The Vivienne leaves fans in tears after ditching drag for emotional Dancing on Ice performance

Side by side image of The Vivienne taking off her make-up in a video clip before her Dancing on Ice performance. A still from The Vivienne's Dancing on Ice performance with her partner Colin Grafton.

Fans were left weeping after The Vivienne decided to de-drag for an emotional performance on this week’s Dancing on Ice.

Taking to the ice during Sunday night’s (12 February) episode of the ITV reality series, The Vivienne and dance partner Colin Grafton tackled one of Beyoncé’s more emotional hits: “Halo”.

The Vivienne decided to drop her “armour” and complete the number out of drag, a move which she later admitted “took a lot” for her to do.

At the start of the performance, a short clip played showing The Vivienne wiping off her makeup as the pair skated on to the ice. 

The pair wore matching purple shirts and black trousers as they twirled on the ice, wowing fans –although they almost slipped over after making one minor mistake. 

Viewers didn’t seem to think much of the slip though, as they collectively shared their love for the “beautiful” routine.

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Tilly Pearce wrote: “Not me getting weepy at watching The Vivienne skating to ‘Halo’ by Beyoncé. That was beautiful.”

Another said: “You can forgive a stumble if a routine is exceptional and this is the case for me for The Vivienne & Colin. That was a gorgeous routine.”

For a third, the simple fact of a drag icon channelling a pop icon was enough, with the tweeter declaring: “The gays have truly won.”

The drag superstar, who won the first series of Drag Race UK in 2019 and is the first drag queen to ever compete on the reality show, said that it was her “proudest” moment to date.

“I think this week proved that everybody, as humans, has something that we use as our armour, whether it be makeup, the way we dress, a perfume, something that makes us feel invincible,” she wrote on Instagram.

“Mine is drag, and to step on the ice without it took a lot for me. We had a stumble but pulled through, and it may be my proudest week.”

The judges awarded the duo a score of 33.5 out of 40 – their highest score yet.

They safely made it through the public vote, with The Vivienne later thanking fans for voting her into next week.

“Thank you all so much for keeping us in, that was heart-wrenching standing up there,” she said. “It means the absolute world.”

Drag Race stars from across the franchises have flooded The Vivienne’s Instagram page with support, with fellow winner Danny Beard writing: “If you don’t win this whole damn thing I’m melting down that studio. Forever proud of you!!!!”

Meanwhile, season two queen A’Whora told Viv she was “changing the game as always,” while her All Stars 7 cast mate Raja simply posted several heart emojis.

We love to see drag-queen-on-drag-queen support.

Dancing on Ice continues next Sunday (19 February), with The Vivienne competing to make it into the top six.