Following rumors that Holly Willoughby may depart the show after her departure from This Morning in October, it has been confirmed that she will continue to host Dancing on Ice. Nonetheless, her previous co-host on ITV shows, Phillip Schofield, will be replaced by Stephen Mulhern.
Schofield left This Morning in May and later admitted to lying about an affair with a younger colleague. Nevertheless, Dancing on Ice will return next month, with celebrities including Olympic gold medallist Greg Rutherford, actor Ryan Thomas, former Radio 1 DJ Adele Roberts, ex-boxing champion Ricky Hatton, and Hannah Spearitt, one of the original members of pop group S Club 7.
Schofield had been co-hosting the show with Willoughby since 2006. Willoughby and Mulhern previously worked together on children’s show Ministry of Mayhem in the mid-2000s. The show was later renamed Holly & Stephen’s Saturday Showdown. Mulhern, who presently presents ITV’s Deal or No Deal, was briefly Willoughby’s co-host on Dancing on Ice in 2022 after Schofield tested positive for coronavirus.
Katie Rawcliffe, head of entertainment commissioning at ITV, commented that “Holly and Stephen are two of our best-loved presenters, so reuniting them 20 years after they first appeared on screen together to host Dancing on Ice marks the start of an exciting year for the show.” Judges Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Ashley Banjo, and Oti Mabuse will also return to the program.
Willoughby announced her departure from This Morning after 14 years “for me and my family.” Prior to the announcement, she had been absent from the daytime program for a few days after a man was charged with soliciting to commit murder over an alleged plot to kidnap the TV presenter
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