Oti Mabuse shares a surprising TV past with her new Dancing on Ice colleague Christopher Ice as she once judged him on another show.
Former Strictly Come Dancing champion pro Oti replaces John Barrowman on the ITV programme as it returns for a new series, having previously had judging experience on both The Greatest Dancer and The Masked Dancer.
And it was on the latter that Oti and Winter Olympic legend Chris came face to face as he revealed himself to be Beagle on The Masked Singer spin-off which aired last summer.
Talking about her relationship and past histories with her Dancing on Ice co-stars, also including Ashley Banjo and Jayne Torvill, Oti said: "Yes, Ash and I have always been good friends. I’ve always said to him one day we’ll work together and I was saying that six or seven years ago so here we are. Last time I saw Chris he was a beagle!
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"Jayne I haven’t met yet but I’m super excited to and have that gal pal relationship on the panel together."
When put on the spot about what kind of judge she thinks she'll be on Dancing on Ice and if she'll be harsh on the contestants, Oti responded:"No! I can be strict but no…I’ll be honest, I’ll be genuine and I’ll be passionate and I’ll be myself.
"I’ll always look for the good but also critique them and suggest what they can do to improve."
Every year a lot is made of some of the Dancing on Ice line-up having previous dance experience, with 2022 stars Brendan Cole, Kimberley Wyatt and Regan Gascoigne all having a dance background.
And, addressign any 'unfair advantage' claims, Oti added: "I hope it takes the standard even higher, because so many of them are experienced it’s great for the pros I think. Coming from a professional dancing/teaching point of view it’s great to have someone who you can go wild with.
"You can do amazing choreography, you can really push yourself and your celeb so I’m hoping that the choreography that comes out is outstanding and there are things that shock everyone every single week!"
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