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How are you today?
"I'm feeling content, simply because I think I outstayed my welcome! Melinda definitely deserved to go through because she's a better skater than me. Some of the people who went before me probably were too. Jeremy and Michael were excellent skaters, and Graeme had so much potential, so I was sad to see them go. I think I got to where I was by default really!"
Was it demoralising to find yourself in the skate-off for the third time?
"No, it hardens you and you have to come up with the goods each week. But saying that, I hope Melinda isn't in the skate-off again. It would nice if she had a few weeks off."
You said that your first performance had been your best routine yet - were you surprised to find yourself in the skate-off?
"No, not at all. There were better skaters than me and their routines were more polished, sharper, neater, they had better lines and they skated more smoothly. You have to be honest with yourself if someone is better than you and you have to know your limitations. Just because you think you skated well doesn't give you the right to think you should go through to the next round. You can only do the best that you can with what you've got. My lines aren't as good as Melinda or Jessica or Ray and they never will be."
You fell over during your second routine. What happened?
"I caught an edge. I've taken many tumbles, it's just that that one was on live TV! Ice skating is probably the most graceful sport you can do but it does have an ugly side as you saw last night when I fell over! I must have had about 45 or 50 tumbles in practice though, and you learn that if you fall over you have to get up straight away and start again. Also, I had Frankie in my ear saying: 'What are you doing on the ground?' So I knew if I didn't get up she'd be in my ear again afterwards! It's unfortunate but these things happen and it's a slippery surface as we all know."
What did you think when Jason compared you to Mr. Potato Head?
"I think that if you're put in a privileged position then you should never abuse it. He's a judge and it's okay giving constructive criticism, but when you make a personal attack on people then I don't think it's a good thing. This show is very clean and beautiful and millions of people, including young children, watch it. If you think you can be the classroom bully and use poor language as he has in the past with Todd, and this week when he called Roxy a 'cabbage patch doll', then it's not nice and it's not fair. It means to me that your integrity is not there. I think it's very unnecessary to call someone names and there is much better language that you can use if someone is not fluent or good at something."
Did you speak to him after the show?
"I never saw him. I don't have any problem with him, not in the slightest. I just take human beings for what they are and if that's how they choose to conduct themselves then that's how they are. You have to move on because you'll always have insulting people in life but you can't let it bother you."
What did you think of Ray's perfect score?
"He's in the wrong competition! He should be with the professionals! He's just way too good for anybody, although Jessica is close on his heels. She's absolutely fantastic and her performances are wonderful, as are Zoe's. But Ray is just outstanding and you can't do anything but admire him because he's brilliant. But you have to remember that he's come from a background of dancing and his posture is always going to be good."
Do you think that gives him an unfair advantage?
"That's not for me to say, that would be up to ITV. He can't hold back because that's just the way he is and you can't blame him for that. He's in the competition and he's going to do what comes naturally to him."
Who do you think deserves to win?
"The obvious answer is Ray, Jessica or Zoe but if you look at Donal, he's come unbelievably far in this competition. You can't do anything but praise him because he's been wonderful and I know the other contestants wouldn't mind me saying that. It's almost like he's come out of car crash - he couldn't even walk on the ice at the beginning and look at how far he's come!"
Dancing On Ice continues Sunday on ITV1.
