Dancing On Ice viewers have been left in tears after a touching tribute was paid to Tom Parker on last night’s show.
As fans of the popular ITVreality show will know, Siva Kaneswaran – who has been a member of boyband The Wanted since 2009 – is currently a contestant in this year’s competition, and for last night’s show, he laced up his skates and took to the ice with the important task of paying tribute to his late bandmate and best mate, Tom Parker.
The Bolton-born singer was diagnosed with an inoperable terminal brain tumour known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) back in October 2020, and underwent a number of treatments in an attempt to prolong his life, before he passed away peacefully with his family, loved ones, and bandmates by his side.
With it nearing the first anniversary since Tom’s devastating passing, Siva and his professional skating partner Klabera performed an emotional routine in his memory.
The couple chose The Wanted’s hugely-popular 2012 single ‘Gold Forever’ to perform their touching tribute to – which is a song that’s taken on a new life since Tom’s passing, and is one fans often associate with the late star after it was played at his funeral.
The band also famously re-released the song in Tom’s memory in April last year, with all proceeds going to The Brain Tumour Charity.
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“I can’t even try to find the words about how I feel about him not being around,” Siva explained in the VT ahead of the skate, “Tom sings the first line of the song so obviously it’s going to be very hard hearing his voice.”
“I learnt from being around Tom to use the difficulty and make something positive,” he added.
The skate was praised by judges Jayne Torvill, Christopher Dean, Ashley Banjo, and Oti Mabuse, with the couple earning a top score of 36 for their performance.
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Tom’s widow Kelsey cheered Siva and Klabera on from the audience.
Dancing On Ice viewers left in tears at tribute to late The Wanted star Tom Parker / Credit: Matt Frost (via ITV)
After the emotional performance, viewers were left in tears and took to social media in their thousands to share their thoughts – with fellow supportive The Wanted member Jay McGuinness writing on Twitter: “The tears are flowing and we are all so proud of our boy. What a special moment, in tribute of the most special guy.”
Another fan wrote on Twitter: “Absolutely stunning, a beautiful tribute to Tom.”
“I am a wreck from this performance,” a third added, while a fourth fan said: “That performance was SO emotional. I commend them for holding it together and I too believe someone was looking down. When Tom’s face came up on screen at the end, I could feel your pain.”
“That was absolutely beautiful to watch. And very emotional. I think Tom would be very proud of that wonderful performance,” another fan wrote.
Siva and Klabera sadly did not make it through to the Dancing On Ice final next week.
Featured Image – Matt Frost (via ITV)
TV & Showbiz
Sir Ian McKellen pays emotional tribute to long-time friend and fellow northern actor Sir Patrick Stewart
Emily Sergeant
Sir Ian McKellen has paid an emotional tribute to his long-time friend and fellow northern actor, Sir Patrick Stewart, following his death.
Sir Patrick Stewart – who was born and bred in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, and is best-known for his theatre work alongside an illustrious 60-year screen career, taking on prominent roles in franchises such as Star Trek and X-Men – sadly passed away at the age of 86, with his death being announced publicly yesterday evening (29 October).
And now, his long-time friend and fellow northern actor, Sir Ian McKellen, has paid tribute.
Sir Patrick and Sir Ian shared the stage together countless times over their decades-long careers, but also famously starred alongside each other in the X-Men franchise, and subsequent Marvel movies, as Charles Xavier/Professor X and Magneto.
The tribute, shared across Sir Ian’s social media platforms, reads: “Before everything else, Patrick was defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire, the proud county in the north of England which he loved to the end. You could hear it in his accented voice and in the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt. Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues. He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love.
“We first met as ambitious young actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company half a century ago but we weren’t in the same productions.
“My first strong memory was a few years later, meeting him in the street in central London when he told me about an offer to take over a leading part in ‘Star Trek’. “But Patrick think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?”
“Well, he took the risk and thank goodness for us all that he did, for not just his devoted Trekkies, but film and theatre audiences who marvelled at his using international celebrity to star in a string of cinema successes (‘X-Men’ of course) and in great classical plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett at Stratford-upon-Avon, in London’s West End and on Broadway.
“America was his adopted home, where he met his adored Sunny who has cared for him through sickness and health, through thick and thin.
“But he never forsook his origins: and the proudest achievement of the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic, was his appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire.”
Sir Patrick Stewart’s farewell performance will be in Avengers: Doomsday, which is being released in UK cinemas on 18 December 2026
Featured Image – Gage Skidmore (via Flickr)
TV & Showbiz
James Acaster reveals eerie song all Traitors contestants are forced to listen to before every roundtable
Emily Sergeant
James Acaster has revealed the eerie (and pretty surprising) song that all Traitors contestants are forced to listen to before every roundtable.
In case you’ve been living comfortably under a rock, you’ll probably be aware that comedian James Acaster is currently a contestant on this current season of BBC‘s smash-hit reality TV competition show, The Celebrity Traitors – a show that viewers in their millions are tuning into each week, with some big names on the cast.
Acaster is currently (spoiler alert… but it shouldn’t be at this point, we are several weeks in after all) one of three Traitors competing on the show, and he’s doing a pretty good job at it.
But we wonder how much of his success can be put down to the producers’ love of a certain song they like to play before every roundtable? Probably next to none, but it’s surprising to find out how much of an integral role the tune plays though.
The song we’re referring to here, it has been revealed, is ‘The Hanging Tree’ – a folk ballad made popular by The Hunger Games.
‘The Hanging Tree’, composed by James Newton Howard and Suzanne Collins, was famously sung by Jennifer Lawrence’s character Katniss Everdeen in the third instalment of the film franchise, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.
The lyrics are as follows:
Are you, are you Coming to the tree Where they strung up a man They say who murdered three? Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be If we met at midnight In the hanging tree
So, as you can see, the song does make reference to ‘murder’, which is a key part of The Traitors game (not real murder, of course), but even with that context, we’re still not sure why the producers are keen to play it out before every roundtable.
During a viral TikTok clip from an on-stage Q&A this week, Acaster revealed the song’s usage to the audience: “You all walk in silence down the corridor, and you all sit down, and they don’t announce it’s gonna happen.
“The first time this will completely blindside you, but they do it every single roundtable. They play that song from The Hunger Games, that ‘coming to the tree’ song. Like acapella, Jennifer Lawrence.”
He continued: “It was every f***ing time, it was the only song we heard the whole time we were in there, and all day I would have it in my head constantly, everyone would, I’d go ‘have you got coming to the tree in your head?’ and they’d go ‘yes, it’s in my head, again’.”
Viewers who watch the show may have spotted the song being played in the background or transition between certain scenes, but now it’s been revealed that the contestants hear it too.
Who would’ve thought?
Featured Image – Euan Cherry / BBC / Studio Lambert
Emily Sergeant -
6th March 2023 
