The upcoming 2012 series sees a shake-up on the judges’ table with the departure of Emma Bunton and Jason Gardiner, and the arrival of Louie Spence and Katarina Witt.

Some have welcomed the change – seeing the arrival of Katarina and Louie as a positive one – where the judges will be better placed to critique the celebrity ice dancers’ performances. Katarina is a former Olympic figure skating champion and has worked in skating all her life. People placing a Dancing on Ice bet will be able to trust in her judgment.

Louie, who exploded onto our screens in the show Pineapple Dance Studios in 2010, of course, is also a dancer and is famed for his choreography skills and expertise. He’s also been a judge on the 2006 Sky 1 series Cirque de Celebrité and the American NBC Channel Celebrity Circus in 2008.

On the other hand, the news that Jason Gardiner has been dropped from the show has caused great disappointment to fans of the reality TV show. He wasn’t everyone’s favourite and was seen as the show’s ‘Mr Nasty’ but nevertheless he will be missed.

Before ITV announced the new judging line-up, Jason made his own announcement on Twitter, saying “I will NOT be returning to #DOI next series. It has been an iconic 6 years and I’ve loved being a part of it.”

In the last series of Dancing on Ice, Jason had a huge row with head coach Karen Barber, when he said: “If your opinion still mattered, you’d be on the panel.”

Although no one really knows whether Jason chose to leave or was pushed, the Mirror claimed that Jason had decided to quit after he heard that Louie Spence might be on the panel. Those following the Dancing on Ice betting odds might raise an eyebrow about this.

As for Emma Bunton, she also tweeted her thoughts about leaving the show: “Thank you so much for all your lovely messages! I made the hard decision to leave the DOI judging panel to focus on projects in 2012.”

While we’re all eagerly anticipating the arrival of Dancing on Ice 2012, let’s take a look back at the highs and lows of the last series.

Of course, the ultimate star of the show who took home the winner’s crown was Eastenders actor Sam Attawater. Sam was partnered with professional figure skating ice dancer, Brianne Delcourt, and took the big prize away from second placed Laura Hamilton, who he beat in the final in March 2011.

Following the TV series, Sam joined the Dancing on Ice tour 2011 and went to dance in arenas across the country, performing alongside show hosts and trainers, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. Those watching Dancing on Ice 2012 will no doubt be expecting something similar to happen.

Laura Hamilton and her Canadian dance partner Colin Ratushniak took second place, despite being one of only four couples to achieve a perfect score of 30.0.  Their perfect score was for their dance in the final to the Pointer Sisters song ‘I’m so excited’.  The couple were also top of the leader board four times in the series, in weeks 1, 6, 7 and 9.  Laura even gained her team double points when she was team captain for a ‘team challenge’ in the ninth week. After the show finished, she joined the Dancing on Ice arena tour with her partner Colin. Anyone looking at the Dancing on Ice betting should bear this in mind.

Third place in the sixth series of Dancing on Ice went to Richard and Judy’s daughter, Chloe Madeley.  She was partnered by Michael Zenezini, a French professional skater.  She was knocked out of the final show when she received the fewest votes from the public.

The funniest moment of the series must be Todd Carty’s disappearance from the ice stage down the exit tunnel when he was dancing with his partner Susie to the Beatles song ‘Help’.  Presenter Philip Schofield said to him afterwards: “You’ve just given me my most favourite moment, ever, on Dancing on Ice!”

Week 10 of Strictly was truly a movie night extravaganza with no expense incurred by the BBC!

Bruce and Tess did their “let’s read each other’s lines” bit at the start, and whilst selecting films for the judges Bruce fawned over Alesha, saying “A Star Is Born” was the most appropriate movie he knew of.

Robbie and Ola were on first up with a quickstep. With accompanying music from “Reservoir Dogs” the routine was distinctly quirky, but the judges didn’t welcome it overall. Craig reckoned Robbie was hopping around like a rabbit while Bruno described Robbie’s posing as a cross between Kate Moss and Russell Brand. People looking for Strictly Come Dancing tips should bear this in mind.

We know the rest. Poor Robbie was to be sent packing. But we didn’t know that when Harry and Aliona stepped up with a rumba.

The rumba requires the man to sway slowly to the music whilst the lady does the real dancing – or so it would seem from the pair’s routine anyway! The song they danced to was a tad on the dull side as well; “Everything I do” from singer Bryan Adams.

Despite all this, the routine was anything but dull, and Aliona cleverly threw in a couple of fast bits for Harry as a change from the slow swaying parts of the dance. The Strictly Come dancing winner odds reflect this.

Alex and James were up next with an American quickstep which Alex nicely described as “a foxtrot with lifty bits”.

Then Holly and Artem’s with the Paso Doble suited Holly’s fiery personality she said. It clearly did as she scored two 10s which clearly pleased her a lot!

