Dancing On Ice 2025: Fifth contestant is confirmed as soap legend joins Olympian, TV newcomer and iconic reality star in the line-up

EastEnders star Charlie Brooks has become the fifth star to be confirmed to join the new Dancing On Ice line-up. 

Appearing on Loose Women on Tuesday, Charlie, 43, best known for playing villain Janine in the soap, said; ‘I’ve known for a few weeks. Everything been so mental over the last few months and its just settling in. 

‘Everyone’s like how are you feeling, I suffer with nerves so I don’t know how that is going to go.

‘I’ve skated when I was a kid and with mulled wine at Christmas. Until I get on the ice I have no idea how I’m going to be. I’m not that strong.

‘I’m not competitive but it might come out in me and I want to have fun and not get injured.’

Dancing On Ice kicks off in January 2025 with hosts Stephen Mulhern and Holly Willoughby at the helm

She continued: ‘I over thought it for a long time but I thought what would my 10 year old self think and I thought she would be like absolutely yes.

‘I had two words at the beginning of the year which were intentional and adventurous.’

Detailing her worries for the competition, Charlie went on: ‘I don’t know if my body’s going to let me down because I don’t feel like I’m that strong at the moment, and I see them doing that crouch on the ice and that just blows my mind.’

Meanwhile, talk soon turned to EastEnders, with Charlie admitting that she would ‘never say never’ about a possible return to the BBC soap.

Charlie, whose character Janine made a spectacular exit on Boxing Day 2022, said: ‘I haven’t had the phone call yet to go back for the anniversary but she is such a villain, I would.

‘I still get “you killed Barry!” from people on the street and I’m like that was 22 years ago, I just reply “he deserved it”.’

I would never say never about going back, the writing is great and it is done so brilliantly.

She will be joining Coronation Street star Sam Aston, TOWIE star Ferne McCann, The Traitors‘ Mollie Pearce and Olympic rowing legend Sir Steve Redgrave have been confirmed to be taking part in the new series of Dancing on Ice in 2025. 

Appearing on Loose Women on Tuesday, Charlie, 43, best known for playing villain Janine in the soap, said; ‘I’ve known for a few weeks. Everything been so mental over the last few months and its just settling in’

‘Everyone’s like how are you feeling, I suffer with nerves so I don’t know how that is going to go’

‘I’ve skated when I was a kid and with mulled wine at Christmas. Until I get on the ice I have no idea how I’m going to be. I’m not that strong’

Charlie, whose character Janine [pictured] made a spectacular exit on Boxing Day 2022, said: ‘I haven’t had the phone call yet to go back for the anniversary but she is such a villain, I would’

Sam, best known for his role as hapless Chesney Brown on Coronation Street, was unveiled as the latest contestant during Monday’s edition of This Morning. 

He told the show: ‘I can’t say it was something that I always wanted to do. It came about, and it was just one of them. The press office mentioned it, we went for a chat and I got a real buzz just going in and experiencing it.

‘We just went for a chat, they explain how the show works and they stand you on the ice for five or 10 minutes just to get a basic sense of what you’ll be like and that was it really.’ 

The soap star – who has Sonny, four, Daisy, two and four-month old Hazel with wife Briony Gardner – made appearances on Where the Heart Is and The Bill before landing his signature role as Chesney. 

But apart from taking part in an episode of All-Star Family Fortunes in 2005, has rarely featured as himself on TV because it was not something he had ever considered after starting his career as a child. 

Coronation Street star Sam Aston has been announced as the fourth contestant to take part in Dancing On Ice when it launches next year

Sam, best known for his role as hapless Chesney Brown on Coronation Street (pictured), was unveiled as the latest contestant during Monday’s edition of This Morning

Olympic rowing legend Sir Steve Redgrave is the third celebrity confirmed to be taking part in the new series of Dancing on Ice in 2025

He joins The Traitors star Mollie Pearce in the line up for the show which usually begins airing in January 

She joins reality TV legend Ferne McCann on the show after the First Time Mum star was earlier revealed as the first celebrity contestant 

He said: ‘Coming into the show as a young child, you don’t really think about doing I’m A Celeb or anything like that. But I’ve got children myself now, and my son is pretty excited about it.’ 

An actor from ITV’s flagship soap normally takes part in Dancing on Ice, and Sam will be following in the footsteps of the likes of Lisa George (Beth Tinker), Faye Brookes (Kate Connor), Sally Dynevor (Sally Metcalfe) and Ryan Thomas (Jason Grimshaw), who claimed victory in last year’s competition.

He added: ‘Anyone at work who I’ve spoken to has done it have all kind of the same thing that it is a great experience and it is really hard, and it’s tiring and tough but it is brilliant as well. I’m nervous, but I’m excited as well.’ 

First Time Mum star Ferne was the first to be revealed on Monday morning, just before Mollie and Steve were unveiled. 

