Dan Whiston, the creative director of Dancing On Ice, has little patience for criticism of Ekin-Su Cülcülolu’s attire.
After losing in the skate-off to Patsy Palmer, the Love Island champion, 28, broke down in tears as she became the third celebrity to be removed from the 2023 season.
But Ekin-Su didn’t have an easy ride on the skating programme, as her figure-hugging attire drew genuine Ofcom complaints.
In week one, the Turkish actress reprised her legendary crawl across the terrace to Britney Spears‘ song Toxic, dressing up in a dazzling silver leotard with a nude bodysuit underneath.
The risqué act, however, was too much for some social media users to bear, as the reality star got widespread criticism for the sexual routine.
Dan, who debuted on the programme as a pro skater and has performed in every season since Dancing On Ice’s beginning, was none of it, saying he couldn’t understand why fans were so worked up.


‘At the end of the day, we’re celebrating Ekin-Su and her personality, we’re not doing anything that she doesn’t want to do. She really enjoyed the part. And, as an actress, she played the part.
‘For example, if you watch the Britney Spears routine, a lot of inspiration came from Britney’s video, so she was getting into the whole creative of Britney and acting the part.’
He added: ‘Also, the costume, I was really surprised with how much attention the costume got. It was a full bodysuit! Even though it looked like she might have had her midriff or her legs out, it was all body stocking, so she was completely covered up in a catsuit! But the bikini was on the top of it, so it amazed me how much backlash it got.’
His response?


‘She just looked absolutely fantastic. She celebrated girl power and she’s got a beautiful shape, and why not show it off?
‘Be proud of it and be strong, girl power is what I say!’
Dan also said Ekin-Su was really moved by all the support she received, still surprised despite the fact that she boasts an online following of 3.2million.
Praising her as ‘joyous to work with’, Dan said: ‘It was very interesting to speak to her because she was so emotional about the response on social media, she was really touched by how much support she had out there, but there were also a lot of people who weren’t very nice on social media, which was quite surprising in the sense that, it can get out of hand.


‘She’s got a huge following on socials, but she was amazed by how much support was out there for her, so it was a bit of a shock to see her go.’
Dan said Ekin-Su worked ‘so hard’ throughout her time on the show and she was ‘great energy to have around.’
‘She really wanted to do well but, unfortunately, that is the nature of the beast, somebody has to go every week and it was just Ekin-Su’s last week.’
Dan was also eager to dispel rumours that certain participants would have a ‘unfair edge,’ such as champion gymnast Nile Wilson, who has dazzled the judges with his stunts and flips.
‘Everybody starts at the same point, and that is learning to skate,’ Dan explained, adding that people of different fields will have advantages in certain areas.
‘If someone’s an actress, they’ve got that ability of acting out the role, they can do a love story and really sell it. Nile, as an Olympian, he might be able to do a flip off the ice, you might have an athlete who is super fit or flexible.
‘But actually, once you boil that pot down and you look at the substance in front of you, everybody has to learn how to skate.
‘No matter what advantage it might look like from the outside, everybody has to learn to skate and that is a completely new skill set.’
Dancing On Ice continues Sunday on ITV1.