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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Daniel Bird

Dancing On Ice line-up: Ex-Gladiators host John Fashanu second contestant for ITV show

Footballer John Fashanu has been announced as the second contestant for ITV's Dancing On Ice, alongside actress and DJ Patsy Palmer.

The announcement comes just one day after ITV confirmed that former EastEnders actress Patsy would be swapping her home life in Malibu, California, for the ice rink.

John said: "I'm so excited to be a part of Dancing on Ice, I don't think it'll come as a surprise to people that I'm very competitive - I am definitely in it to win it.

"And this may be one of the scariest things I've ever signed up for but I couldn't be more ready for the challenge!"

John Fashanu has been announced as the second contestant for Dancing On Ice (ITV)

John is no stranger to difficult tasks, having previously played as a centre-forward for the likes of Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Wimbledon.

Following his stellar football career, during which he scored 134 league goals, he went on to co-host Gladiators in the 1990s before managing his own Sunday league football team on Bravo between 2003 and 2004.

This year, 11 celebrities will take on the ultimate challenge as they push themselves to the max, performing a series of difficult dance moves on the ice in a bid to impress the famous judging panel as well as millions of viewers at home.

John previously hosted Gladiators alongside Ulrika Jonsson (Peter Brooker/REX/Shutterstock)

Earlier this week, Patsy Palmer opened up to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield during an appearance on This Morning about her upcoming skating stint.

She told the hosts: "I can't believe I'm the first one," before Holly joked that Patsy had no way of "backing out" now that she had been announced.

Reflecting on her decision to take part, she commented: "Well I didn't obviously call them up and say 'can I take part?', just out of all the things that came through at that time, this was the one that I had to really think about.

The star scored an impressive 134 league goals over the course of his career (Popperfoto via Getty Images)

"Obviously I wanted to challenge myself, get back to work, get out of my comfort zone.

"I just thought, I'll just go for it. It seems a lot of fun, I do like ice skating but I'm not an ice skater or figure skater."

Phillip later revealed that Patsy had previously been asked to appear on the show but rejected offers from show bosses as she was "absolutely terrified" of the thought of it.

However, after turning 50, the DJ said she wanted to push herself to do more things that she would never normally agree to do.

Dancing On Ice returns to screens in 2023.

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