The line up of celebrities taking part in Dancing on Ice 2021 is slowly being revealed.
Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby once again return to present the show alongside the expert panel of Torvill and Dean, John Barrowman and Ashley Banjo, who are all to resume their roles as judges.
The popular ice skating competition sees 12 celebrities partner up with professional figure skating champions to learn a routine and technical elements of figure skating before taking to the ice each week with a live performance to compete for the judges' praise and the public's vote.
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The show will return to ITV in the new year, with all 12 celebrities battling it out in the hope of becoming the winner.
Joe Swash was crowned the Dancing on Ice champion for 2020 in a shock result back in March.
Here are the celebrities confirmed for Dancing on Ice 2021 so far:
Myleene Klass
Musician and presenter Myleene Klass was revealed to be the first celebrity skater due to take part in the popular skating competition.
Myleene said: "I have a 13 year old daughter and a nine year old daughter who are obsessed with ice skating. They both ice skate and I stand there and I hold the coats.
"That’s my role – to tie the shoelaces and hold the coats. Now it's my turn to learn and I can't wait."
Joe-Warren Plant
Emmerdale actor Joe-Warren Plant was confirmed as the second celebrity due to take to the ice.
Revealed live on This Morning, Joe-Warren said: “(I’m) super excited. I’m glad I have the time off Emmerdale to really focus on training, just to try my best and learn a new skill. It’s a new challenge, I’ve never done anything like it before, so super excited.
When asked about the show’s iconic costumes, Joe-Warren said: “I can’t wait. I love getting dressed up, fancy dress parties, it's all part of the fun.”
Denise Van Outen
Actress, singer and presenter Denise Van Outen has been revealed as the third celebrity skater confirmed to take part in the new series of the show.
Denise appeared live on Loose Women to confirm the news today, where she told the Loose Women panelists: "I'm really excited, I can't believe it and finally I get to tell people."
She said her daughter Betsy will be "so excited because she loves the show and we watch it every year."
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Denise added: "Hopefully I'll be able to skate because I literally cannot stand up on ice and every time I've taken Betsy at Christmas time to a rink I've been the one on the penguin.
"After the year we've all had it's going to be lovely and refreshing to see a bit of sparkle, a bit of glamour and see us all happy and smiling enjoying ourselves on the ice."
Faye Brookes
Actress Faye Brookes is the fourth celebrity skater confirmed to take part in Dancing on Ice 2021.
Faye told Lorraine: “This is the first time I think people are just going to see me, not being a character… Just being me – Faye!”
Speaking about former Coronation Street colleagues, Jane Danson and Brooke Vincent who have both previously taken part in Dancing on Ice, Faye told Lorraine she’d had to keep the secret from them until today’s big announcement
She said: “As soon as this interview is over I can contact them but I’ve obviously had to keep this to myself. It’s the biggest secret I’ve kept in my life!
"I saw Brooke yesterday and I was desperate to tell her but I thought one more day and I’ll be able to. She’ll be my first text message after I’ve finished this interview."
Jason Donovan
Actor and singer Jason Donovan has been confirmed as the fifth celebrity contestant for Dancing On Ice.
Confirming the news on ITV's This Morning, he said: "Skating is all about balance and confidence. I've done a little bit of skating in my youth, in Australia, surprisingly in the heat of an Australian summer. I've surfed, I've skied a lot so I guess I'll bring a little bit of that confidence."
Sonny Jay
Capital Radio DJ Sonny Jay has announced he is the sixth celebrity skater confirmed to take part in Dancing on Ice 2021.
Sonny broke the news to listeners on the Capital Radio Breakfast Show that he hosts alongside Roman Kemp and Sian Welby.
Sonny teased his co-hosts throughout the course of the show with a series of clues including scarves, face glitter and playing the This Morning theme tune before finally he said: "I'm going to be doing Dancing on Ice! I'm so excited, I don't know how I kept it a secret."
He went on to tell Roman and Sian that he starts training next month. Roman told listeners "We were talking about it..we've been talking about Denise Van Outen and Jason Donovan. Move them aside, Sonny's gonna win this!"
Roman added: "You might fall over a few times and it might hurt but I think you're going to smash this. I've got a lot of faith in you, pal." Sonny replied: "I don't want to fall over, not in front of the nation. I don't want to be a meme the next day!"
Graham Bell
Olympic skier Graham Bell was announced as a contestant on BBC Breakfast, alongside fellow Olympian Colin Jackson.
Talking to hosts John Kay and Sally Nugent, five time Olympic skier Graham Bell said: "Ice doesn't scare me, it's the dancing whereas I know you can dance, Colin."
He admitted the extent of his dancing experience was confined to "dancing on tables, wearing ski boots in après ski. It's not graceful and elegant!"
He joked that Colin might be so competitive that he thinks "Colin's probably called up Katrina Witt and flown her over from Germany and hired her as a private coach!"
The two sportsmen know each other well and Graham said he knows "Colin is an excellent pupil because I actually coached him on Ski Sunday in 2007 and he's one of the trainees that takes on information so well."
Whilst he no doubt believes Colin to be a big contender, the seasoned skier did admit that the "transferable skills of edge control, balance" in his sport would be useful on the ice.
Colin Jackson
Colin Jackson CBE said: "The first thing for us all is to get used to our boots. I don't know if you've tried ice skating boots but they are pretty tight so we've got to get our feet in there and start getting used to balancing on them. We won't get onto the ice fully until the middle of October."
He added: "I can do a little bit of skating. I think with sport in itself you've certainly got a bit of balance and that will be transferable in this circumstance. How much dancing we'll do, who knows?! We'll see how the choreography goes."
Colin went on to say: "I'm going to try and that's the most important thing. You go out there, you enjoy yourself and you learn a new skill and to hone the skill of skating will just be a huge, huge plus. I'm looking forward to it."
Presenter Sally Nugent asked the two who they thought might be strong competition in the 2021 line up that she said "has got to be one of the best in recent times."
Graham responded that "Jason Donovan is obviously a big performer" and Colin added "Denise Van Outen can dance, she's obviously been in musicals."
Rebekah Vardy
TV personality Rebekah Vardy confirmed she is to take part in Dancing on Ice 2021.
Joining Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid live on Good Morning Britain to announce the news on September 29, she said: "My dad taught me how to stand up on a pair of skates when I was about seven years old."
"He used to take us to the local ice rink so it's a really fun family thing for us to have done together and I'm really excited actually."
She added: "The only time I've been ice skating since is when we take the kids to our local ice rink at Christmas to have a really good time."
Speaking about her family's reaction, she said her football star husband Jamie "thinks it's such a brilliant idea."
She said: "He's really looking forward to watching me and says he hopes I don’t fall over too much."
Rebekah said she showed son Taylor a clip of one of the headbangers being performed on the show and revealed his response: “He just looked at me and said mum, there’s no way you can do that. You’re going to hurt yourself and I went don’t worry I’ll be fine!”
She added she starts training "in a couple of weeks". Rebekah said she was "really looking forward to getting my teeth into that. I’m going to give my 100% effort for it all."
Billie Shepherd
TV personality and business woman Billie Shepherd has revealed that she is the eleventh celebrity skater confirmed to take part in Dancing on Ice 2021.
Confirming on her social media channels today, Billie said: "I am soooo excited to announce that I will be taking part in @dancingonice.
"I still can’t believe I am actually doing it!! ... I am soooo nervous but so excited ... This will honestly be one of my biggest challenges yet !! I have zero ice skating or dance experience.
"But I’m going to give it my all and make my family and most of all Nelly and Arthur proud, Wish me luck #dancingonice"
*Dancing on Ice will air on ITV