Then Jason and Kristina’s American smooth to “Singin’ in the Rain” was thoroughly professionally done.

But top of the class this week were Chelsee and Pasha with a jive. There was more humiliation for Pasha who had his face painted green – with “Shrek” ears.  The routine was tricky, but superbly executed. Lots of high marks and Chelsee top of the tree as we move towards Christmas.

This year’s X Factor finalists will reportedly be performing with their mentors on stage at Wembley.

For weeks now, there’s been speculation about who would be performing live with the finalists, with Adele among the names being bandied around. But now reports are suggesting that Amelia Lily, Marcus Collins and Little Mix will be performing alongside Kelly Rowland, Gary Barlow and Tulisa respectively.

While there will be some big-name acts, including Westlife, Michael Buble and Coldplay, taking to the stage throughout the night, they won’t be singing with the finalists, reports have claimed.

The Mirror claims that Kelly and Amelia will be performing River Deep, Mountain High, with Tulisa and Little Mix doing a mash-up of If I Ain’t Got You and Empire State Of Mind by Alicia Keys.

Gary and Marcus are said to still be debating what they’ll tackle in a bid to win The X Factor 2011. Those looking at the X Factor odds should bear this in mind.

It’s been suggested that the plan was hatched when Louis Walsh’s final act was axed from the competition, as it’ll mean that he doesn’t have to get up on stage to sing!

This won’t be the first time Gary has performed in an X Factor final – back in 2006, he took to the stage with eventual winner Leona Lewis.

Former X Factor contestants One Direction and JLS will also be performing on the night – together, for the first time.

A source told The Sun: “The lads thought it would be great if they all did a song together. They were all locked down in a central London studio on Tuesday working on it.”

They’ll reportedly be mixing 1D hit What Makes You Beautiful with JLS’ hit She Makes Me Wanna.

X Factor favourites Little Mix are doing well in the competition because girls are voting for them, according to their mentor.

Tulisa reckons that the four-piece are proving to be a hit because they have a female fan base, which doesn’t feel threatened by them.

Speaking to The Sun, the N-Dubz singer said: “Little Mix are sweet, cute and fresh … They are endearing. They don’t seem like the kind of girls who are going to nick your boyfriend. They’re the kind of girls whose shoulder you want to cry on.”

In the past, girl bands have done extremely badly on The X Factor. They usually end up being knocked out far earlier than their male counterparts – although in some cases, that has purely reflected their singing abilities!

But with Little Mix getting stronger by the week, and even winning praise from Kelly Rowland and Gary Barlow, they could well go all the way this year.  Anyone following the X Factor odds should bear this in mind.

If the bookies are to be believed, the girls will win, beating Marcus Collins and Amelia Lily in the final.

While Little Mix are having a good run on the show, Amelia seems to be facing the wrath of some of the public at the moment.

She wore a figure-hugging, leopard-print dress for the results show a couple of weeks ago and received a fair bit of criticism afterwards.

Amelia hit back at the critics though, telling new! magazine: “You don’t have to be stick thin to be a popstar. For anyone who thinks I’m overweight, I’m sorry, but I was born this way!”

The singer’s feistiness is clear for all to see and goes some way to explaining how, at only 17, she has managed to progress to the semi-finals on the show, despite being booted out in the first week.

Axed X Factor hopeful Janet Devlin has denied reports that her mentor, Kelly Rowland, isolated her.

Speaking to Digital Spy after leaving the programme, the singer said “that’s really not true” when she was quizzed about the rumours. She added: “They like to make up their own little stories, don’t they?”

Janet said she had a “great” relationship with Kelly and the other girls in her category. The youngster said she is a “bit of a loner” and knows that she can be quite difficult to talk to, but the other girls made a real effort with her.

“I’m incredibly grateful for Kelly giving me this opportunity,” Janet said humbly.

The singer said she was feeling “excited” when she exited the show because there are so many more opportunities out there for her now and even Jessie J said she believed it was a good thing that she left, as her style isn’t pop. People looking at the X Factor betting may agree with this.

“I’ve had enough time to get my name out and it’s been a great platform,” Janet explained.

The teenager was also quick to defend claims that Kelly favoured Misha B and Amelia Lily in the competition.

She explained that Kelly connected better with them and “people have confused that with favouritism”. Janet said though that she and her mentor connected on a personal level “and that was totally fine”.

Janet landed in the bottom two at the weekend, following a couple of fairly dismal performances on the show. The youngster forgot her words halfway through MMMBop, causing all of the judges to criticise her and they didn’t seem much happier after she did her second song, Under The Bridge – the Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ classic. Anyone looking at the X Factor odds should bear this in mind.

So it was fairly predictable when they chose to save Misha over Janet – even Louis didn’t favour the Irish singer for once!