Celebrity Dancing on Ice: Gareth Gates Voted Off the Show After Cheesy Wham! Routine

The Dancing on Ice stars stepped back in time as they revisited the 80s.

Fluorescent leotards, leg warmers, peroxide blonde perms and over the top make up were the order of the day.

The celebrities opened the show with a group performance to the Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine track Dr Beat, compete with a recreation of the Flashdance sequence.

The men were clad in leather as they hit the ice in a homage to Duran Duran's Wild boys.

The 80s theme was in honour of British gold medallists Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean's victory 30 years ago at the Sarajevo Olympics.

The skating champions recreated a modern verison of Bolero to the sound of The Power of Love.

And everyone was getting into the spirit of the decade, with show hosts Christine Bleakley revealing leg warmers under a demure black dress and Phillip Schofield retrieving his piano keys tie.

The celebrities themselves couldn't resist imitating their favourite 80s pop stars.

First up was actress/singer Suzanne Shaw with partner Matt Evers skating to Let's Hear It for the Boy from Footloose.

Wearing a bright pink outfit and with her hair crimped, Shaw made the most of the jaunty track, with a fun performance and even included some bodypopping, scoring her 32.5 out of 40.

"What an exciting start to the show and we are celebrating the 80s and that is what you did," said Karen Barber. "You are back."

Jason Gardiner wasn't quite so taken with her 80s tribute, describing it as "more novelty over content. You do push the envelope and tonight I missed that a lot and you missing your own personal bar," he added.

Gareth Gates went all Wham! With a George Michael inspired hairstyle and all white outfit for a performance to Freedom. The star got inot the spirit with some Geroge Michael snake moves.

Sam Attwater took on the challenge of capturing the charisma of Freddie Mercury as he danced to Radio Gaga.

The performance itself however didn't win with the judges. "There was a nod to him but only in moustache. You were so in your head there were moments that you were completely pedestrian. There was no excitement in any of that performance tonight," said Jason Gardiner.

Acknowledging the critiques Attwater replied: "Freddie was so iconic and known by the world and to bring that in I tried to put it all in and to bring Freddie on Ice was even harder. I enjoyed it and that was the main thing."

Hotly tipped to win the show, former champion actor Ray Quinn and ice partner Maria Filippov went heavy metal for their routine to Van Halen's 1984 hit Jump.

Living out his rock star dreams, albeit on ice, the star went hell for leather in a show stopping performance that won him 39.5 points.

Gardiner told the young star: "Ray you are blurring the lines between the pro and the celeb - I can't even fault you and I'm very critical as you know. It is delivered with such panache and so awe-inspiring to watch."

With Quinn at the top of the leader board and Gates at the bottom with 29 it was no surprise to find the former pop idol in a skate off with Sam Attwater.

While both stars were commended for their final performance the judges chose in the end to save Attwater.

Acknowledging that he was the only non-champion left on the show, Gates went out on a high, and described the experience as "amazing."

Dancing on Ice continues on Sunday 16 February on ITV at 6:15pm.