Coleen Nolan defends 'Ice' success

Coleen Nolan has claimed that Dancing On Ice would be "dull" without poor skaters.

The Loose Women panellist was voted through to the competition's semi-final last weekend, despite being regularly criticised by the judges.

Nolan has now hit back at the ITV1 show's panellists, suggesting that they were wrong to instruct viewers not to vote for her.

Writing in The Mirror today, the star explained: "There have been a lot of comments from the judges about how the viewers should remember [that] 'it's not a popularity contest', because they want rid of me.

"But if this competition was just about skating they could have included only people who were young and already good skaters like Ray Quinn and Jessica Taylor. But that would have been boring, just like it would be dull if everyone was like me.

"It's a contest and the viewers must decide who impresses them the most on the day."

Nolan dislocated a rib and ripped a back muscle in training this week, but she has since vowed to continue skating.

She added: "I want to do it for my family, for me and for everyone who has voted for me. But I also want to show that you can't stop a middle-aged woman with a big dream. We might be over 40, but we're damn well not over the hill."