Dancing On Ice professional dancer Vanessa Bauer has admitted that she was shocked to be paired with Brendan Cole due to the fact he's 20 years older than him.
The 25-year-old has said that she's used to dancing with younger men, so was quite shocked when she was partnered with Brendan.
But Vanessa revealed that former Strictly star Brendan is her perfect match.
"The producers really surprised me with the partnership because there is a 20-year age gap," she told The Sun.
“I didn’t expect to be with Brendan when obviously there were young guys, like I was partnered with in previous years. I was worried at first that we wouldn’t bond, but because we’re both performers and I’m a mature 25-year-old, I’m comfortable.
"Brendan is like a kid at heart — it shows on the ice as well, as he throws himself at everything I’m showing him and he doesn’t hesitate to jump.
“He falls and gets up and it amazes me how his 45-year-old body can handle so much strain. He says all the time that he has toned up.
“You can see it as well — he has lost a lot of weight."
The professional dancer went on: "I’ve heard these rumours about him being fiery, but I am a feisty person, too — so he met his match.
“I know when I have to take the lead and take over the partnership and he very much respects that.
“We’ve been a perfect partnership. He wants to get his ballroom experience on to the ice, but as the ice-skating pro I have to tell him that the things he wants to do are not possible and he gets upset, but we never fight.”
Vanessa's confession comes after Brendan recently confirmed that Dancing on Ice is 'a fix' this year.
Former Strictly Come Dancing pro Brendan appeared on Thursday's This Morning alongside Kimberly Wyatt and Regan Gascoigne to discuss the series coming to an end.
At one point, host Phillip Schofield touched upon the reports of viewers claiming that this year's show has been fixed.
"Obviously there are thousands of conspiracy theorists, 'it's a fix, it's unfair' all of that sort of stuff, and no matter how many times you get people like Jayne and Chris saying, 'yeah you might be able to dance and that might give you a little bit more elegance but it's not taught you how to skate'," Phillip said.
"You are all dancers but you're learning to skate for the first time. So, Regan has it helped having that dance background?" he then asked.
"I think we're so used to taking on routines, I think that does help but when it comes to the ice skating it is totally different," Regan replied.
"There is a right and a wrong, like everything has to be in sequence and a step, but maybe I know how to hold my arms and stuff, but that's about it. It's a whole new ball game really," he added.
