Nadia Sawalha slams DOI changes

Nadia Sawalha thinks 'Dancing On Ice' bosses have gone "too far" with their format changes.

The 47-year-old TV presenter - who was eliminated from the ITV1 show in the first week of the competition - believes the contestants should refuse to adhere to new rules, which will see the stars have to vote one another off the series.

She exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "I was really excited about the prospect of it being edgier this year, but I actually think it's gone too far. To get people to turn against one another like that is not nice at all. I don't agree with it and if I was still in it I wouldn't have done that.

"I'll be interested to see what happens if people refuse to do it; will they sack them? Will they not pay them? They should all join together and say no. I wish I was there, I'd go on strike with them! I'm really, really quite shocked."

While at the moment, the two stars with the lowest proportion of the public vote perform a skate-off for the judging panel - Emma Bunton, Jason Gardiner and Robin Cousins - the changes will mean their peers will be forced to reveal who they think should get the chop.

However, Nadia feels the judges were too "harsh" on former 'Coronation Street' actor Steven Arnold, who was eliminated from 'Dancing On Ice' on Sunday (23.01.11).

Speaking at The Toy Fair at London's Olympia Grand Hall yesterday (25.01.11), she added: "People were hard on Steven Arnold because he missed that one day of training, but I have so much respect for him. We were the two true barrier-huggers, the only people who couldn't really skate.

"The routine he did the other night was actually really hard and the judges were so harsh on him. He has a massive fan base and they literally turned it against him."

Nadia was participating in the Olympia Toy Fair to launch the Friends and Family edition of board game About Time.