Steve’s exciting news was announced on This Morning with the 62-year-old saying: ‘It’s like going back to being an athlete again, I’ve been competing most of my life.’

He has won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games from 1984 to 2000. He has also won three Commonwealth Games gold medals and nine World Rowing Championships golds. 

Speaking on the daytime TV show he joked: ‘They have not found skates to fit me yet, I have very big feet, size 12 and very wide, I am having some shoes made for me!’

Steve’s exciting news was announced on Monday’s This Morning with the 62-year-old saying: ‘It’s like going back to being an athlete again, I’ve been competing most of my life’

He has won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games from 1984 to 2000. He has also won three Commonwealth Games gold medals and nine World Rowing Championships golds

It came just after Mollie was announced on Lorraine, with the beauty – who made her TV debut in the second series of The Traitors earlier this year – telling how she was ‘looking forward to the physical challenge’ of the show. 

She told the host: ‘It will be fun, I want to challenge myself, I’m ready for the challenge.’

The model, 22, who has a stoma bag after having her colon removed in 2020 due to having ulcerative colitis since she was 11, said of the bag: ‘I think for me my stoma has given me my life back’.

She was then given words of encouragement by fellow stoma bag wearer Adele Roberts, who supportively told Mollie to ‘go and smash it!’ 

Mollie, who was also born with no fingers on her right hand, added of her disability: ‘I have also adapted, I have never let it get in the way before and I am not going to start now.’

The brave TV star went on: ‘I really want to do the head banger but my parents will kill me.

Meanwhile, Mollie made her TV debut in the second series of The Traitors earlier this year

Mollie’s exciting news was announced on Monday’s Lorraine, with the beauty telling how she was ‘looking forward to the physical challenge’ of the show

The model, 22, who has a stoma bag after having her colon removed in 2020 due to having ulcerative colitis since she was 11, said of the bag: ‘I think for me my stoma has given me my life back’ 

Mollie, who was also born with no fingers on her right hand, added of her disability: ‘I have also adapted, I have never let it get in the way before and I am not going to start now’

‘I am looking forward to a move physical challenge, I am really ready to throw myself into it!’

She added that though she’s yet to begin her official training, she’s ‘raring to go now’.

Mollie went on: ‘The thought is scary but I want to get started.’

Mollie shot to fame in the second series of hit BBC show The Traitors in January this year, where she was famously duped by pal and eventual winner Harry Clarke. 

After being tricked into thinking Harry was a Faithful in the show, Mollie later told how there were no hard feelings and that things were ‘fine’ between them.

She said: ‘It’s a game, and I think people do forget we signed ourselves up for that game, and there was always a chance that someone was going to be lying to you.

‘It was a fact – there was always going to be a chance that you were going to be close with that person.’

A proud advocate of bowl conditions, back in May Mollie fronted a new campaign about inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) as she urged people to banish the ‘taboo around poo’.

It comes after Ferne revealed her participation on Monday’s episode of GMB, as the mother-of-two shared: ‘I’m so excited, it’s going to be a huge challenge but I’m excited for the glitz and glamour of the show.’

Asked if she can skate, she confessed: ‘Kind of… I’ve done Winter Wonderland and stuff like that with the children but you know the penguins? I’m hunched over one of those!’

Ferne shot to fame in 2013 when she joined the cast of The Only Way Is Essex for its ninth series.

She has since appeared on Celebs Go Dating and I’m A Celebrity, finishing the latter in third place.

Mollie shot to fame in the second series of hit BBC show The Traitors in January this year, where she was famously duped by pal and eventual winner Harry Clarke [pictured together]

A proud advocate of bowl conditions, back in May Mollie fronted a new campaign about inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) as she urged people to banish the ‘taboo around poo’ 

Most recently she has starred in her own ITV show, My Family And Me, but earlier this month she confirmed the next series of her long-running reality series will be her last.

 The show, which started life as Ferne McCann: First Time Mum and initially followed her pregnancy and raising her firstborn Sunday, has run for 13 series and 7 years.

The show was retitled in 2023 when Ferne welcomed her second daughter Finty.

But now she is ready to pull the plug after making the ‘difficult decision’ with businessman fiancé Lorri Haines and six-year old daughter Sunday, her child with former partner Arthur Collins. 

She told The Sunday Mirror: ‘The point where everything changed was when Sunday actually said to me: ‘Am I famous?’ A few of her friends had seen her on an advert.

‘And I was like: ‘Oh I don’t know…’ It made me feel uncomfortable, because I don’t want her to feel she is different…

‘After that it felt like a whole different ball game, so I went away and worked out what I was feeling, and it felt like the right time to stop.’

She added that although Sunday has been on the show since she was born, she’d ‘never really’ watched it and was ‘unaware’ of the situation – until that question.

