Dancing On Ice: Gates hangs up skates!

Chart-topper Gareth Gates has missed out on a place in the Dancing on Ice final after losing the judges' vote to Zaraah Abrahams.

The panel saved the Corrie star from elimination for the fourth straight week after she and Gareth found themselves in the skate-off.

Zaraah had been the hot favourite to go - but the judges voted unanimously to save her following her routine to the U2/Mary J Blige hit One.

"One of you is a fighter out there tonight and has brought so much to this competition in ice dance terms," said Nicky Slater of his decision, "but one of you chose tonight to show who you really are on the ice."

Ruthie Henshall, meanwhile, described Zaraah's performance as "utterly beautiful".

"I fought out there and that's all I could have done," Gareth said afterwards, "but I've really really enjoyed the whole experience, it's been fantastic."

Earlier in the show, Gareth had finished bottom of the scoreboard after receiving a mixed reaction to his routine, to Bon Jovi's Living On A Prayer.

"You started this routine and it was absolutely amazing," Jason Gardiner said, "but then it seemed to get away from you. This is a semi-final and that was not a semi-final performance."

Nicky Slater, however disagreed. "That was electric," he said of his performance. "You came out here and you set the place on fire."

There was also praise for Suzanne Shaw and Chris Fountain, who scored 29 out of 30 - the highest of the series so far - and received three 6.0 scores from the judges.

The show saw each of the four semi-finalists having to begin their routine alone, with 20 seconds of solo skating before being joined by their partners on the ice.

Suzanne, Chris and Zaraah will all compete for the series title in next week's final.