Brendan Cole has reignited the "rivalry" between him and James Jordan as he prepares for Dancing On Ice.
The former Strictly Come Dancing professional joked he has always had a "great friendship and rivalry" with his fellow dancer, who won the 2019 series of the skating show, impressing the judges and viewers at home with his dancing ability.
And now, ahead of his own stint on the ITV show, Brendan - who will be partnered on the show this year by Vanessa Bauer - joked it was a "shame" James did so well as it means he's got "big skates" to fill.
Speaking to The Mirror and other press ahead of the show, he said: "We've always had a great friendship and rivalry, we've always been the two clowns of the show backstage.
"We've got a great history. He's been amazing and very supportive with anything I've put up online. He's always messaged me and told me how well he thinks I'm doing and I think that's great."
He quipped: "It's a shame he did so very well on the show, it doesn't leave a lot of room for movement on that one but all of the guys from Strictly have been fantastic. I've got a lot of messages from them on how excited they are for me and the fact they get to see me doing something different. James has been great. He's a good boy but it's big skates to fill."
Brendan is no doubt putting his all into the show - and the tough training - but he previously confessed he thought he'd be better when he stepped onto the ice for the first time.
"I've had one go. I'm a fairly confident person and I like to think I'm going to be good at what I put my hand to or my feet to! I was thinking okay I'm going to be fine, I'm going to be out there and I was terrible," he said on Loose Women.
"I was a bit wobbly. You can expect to be a bit wobbly on ice but I was hoping I was going to be better than I was. I've got time to learn. I'm just going to embrace the whole experience and I'm very excited to get started."
*The new series of Dancing On Ice starts at 6.30pm on Sunday 16th December on ITV.
