

For further information please contact:
james.hilder@itv.com / 0207 157 3052
The contestants for DOI 2022 are Ben Foden, Kye Whyte, Kimberly Wyatt, Stef Reid, Brendan Cole, Liberty Poole, Sally Dynevor, Bez, Regan Gascoigne, Rachel Stevens, Connor Ball and Ria Hebden. (ITV)

Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt closed the show and scored 30/40.

She said afterwards: "It's just been the most amazing experience. It's lovely to have an amazing teacher and be a student again and stretch my legs and dance again."

Also performing in the opening show of the series were Strictly's Brendan Cole, Coronation Street legend Sally Dynevor, Olympic medallist BMX biker Kye Whyte and Lorraine entertainment reporter Ria Hebden.

TV presenter Hebden, 39, and partner Lukasz Rozycki, learned their judges' score and the public vote combined meant they had landed in the first skate-off of the series next week.

Read more: Dancing On Ice: Strictly's Brendan Cole gives best skating debut 'ever'

Hebden said: "I'm really gutted as we worked so hard on this skate and I thought we smashed it."

Phillip Schofield told her: "Just because you're in the skate-off doesn't mean you're going to lose the skate-off."