In March it was revealed Holly Willoughby has been offered a lucrative deal by ITV bosses to return to host Dancing On Ice next year in a bid to keep her at the channel.

For the first time in 20 years the presenter will not be contracted for a show on the channel, leaving the door open for their rivals to swoop in and hire her.

Ferne shot to fame in 2013 when she joined the cast of The Only Way Is Essex (pictured, left, with Billie Faiers, Bobby Norris and Gemma Collins in 2014) 

Revealing the news on Monday’s episode of GMB , the mother-of-two shared: ‘I’m so excited, it’s going to be a huge challenge but I’m excited for the glitz and glamour of the show’

Asked if she can skate, she confessed: ‘Kind of… I’ve done Winter Wonderland and stuff like that with the children but you know the penguins? I’m hunched over one of those!’

Ferne looked incredible for her appearance on the ITV news show in a white jumper and pleated mini skirt that showed off her enviably toned pins 

Earlier this month Ferne confirmed the next series of her long-running reality series, My Family & Me, will be her last (pictured on the show with  fiancé Lorri Haines and daughters Sunday, six, and Finty, 14 months) 

But The Mail on Sunday revealed that the programme will be back for another season, and that they are already in talks with Holly about her anchoring it alongside Stephen Mulhern in a clear sign to other broadcasters to keep their hands off of their star.

A source close to the show said: ‘Dancing On Ice is definitely coming back in 2025 and the plan is that Holly will host it.

‘Contracts are being negotiated but the chiefs love her and they know that there are others who would love to sign her up but ITV love her and they want to keep her very much part of the ITV furniture for years to come.

‘Holly has a real fondness for the show, it really catapulted her career from a children’s presenter into grown up television so ITV very much hope that she will agree to the deal.’

Sources say that the upper echelons of ITV are also looking at other big shows that she can present after she quit This Morning after 14 years last October following a plot to kidnap and murder her as the BBC are said to be determined to hire her to host more of their programmes.

Meanwhile, skate experts Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean are said to be ‘super keen’ for the show to return because their tour to celebrate 50 years of skating together will start shortly after next year’s series ends.

A friend of the Olympic champions said: ‘Dancing On Ice will nicely segway into their tour so they are really keen to return next year. It all falls perfectly into place for them.’

In March it was revealed Holly Willoughby has been offered a lucrative deal by ITV bosses to return to host Dancing On Ice next year in a bid to keep her at the channel 

Hours before Ferne’s announcement it was alleged an iconic EastEnders star has also signed up for Dancing On Ice.

Charlie Brooks – who is known for her villain role in EastEnders as well as winning I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2012 – is rumoured to be joining the star-studded line-up for the upcoming instalment.

The actress, 43, is well-remembered for her epic portrayal of villain Janine Butcher in the hit BBC soap from 1999 to 2022.

She eventually said goodbye to Albert Square during EastEnders’ Christmas Day special two years ago.

And now, it seems the soap favourite might take on the icy challenge alongside other fellow celebrities for the beloved skating show.

A source told The Sun: ‘Charlie’s a brilliant signing. She has a huge fanbase from EastEnders and has tons of personality and feisty energy. The ITV bookers hope she can recreate some of her on-screen I’m a Celeb magic.

‘They are making the most of the fact many female stars have avoided Strictly this year amid all the scandal. It’s going to be a belting line-up.’ 

Charlie Brooks – who is known for her role as Janine Butcher in EastEnders – is also rumoured to be taking part in the upcoming series of Dancing On Ice 

The actress is well-remembered for her epic portrayal of villain Janine in the hit BBC soap from 1999 to 2022

DANCING ON ICE 2025: MEET THE CONTESTANTS

FERNE MCCANN 

AGE: 34

PROFESSION: Reality TV star 

WHAT DID THEY SAY?: ‘I’m so excited, it’s going to be a huge challenge but I’m excited for the glitz and glamour of the show.’

SIR STEVE REDRGAVE

AGE: 62

PROFESSION: Former Olympic rower 

WHAT DID THEY SAY? ‘It’s like going back to being an athlete again, I’ve been competing most of my life.’

 

CHARLIE BROOKS 

AGE: 43

PROFESSION: Soap star

WHAT DID THEY SAY?: ‘I’ve skated when I was a kid and with mulled wine at Christmas. Until I get on the ice I have no idea how I’m going to be. I’m not that strong.

MOLLIE PEARCE 

 AGE: 22

PROFESSION: Reality TV star and model

WHAT DID THEY SAY?: ‘It will be fun, I want to challenge myself, I’m ready for the challenge.’

SAM ASTON 

AGE: 31 

PROFESSION: Soap star

WHAT DID THEY SAY?: ‘Anyone at work who I’ve spoken to has done it have all kind of the same thing that it is a great experience and it is really hard, and it’s tiring and tough but it is brilliant as well. I’m nervous, but I’m excited as well.’