Entertainment
Dancing on Ice 2021 winner Sonny Jay admits Faye Brookes ‘totally deserved to win’ as he addresses backlash
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Dancing on Ice 2021 champion Sonny Jay has spoken about his fellow finalists, saying that he believed Faye Brookes ‘totally deserved to win’.
Capital radio DJ Sonny topped the public vote on Sunday’s show with professional partner Angela Egan, beating Faye and Colin Jackson to win the competition.
However, some fans voiced their frustrations on social media after the result, claiming that Coronation Street star Faye should have been named champion.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk, Sonny said that he’d been blown away after seeing Faye skate for the first time and believed she would be crowned champion.
‘Faye was my biggest competition from the start. I said it from the very beginning. She came out in our first week and she absolutely smashed it. I thought she was going to win,’ he said.
‘But look, it all comes down to the public vote,’ the 27-year-old added. ‘It’s just one of those things. If those people wanted Faye to win, after the public vote I couldn’t do anything about it.
The DJ added: ‘Faye totally deserved to win. She’s amazing. She’s a brilliant ice skater. She’s a lovely person. But it went my way I guess.’
Sonny defied the bookies after taking home the trophy on Sunday, having been second favourite to win behind Faye.
It brought an end to the most injury-hit series of the show to date, with a string of celebrities pulling out of the competition on the way to the final.
The programme was even forced to take a week-long break in February due to positive coronavirus tests and falls on the ice, but Sonny was never worried about the show being cancelled.
‘The producers of the show basically told us at the beginning that they had thought about every scenario,’ he said. ‘Fair play to them for even being brave enough to pull off a show like that in the middle of a pandemic.’
Of all the people to drop out, Sonny was particularly disappointed to see Jason Donovan leave the show with back pain.
‘I can’t believe I was even doing the show with Jason Donovan. That in itself was pretty cool,’ Sonny said.
‘People love him, and because it’s all down to a public vote you just genuinely don’t know where it’s gonna go. Jason could have been in the final, you just can’t tell.’
Sonny also bonded with his fellow contestants, striking up an unexpected friendship with Rebekah Vardy behind the scenes.
‘One person that really surprised me during the whole experience, just because I didn’t know what she would be like, was Rebecca Vardy,’ Sonny said. ‘She was the loveliest person ever and we got on so well.’
Rebekah also had a treat in store for Sonny after the final, organising a chat with husband and Leicester footballer Jamie Vardy.
Sonny said: ‘The night she left the competition, she said to me, “You better go and win this now.” Then I said to her, “Can I have a signed Jamie Vardy top if I win?”
‘So last night, she FaceTimed Jamie Vardy and she put him on the phone to me. I was speaking to Jamie Vardy, that’s my claim to fame,’ he joked.
Sunday’s final saw Sonny tasked with performing his own Bolero routine inspired by Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean’s iconic Olympics performance, winning over fans and the judges in the process.
The final saw him achieve his first 10s of the series as he performed a routine to a George Formby medley, before achieving a perfect score of 40 for his Popeye themed skate.
Dancing on Ice is available to watch on ITV Player.
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