Dancing on Ice 2023: Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu feeling ‘strong’ after elimination following public backlash

Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu has spoken out about how she’s feeling after her elimination from Dancing on Ice which saw her face huge public backlash.

The Love Island 2022 winner, 28, from London, was eliminated from the figure skating show last Sunday (5th February).

During an episode of her podcast Reddit Talk with Ekin-Su and Joe Garratt, the reality star shared how she was doing after the weekend.

At the very beginning of the show, which focuses on the current series of Love Island as well as pulling on the former stars’ experiences on the show, Ekin-Su was asked how she was coping.

Host, Reddit user iamnic11 asked the reality star: “Last night we were devo, we were very upset. How are you doing? How are you feeling today?”

Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu told the host: “I’m strong. I’m absolutely fine. Yes I cried, I was upset. You know I’m human and I think that people always thought in Love Island I was always strong but I felt like all my fans and people, the viewers expected me to be strong all the time, but it’s not like that, I cared, that’s why I cried.

“I gave everything to that show and I had other commitments and I was juggling everything at the same time. And I know everyone else has commitments, but I had no days off at the time.

“And for that like just being gone was like ‘oh my god, that thing’s gone now’. But the show has made me really really strong. Love Island made me strong. Dancing on Ice made me even stronger. So I’m just very very grateful for that.

The reality star made it just four weeks on the figure skating competition before being eliminated and her time on the show was surrounded by controversy.

In her debut appearance, Ekin-Su performed a ‘racy’ routine to Britney Spears’ Toxic, which saw her pay tribute to her time on the ITV dating show.

Her outfit and routine earned the programme over 100 OFCOM complaints, with people complaining her performance was not appropriate pre-watershed.

Ekin-Su responded to the complaints about her outfit, telling The Sun: “You know what? If you have ‘em flaunt them.”

“I mean if you’ve got a nice bum and you look sexy in a unitard, why not. Who cares?”

She also admitted that she had been left “crying for days” after she had found herself in the first skate-off of the series on week two of the show.

Speaking to host Holly Willoughby, Ekin-Su said: “I’m not gonna lie, I was really upset over the past two days. I questioned myself and what I had done wrong.

“I’m just like you know what, stop this crying Ekin. You are a strong woman, take on the notes from the judges, work hard and I really wanted to prove myself.

“We’ve been working really hard and I am here today.”

Speaking about her plans post Dancing on Ice Ekin-Su told the Reddit podcast she is looking forward to a birthday trip with boyfriend Davide Sanclimenti to the Maldives.

She said: “I think what I’m planning to do is take a break, cause I haven’t had one in months, since I left the Villa.

“Take a good time to just relax, be myself and get away from social media for a while. Detox and then come back and smash my next project.

“So whatever it is I’m gonna smash it. I’m going to do well. I’m going to be stronger than ever. So on to better things.”

The reality star also hinted that she will be going into business with her fellow Love Island winner and now boyfriend Davide, with a “secret project” starting in Manchester.