Regan Gascoigne insists he has no advantage on Dancing On Ice - despite years as a pro dancer.
The 25-year-old star is one of the favourites to take home the top prize during this series of the ITV skating show, but he has slammed the idea that he might have had a head start over the others because of his dancing background.
Regan and his pro partner Karina Manta will take to the ice for the first time this weekend alongside the likes of Connor Ball and Alexandra Schauman, Ben Foden and Robin Johnstone, Liberty Poole and Joe Johnson and Stef Reid and Andy Buchanan.
Speaking to The Mirror and other press about his own skating ability, Regan said: "It's very different from dancing. It's so different. To be dancing on the floor, you have friction and you have stability.
"This is just - you don't. You're holding your core in a totally different way to how you would be dancing. Lifting people is totally different, it is a completely different skill. The ice is a completely different element."
He added: "What I would have during dancing, like I said the friction of the ground, is completely taken away. So I find there are parts of my body I'm using differently. When you do backward crossovers, you're using muscles that you don't usually use. When I'm dancing, my feet are turned out but this is quite a lot of turning in. Parts of my body I haven't really used before. It's so different."
Meanwhile, Rachel Stevens and her partner Brendyn Hatfield have been ruled out of this week's show after the S Club singer fractured her wrist in a horror fall on the ice during training.
Speaking about the fall, she said: "I actually wasn't with Brendyn at the time of the fall.
"I was with my coach a couple of weeks before Christmas. I fell quite a few times, obviously as you do - you're trying to push yourself out of your comfort zone. And I just fell and it hurt and obviously I didn't know what I'd done."
