English actress, singer, dancer and presenter Denise Van Outen is best known for presenting The Big Breakfast, appearing on Channel 4's Celebrity Gogglebox, and for her time in the West End and Broadway as Roxie Hart from Chicago. Now she's taking on Dancing on Ice, with professional skating partner Matt Evers.
This is not Denise's first time testing her talents, in fact she finished as runner-up in the tenth series of the BBC One dancing show Strictly Come Dancing in 2012.
We caught up with her to find out how she's feeling about taking on the ice...
What’s your biggest fear about taking to the ice?
"Injury I suppose is the only thing I worry about. I’m not worried about anything else but I don’t want to have any accidents. I'm friends with reigning champion Joe Swash though so I will be hitting up Swashy for some tips!"
What’s the appeal in signing up for the show?
"Well I want to be able to get on the ice and actually skate. Betsy (Denise’s daughter) has just turned 10 so for the past few years when I’ve taken her to Lapland UK or Somerset House, anything like that, I never get on the ice. She’s like ‘skate with me mummy’ and I’m holding onto the side. Not because I’m scared but because I can’t actually skate. So, I’ve had to send on Eddie (Denise’s partner) or friends with her. I actually would like to be able to go with her. I don’t want to be that mum who can’t do something or can’t give it a try. We live close to a big ice rink too so I'd love to be able to take her."
Have you got any fitness goals from doing this as well?
"Of course. I never used to do any exercise years ago and I do now. I’m 46 and I want to keep my body in shape, tone my bum and thighs and prevent the old middle-aged spread!"
How competitive do you feel about it – are you in it to win it?
"Well, this is how it is with everything I do – I don’t ever go into anything thinking I’m going to win it but as the game picks up and the competition picks up you do get competitive, you can’t help it. I wouldn’t say I’m like I have to win this. I just want to learn to skate, do the best that I can and hope that I could win it. It’s more proving to myself and enjoying it and learning to do some of the tricks that I’ve watched other people do. But don’t get me wrong–I’d love to do Bolero! I was a kid when I watched that. I’ll always remember seeing Torvill and Dean and just being in awe of them."
How do you feel about skating in front of the panel and are you ready for their feedback?
"Yes, I’ve met Jayne and Chris before and I know they don’t mince their words when they critique you. I can take criticism because I’ve had to dish it out myself in the past too. I’ve been a judge so I know what a judge’s role is so I’m ready to take the constructive criticism."
If you were to describe to your pro partner what your strengths and weaknesses are, what would you tell them?
"I would say I was a dancer in my youth and the last time I danced was on Strictly which was in 2012. I’m a very good dancer in my kitchen after a few glasses of wine but that’s as far as it goes and I’ve never taken it to the rink! I think if I can master the skating then the old dancing ability will hopefully come back and I can marry the two and hopefully be elegant and graceful...rather than disgraceful.
"I'm ready for the intense training, I don’t mind that though. Even when I did Strictly I did extra hours. It takes me longer to learn things and retain information so I have to do it like that. I have to do things over and over."
This week, we found out how Denise is feeling ahead of the big show this weekend!
"I don’t want to forget my routine - we keep changing it for reasons of safety so we’ve had to make minor adjustments so I just keep worrying that I'm going to have a mind blank. I did Strictly in 2012 and i know what it’s like when you suddenly get nervous and just when you’re about to go on, you think ‘i don’t remember it’ but nine times out of ten you remember."
"I’ve got friends on the show that I’ve known for years so i was looking forward to sharing the ice and doing some training sessions. I’ve known Myleene for a long time, Jason, I've known since I was 17 and Billie lives near me so I thought it would be nice if we can train together but obviously that hasn’t been able to happen. But we’ve still had the banter and the fun. "
"We still will have a laugh and a lot of fun. I don’t think we’ll lose anything from the experience because of what’s happened, I just think it’s different. "
"I still plan to have a little drink in my dressing room after."
"I’d never skated before, never skied. There’s this misconception with me that I'm going to be amazing cos I danced when I was younger but on ice it’s very different and I’ve never been ice skating. I’ve never been as a kid. One of the reasons i never did it was because i’ve always danced and worked professionally as a child and none of my contracts allowed me to take part in any dangerous sports or anything."
"I’ve literally had to learn from scratch. I’ve got to be honest, I thought I'd pick it up quicker than I have because I’ve danced but that really hasn’t made that much difference. What that gives to me is it helps me in terms of performance."
"But maneuvering on ice, in some areas it can be a hindrance because my body is trained to do things that a dancer would do that do not apply when you’re on the ice. For instance I’m always pointing my toes which means that I hit my toe pick and I go flying!"
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