Missing two weeks in a row should mean getting the boot though.
They were never going to risk controversy by giving Rufus the boot as it would have been interpreted as him going for his comments in week one. They’d face a huge backlash.
People getting through by getting enough votes is controversial enough in these shows, so it really makes little difference. Would be different if the were a few weeks in I suspect.
Rufus Hound has been withdrawn from the competition due to testing positive for coronavirus:
We can confirm that following a positive test result, @RufusHound is unable to return to Dancing On Ice this weekend. Although Rufus and his partner @IceJohnstone's time on the ice has been all too brief, they can be truly proud of their achievements. pic.twitter.com/Iz1ui3mvcq
They still have some wiggle room as well as there’s normally a double elimination later in the series which they can cancel if need be (I bet they don’t do it until right at the end this year anyway just in case).
Matt Richardson with pro Vicky Ogden stepping in from Sunday.
Dancing on Ice is very lucky they had backup to come in at short notice.
They’re contracted from the start and are training in parallel with the announced couples. So it’s not luck, it’s basically an understudy system - they couldn’t bring someone in cold at this stage due to the safety necessity of basic skate training before they start on choreographed dances. I don’t know how many there are though, I’m sure in the past I’ve read it’s one male and one female cover?
I believe Strictly have a similar system in place, though the pre competition training aspect isn’t as important there.