James and Ola Jordanhave had a very busy weekend with little Ella's first birthday party. "There is just literally stuff everywhere," Ola told HELLO! in their weekly column. "I got loads of these balloons filled with confetti and one burst and they went everywhere!" Laughing, James added: "You were so scared that you pulled the whole bunting off the wall."
MORE: James and Ola Jordan treat daughter Ella to show-stopping first birthday cake
Ahead of sharing their thoughts on Dancing on Ice, the pair opened up about Ella's special day, with Ola saying: "She was a little princess, she loved it, she came down in the morning and there were balloons everywhere, then she slept for 12 hours that night." However, it was a bittersweet occasion as James' dad, Allan, was sadly taken to hospital earlier in the week and missed the celebrations.
WATCH: James gives a sneak-peek into Ella's birthday party
"It was quite an emotional day for everyone because on Wednesday my dad got rushed into hospital again," James explained. "It was difficult to celebrate Ella’s birthday with him not being here... but we had to for Ella, and my dad would have wanted that too."
Ella celebrated her first birthday at the weekend
Ola added: "We had a lovely cake that my friends made for us and then we went to bed quite late. But it was a special one - as special as it could be - and hopefully next year we can have a bit of a party with everyone around, that would be perfect."
The pair sat down for some quiet time in front of the TV for the new episode of the ice skating competition after a week-long hiatus and gave their thoughts to the performances.
"I thought Sonny Jay and Colin Jackson were really, really good," James said. "I thought Lady Leshurr's concepts with the dinosaurs was absolutely amazing. But I was really disappointed with Matt and Faye. She nearly fell over a couple of times.
The pair were a little disappointed in Faye's performance
"I didn't think the routine was that good. I understand that it must be tough to go from one professional to another - but I just thought it was very mediocre and she’s clearly a lot better than that because when she was performing with Hamish she created some amazing routines. This week she was very average when before this week, she was a clear front-runner."
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He continued: "I’m not knocking Matt, he’s fantastic at what he does. But maybe there are different styles, each pro will choreography is different. Maybe Hamish’s choreography suited her better. I thought Colin was better, I thought Sonny was better. I think she had the right place on the leaderboard because you can still see she’s very good."
The couple was also full of praise for the production continuing despite a series of problems with injuries and COVId tests, with James saying: "I think they've done really well. Of course, it's a shame that all the big names dropped out but it's still a good show. I loved it. I loved watching Colin. Sonny was fantastic. I'm a fan of the show, I just think they've been really unlucky."
The former Strictly star admitted that he now thought Sonny was the likely favourite to win, saying: "I don't think Faye’s a front-runner anymore. I think Sonny now is the front-runner.
Sonny is the couple's new favourite
"Before, I thought it was definitely Faye. I just don't think maybe she suits Matt’s style as much as she did Hamish's. But you know, they had one week to work with each other. With Hamish, she had months."
The pair also predicted the three finalists, with Ola explaining: "I think Sonny will be in the final with Faye and Colin. I think Lady Leshurr will go, although I thought she was fantastic in her skate-off. It’s quite a tough one to call actually because it does depend on who the public vote for more than anything, really. And Faye deserves her place in the final purely on what she has created up till now."
The couple agreed that it was time for Rebekah Vardy to leave, with James saying: "It was definitely the right decision. But Ola and I did really like her skating from the waist down.
Rebekah was the latest star to leave the show
She was a really good skater but she struggled with the performance side of things, you know, her arms and positions. It was the fluidity and musicality that she didn't necessarily have that someone like Sonny does.
"I can see that Sonny has had some form of dance training before, it's hard to teach someone that so he's definitely either naturally gifted but I don't believe that I believe that he's had some former dance training where with Rebecca it's more awkward. She hits a position and it's quite stiff. Plus, she seems to have a lack of confidence."
James and Ola were also full of praise for Lady Leshurr's partner, Brendyn Hadfield, who they joked received their "gold star of the night". James explained: "When you go into a lift where you press someone above your head it’s hard enough as it is, especially on ice, but she prepped totally wrong. So how he managed to lift her when her energy was going down...I actually have no idea how he managed to get her above his head. I know I wouldn't be able to and I'm quite good at lifting compared to most of the pros that were on Strictly, for example."
The pair praised Brendyn Hadfield performance with Lady Leshurr
Speaking of fitness, Ola also opened up about trying her hand the 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan to help lose some lockdown pounds. She explained: "The 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan, it's basically a meal replacement diet. They've got a lot of different meals and everything is calorie-controlled. So it's just a convenience and easy thing to do really!
"It was originally made for the NHS for obese people to lose weight for operations for it’s been around for 35, I believe. It’s tried and tested."
Laughing, she added: "I’m going to try and see what happens and get ready for the 21 June! I think everyone is in the same boat, I was talking to my friends and most of them have put on lockdown weight. I’m going to see how I get on with it... I just need to trim a bit. There’s not a number, it’s just how I feel and how my clothes fit."
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