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Dancing On Ice viewers welcomed again Holly Willoughby because the presenter returned to screens following a three-month hiatus.
Season 16 of ITV’s much-loved determine skating competitors has kicked off with its first stay present on Sunday evening (14 January).
Six of the 12 taking part celebrities are taking to the ice for the primary time to exhibit their new strikes after weeks of coaching. See all of the 2024 contestants right here.
All eyes, nevertheless, had been on Willoughby, 42, as she returns to ITV for the primary time in three months following her exit from This Morning in October final 12 months.
She will current the programme alongside Deal or No Deal star Stephen Mulhern who’s changing Phillip Schofield after he give up the community, admitting to having an “unwise but not illegal affair” with a youthful male colleague.
Willoughby wore a glittery silver robe for her TV comeback, matching with the contestants who wore equally shiny outfits for the opening quantity set to Sylvester’s 1978 disco jam “You Make Me Feel Mighty Real”.
“We are off! Welcome to the greatest show on ice,” mentioned Willoughby, earlier than asking followers to give her new co-host a heat reception.
“And also can we just say a huge welcome to Stephen Mulhern!”
(ITV)
The new line-up reunites Willoughby and Mulhern after twenty years. They first labored collectively on the Saturday morning kids’s present Ministry of Mayhem, which was later renamed Holly & Stephen’s Saturday Showdown.
It shouldn’t be the primary time the pair have offered Dancing on Ice collectively, although. In 2022, prior to Schofield stepping away from ITV, Mulhern briefly co-hosted the programme with Willoughby after Schofield examined optimistic for Covid-19.
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In December 2023, it was confirmed that Willoughby would return to host Dancing On Ice with out Schofield. The duo had offered the ice skating competitors collectively since 2006.
Viewers shared their response to Willoughy’s return on X, previously referred to as Twitter, principally overjoyed to have the TV star again on display screen.
“Holly Willoughby back where she belongs,” mentioned one individual.
Another added: “I’ve missed Holly Willoughby so so much,” with a 3rd writing: “So good to see Holly Willoughby back.”
Others, nevertheless, have criticised her return. “I was looking forward to Dancing on Ice, then I remembered Holly Willoughby is hosting,” wrote one viewer.
The present returns to screens with Jayne Torvill, Christopher Dean, Ashley Banjo, and Oti Mabuse sitting on the judging panel as soon as once more.
This 12 months’s contestants embrace former world champion boxer Ricky Hatton, Coronation Street star Claire Sweeney, S Club singer Hannah Spearritt, West End star and Love Island winner Amber Davies, and Olympian Greg Rutherford.
TV persona Miles Nazaire, comic and author Lou Sanders, actor Ricky Norwood, radio presenter Adele Roberts, actor Ryan Thomas and Emmerdale’s Roxy Shahidi may also compete.
The sequence is never with out its bumps and bruises, and season 16 has obtained off to a particuarly rocky begin with two early exits already.
Another contestant, Shahidi, just lately spoke out about an harm that she sustained throughout coaching that left her “unable to breathe” days earlier than the sequence premiered.
Willoughby has been absent from tv since she stepped down from This Morning in October.
News of her exit adopted Schofield’s departure in May. In a press release, Willoughby mentioned that she was leaving the present “for me and my family”. You can learn the complete assertion right here.
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