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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Victoria Johns

Dancing On Ice's Ria says she lost a stone in training and now has 'ballerina's body'

Dancing On Ice's Ria Hebden says her body changed completely during training for the ITV skating show.

The ITV Entertainment presenter, 39, was eliminated from the series in week two, but that didn't stop her from dropping a stone in the time she was there.

The Lorraine star was partnered with Lukasz Różycki and despite her short tenure lit up the screen with her megawatt smile.

The mum-of-two looked incredible in her sequinned outfits and has now revealed how she put her figure through its paces.

She said: "I've always tried to keep in shape but DOI has made me the fittest I've been in my life.

"I lost a stone in total in training.

"I've always been quite petite, but now I've got the body of a ballerina and muscles in places I didn't know you could get them," reports Closer magazine.

Something else Ria gained from the show is a bunch of new pals.

She said she'd grown close to Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt and her skating partner Mark Hanretty.

However the presenter is rooting for the Vamps bassist Connor Ball.

She said: "Connor has no dancing background whatsoever and yet he takes to it so naturally. We also trained at the same rink so we got to know each other - he's a great guy."

While we won't see Ria on Dancing On Ice anymore, the presenter is a regular on ITV as she fronts the showbiz segments on Lorraine Kelly's morning show on Fridays.

Lorraine stuck up for her pal after she was booted off the show saying some of the other contestants had an unfair advantage.

The Scot told Ria that she was “too lovely” to say what many people were thinking about Kimberly and ex-Strictly star Brendan Cole.

She said: "Obviously, and I know you won't say this because you are too lovely... but the two dancers... they have got such an advantage haven't they because they know how to put their bodies.

"If you can dance in the first place you have got a massive advantage."

Before the series started, Ria confessed she was “nervous but excited” and was actually getting a bit starstruck on the ice.

As she was introduced to Olympian Christopher Dean she gushed: “I felt like a child meeting Father Christmas for the first time!

"Christopher has a smiley face and magical twinkly eyes.

"I had no idea he was going to do it, but he suddenly lifted me up in his arms and spun me around about 20 times. It felt like I was flying."

Away from the ice, Ria lives with her husband Mark, who she married in 2012 and their two children Noah, 12, and Lula, who started reception in September 2021.

Dancing On Ice continues on ITV on Sunday at 6pm.

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