Adele Roberts on doing Dancing on Ice after bowel cancer: ‘Just making the show is my prize – anything from here is a bonus’

While most of us can survive a couple of hours on the ice by clinging to the sides or attempting to balance with outstretched arms, the celebrity contestants on Dancing on Ice have no such luxury.

Instead, these skating novices must perform challenging routines in front of not only an audience, but a panel of judges comprising Oti Mabuse, Ashley Banjo, and Olympic champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean.

This year’s line-up of budding skaters includes former Coronation Street star Ryan Thomas, Emmerdale’s Roxy Shahidi, radio star Adele Roberts, EastEnders’ Ricky Norwood, former boxer Ricky Hatton MBE, Corrie actress Claire Sweeney, S Club’s Hannah Spearritt, Love Island’s Amber Davies, Olympian Greg Rutherford MBE, Made in Chelsea star Miles Nazaire, comedian Lou Sanders, and Olympic ski jumper Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards, who replaced Gogglebox star Stephen Lustig-Webb following an injury.

The celebrities say that confidence is the name of the game when it comes to becoming an ice master, balancing having fun with learning from mistakes and having the resilience to get back up when you fall.

“I’m always in competition with myself,” says Adele Roberts, 44, who has recently fought bowel cancer and is now taking all sorts of challenges in her stride.

“I think it’s a privilege to be alive – I understand that now. What a joy, what amazing problems to have that I might fall on the ice…

“Just making the show is my prize. Anything from here is a bonus.”

In 2023, Roberts became the fastest woman to run a marathon with an ileostomy, clocking a time of 3hr 30min and 22sec at the London Marathon, and she says that her stoma is “totally” something she’s had to consider during Dancing on Ice training.

“Being new to the world of stomas, I didn’t really know what to expect,” says the BBC Radio 1 DJ.

“I’ve noticed that because I’ve got a hole on the right side of my torso, I don’t have a centre where it used to be. I’m having to relearn how to use my body, actually, and rotation’s quite hard.

“I’ve got to really, really think about my movement on the ice, but it’s helped me connect with my body, so it’s been a blessing as well.”

And Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards, 60, who skied for Great Britain and dances modern jive competitively, found ice skating to be an entirely different kettle of fish.

“People say: ‘Oh, you’re a skier. You should be able to skate easily’ – it’s just not the same at all,” he says.

Dancing on Ice starts on ITV1 on Sunday, January 14 at 6.30pm.

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