As Dancing on Ice draws to an end, Vanessa Bauer has posted a cute tribute to her skating partner Wes Nelson – with the couple tipped to win the show
The pairing got off to a tumultuous start when Wes’s then girlfriend Megan Barton Hanson unleashed a furious attack on Vanessa for announcing her break up the night of their first performance.
But despite Wes admitting the episode did put them under extra pressure, and eventually led to Megan and Wes splitting, the couple have excelled during their time on the show and are even tipped to beat professional dancer James Jordan and his skating partner Alexandra Lukasz.
Taking to her Instagram to share a smiling picture of herself and Wes, Vanessa wrote, “Watched back our journey on @dancingonice today ⛸.
“Words can’t describe how proud I am of @wes.nelson for his incredible progress as a result of hard work ! 🔥 It’s hard to believe this time next week this is going to be over... 🙁”.
Fans flooded the comments with messages of good luck and congratulations.
WATCH Megan Barton Hanson on her breakup with Wes
READ MORE celeb news
Louise and Jamie Redknapp 'grow closer' a year after their divorce
Gemma Collins hits out at 'bully' Jason Gardiner after he calls her a 'refrigerator'
“Love watching the journey of you both skating 💖 Now that it’s the final.! hopefully people will start focusing on the skating and not the gossip around the skating ☺️ You were both amazing last week and well deserved to be in the final,” said one commenter.
“Faves,” said another. “Let's hope this is just the start of Happily Ever After....”.
CHECK OUT Dancing on Ice WINNERS
Dancing On Ice Winners
1 of 9Dancing On Ice
2 of 9Gaynor Faye
Emmerdale actress Gaynor Faye won the first ever series of Dancing On Ice alongside her professional ice skating partner Daniel Whiston, under the watchful eye of judges Robin Cousins, Karen Barber, Nicky Slater, Jason Gardiner and Karen Kresge.
3 of 9Kyran Bracken
Rugby player Kyran Bracken won the show - and the hearts of viewers - in the second series. Beating Clare Buckfield in the final showdown, Kyran won with his professional partner Melanie Lambert.
4 of 9Suzanne Shaw
Hear'Say singer Suzanne Shaw won the 2008 series with professional ice skater Matt Evers. Both of their final performances scored a perfect 30/30, which was the first time that had happened on the show, beating runner-up Chris Fountain.
5 of 9Ray Quinn
X Factor star-turned-Broadway star Ray Quinn won the show in 2009 alongside his professional partner Maria Filippov. The couple beat out journalist Donal MacIntyre and his partner Florentine Houdinière with their final performance. He also won the returners' series in 2014.
6 of 9Hayley Tamaddon
Corrie and Emmerdale actress Hayley won with second-time winner Daniel Whiston, beating Hollyoaks star Gary Lucy to the top spot. She also made it to the final of the returners' show in 2014, finishing second to Ray Quinn.
7 of 9Sam Attwater
EastEnders' actor Sam Attwater won the coveted prize of first place in 2011 wth his partner Brianne Delcourt, beating TV presenter Laura Hamilton. The pair also returned for the 2014 series, but finished fourth.
8 of 9Matthew Wolfenden
Emmerdale actor Matthew Wolfenden won the 2012 series with his professional ice skating partner Nina Ulanova, beating fellow soap star Jorgie Porter to the top. This was also the year that Louie Spence joined the judging panel, if you remember...
9 of 9Beth Tweddle
Olympic champion gymnast Beth Tweddle won the 2013 series alongside her partner Daniel Whiston in his THIRD win on the show. She beat out EastEnders actor Matt Lapinskas and his partner Brianne Delcourt, and came third in the 2014 returners' series with Łukasz Różycki.
The sweet tribute comes after Vanessa admitted during an interview with new! magazine that she’d struggled with the negative attention following the Megan drama.
“It’s something I’ve tried to keep away from and not comment on. But of course it affects me,” she said.
"I read comments and I get DMs on Instagram which are really not nice, it was really hard to deal with but it’s not my job to comment on that."
She continued, “I’m upset about it. I feel so honoured to be on the show as a professional skater and it takes the focus away from that.
"Every single day I’m looking for choreography ideas and how to schedule my training and all anyone is talking about is if I’m getting with Wes, which I’m not.
"I don’t know why it’s so much more of a topic than us being at the top of the leader board."