Dancing on Ice 2023 unveils Olympic medalist as fourth contestant

Virgin Radio

6 Oct 2022, 06:44

The celebrity line-up for Dancing On Ice 2023 is starting to take shape, as the fourth contestant has now been announced. 

The latest celeb who will be getting their skates on is Olympic gymnast Nile Wilson.

Nile became Team GB's first gymnast to ever medal on the horizontal bar, at the Rio Olympics in 2016. He took home bronze. He is also a five-time Commonwealth champion, and became the first Brit to win the European horizontal bar championship. He retired through injury in January 2021.

Sharing the exciting news about his Dancing on Ice participation on YouTube, the Olympian said: “This is a really cool thing. I’ve certainly not done much ice-skating but I am so excited for the opportunity.

On what he hopes to bring to the ice, Nile said: “My biggest goal on the show is to do something that no one has ever done before!”

He added: “This is completely new news but I’m so excited to get into a routine and feel like an athlete again.”

Speaking about his preparations for next year’s contest, he said: “In the next couple of months I’m going to be focused and essentially training for it.”

And it seems the medal-winner will be taking his training very seriously. “I’m not afraid of hard work,” he said.

The Olympic gymnast will be joining three previously-announced stars on the ice when the hit ITV show returns. 

Yesterday (5th October), it was revealed that Love Island 2022 winner Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu will be in the line-up. Also confirmed for the skating contest is former footballer, and Gladiators presenter, John Fashanu, 60.

The first contestant to be named was Patsy Palmer, who played Albert Square resident Bianca Jackson in EastEnders for many years. She said: “Obviously I wanted to challenge myself, get back to work, get out of my comfort zone. And I just thought, I’ll just go for it! It seems a lot of fun.”

Dancing On Ice is expected to return to ITV in January 2023.