Joey Essex said he is “most scared” about suffering an injury that would prevent him from competing in Dancing On Ice following an accident in practice that left him needing stitches in his finger.
The TV personality, who is partnered with professional Vanessa Bauer, said he has a “fearless mindset” that reminds him to just “give it your best shot”. Essex, who has previously starred in The Only Way Is Essex, said: “My main thing at the moment is to not fall over. So I had one terrible fall in my first practice routine. That was quite bad.
“I’ve been trying not to fall because I feel I’ve got the falling out of the way. I had stitches in my finger. It is quite bad. You could see my bone and blood was going everywhere, but I’m all good now.”
The 32-year-old said he is taking the ITV skating competition “very seriously” and being “super professional” because he really wants to perform well. “There’s always a chance of something really bad happening and that could take us out of the competition. That’s probably the most thing I’m scared of actually, not being able to participate in (it),” he said.
“Even if I wasn’t to make it to the end, I just want to try my best and not go out with a really bad injury – so we’ve got to be a little bit careful. I try to keep myself focused on the ice and take it very seriously because I do like to mess around, but I’m in this to take (it) serious and do what I’ve got to do really.”
Essex added that he decided to sign up for Dancing On Ice this year to prove that he is capable of being a “performer”. He will skate in the first week of the competition alongside famous faces including Love Island winner Ekin-Su Culculoglu, actress Patsy Palmer, The Wanted’s Siva Kaneswaran, former Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton and Olympian Nile Wilson.
Retired gymnast Wilson, 26, who won a bronze medal in the men’s horizontal bar at the 2016 Olympics, said beginning to train for the show was “overwhelming and daunting”. He said: “Maybe there is some transferable skills (from gymnastics) but it’s just knowing where my body is. For me it’s the lifts, I can’t lift.
“I mean I’m very small, 5ft 6in and 60 kilos, lifting the same height and similar weight. We’re reversing the roles and lifting each other, which would be new to the show.” Wilson, who is partnered with Olivia Smart, added that he wanted to perform a stunt that had not been seen in the history of the show before, which he said was a “work in progress”.
- Dancing on Ice starts on January 15 at 6:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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