Dancing On Ice contestant, Todd Carty has denied that he is faking his awful performances on the ITV TV show.

Last week Michael Underwood claimed that all Todd’s stumbling on the ice was an act to get pity votes from the public, but Todd vehemently denies these claims.

However, in an interview with the Daily Star, Carty insisted: “You can plainly see that unless I was some secret Russian gymnastic skater it’s all real. You’d have to be really good and experienced to deliberately catch your toe pick and go flying into a tunnel – and I’m not. It was as natural as you saw it.”

He added: “I went much faster than in rehearsals and couldn’t stop. It was just panic, blind panic – I forgot all the basic skating. Being an actor the show must go on and I just wanted to get on for the end of the routine and by luck and a good shove from the assistant I got there just in time.”