Dancing On Ice’s first contestant for its 2025 series has been revealed.
The ITV celebrity dance competition will once again return in January for its seventeenth series.
The programme’s 2024 series ended in March with former Coronation Street actor Ryan Thomas and his partner Amani Fancy being crowned winners.
And, on Tuesday, the identity of the first hopeful who will battle for the 2025 crown was revealed.
The first celebrity competing in 2025, according to The Sun, is reality star Ferne McCann.
Dancing On Ice’s first contestant for its 2025 series has been revealed. The ITV celebrity dance competition will once again return in January for its seventeenth series
The programme’s 2024 series ended in March with former Coronation Street actor Ryan Thomas and his partner Amani Fancy being crowned winners
And, on Tuesday, the identity of the first hopeful who will battle for the 2025 crown was revealed. It’s Ferne McCann!
Ferne, 34, shot to fame in 2013 when she joined the cast of The Only Way Is Essex for its ninth series.
She has since appeared in Celebs Go Dating and I’m A Celebrity, finishing the latter in third place.
She has taken a step back from the spotlight since her leaked voice notes scandal.
In November 2022, an anonymous Instagram account, called Lady Whistledown after the Bridgerton secret gossip sharer, posted a series of voice messages from a woman they claimed was Ferne.
One heard a woman’s voice label one of acid attacker Arthur Collins ‘ victims a ‘silly b****’ while another saw Ferne accused of body-shaming Sam Faiers.
Ferne has since said that she was a ‘different person now’ and that the infamous recordings happened six years ago when she was in a ‘vulnerable situation’.
Ferne has two children: daughter Finty, 13 months, whom she shares with her businessman fiancé Lorri Haines, and daughter Sunday, 6, from a previous relationship.
Ferne’s reps have been contacted for comment.
News of her participation comes after it was feared the programme would have a Strictly-esque reckoning when Coleen Nolan revealed that she was once screamed at by her partner
News of Ferne’s participation comes after it was feared the programme would have a Strictly-esque reckoning when Coleen Nolan revealed that she was once screamed at by her pro partner in ‘intense’ Dancing on Ice rehearsals.
The Loose Women star, 59, appeared on the show in 2009 when she was partnered with professional skater Stuart Widdall, with the pair finishing in fourth place.
On Loose Women in July, Coleen and the other panel members discussed her time on the show following Graziano Di Prima’s axing from Strictly Come Dancing.
At the time, it had only just emerged that he has been accused of ‘hitting and kicking’ his celebrity partner Zara McDermott during her time on the show last year.
The Loose Women star, 59, appeared on the show in 2009 when she was partnered with professional skater Stuart Widdall, with the pair finishing in fourth place
On Monday’s ITV daytime show Coleen and the other panel members discussed her time on the show following Graziano Di Prima’s axing from Strictly Come Dancing
The professional dancer, 30, was axed by the BBC after bosses were presented with a video of Graziano’s actions.
And, in response, Coleen was discussing how starring on these dancing shows is never easy and sometimes the pros’ full on dance background training can mean the ‘lines get blurred’.
She said: ‘Listen, it’s really intense. The training of any of those shows, it’s incredibly intense. You’re working with people that from childhood have grown up in that intense world of competition, and I think the lines get blurred.
‘I remember you know, sometimes with my partner, you know, he’d scream at me like ‘Why have you done that?’ And I’d go: ‘Because I’m a TV presenter and not an ice skater!’
‘I had to remind him that I never going to be at the level he wanted me to be at,’ she continued.
‘We ended up at the beginning, a few rows, getting to know each other and then we got on great.
‘However, you know, they have come they have that mentality – they want to win. Whatever show it is, whether it’s entertainment or whatever, they have that mentality of they want to win.’
Despite her own experiences, Coleen added that seeing arguing stars would not be of any benefit to viewers, telling the panel: ‘I don’t want to see, especially on Strictly which is my favourite show ever of that calibre, and on my bucket list, I don’t want to see all that going on.
‘I love the VTs [videotapes] where you see them struggling and like crying and ‘I don’t think I’m going to be able to do it this week; and then you’re rooting for them when they come on. But I don’t want to see people rowing and arguing.’
The professional dancer, 30, has since been axed by the BBC after bosses were presented with a video of Graziano’s actions
Meanwhile, a verdict on the Amanda Abbington and Giovanni Pernice row, which kickstarted the scandal, is expected before the end of August
‘Do I think it needs to be watched by the producers and the people behind the scenes and put an end to it? Absolutely,’ she added.
‘But for an actual family entertainment show, I don’t want it. I never feel uncomfortable watching Strictly, and I do with other shows, and I don’t want to feel uncomfortable.
‘It’s like my escape. It’s like my Disney escape of everything in the world because everything’s glitz and glam.’
Meanwhile, a verdict on the Amanda Abbington and Giovanni Pernice row, which kickstarted the scandal, is expected before the end of August