After several weeks of routines and eliminations at the rink, it's finally time for the Dancing on Ice final. Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield will be back at the helm of the ITV skating show as the 2023 winner is crowned.
Joey Essex and his partner Vanessa Bauer, The Vivienne and their partner Colin Grafton and Nile Wilson and his partner Olivia Smart will all take to the ice for the final time and go head-to-head - or should we say skate-to-skate - in a bid to be crowned Dancing on Ice's latest champion.
It comes after they beat off stiff competition from the likes of Carley Stenson, Mollie Gallagher and Siva Kaneswaran to make it to the end of the competition.
The final will see judges Jayne Torvill, Christopher Dean, Ashley Banjo and Oti Mabuse return to the panel to cast their opinions and give their scores as the three couples take to the rink with three routines - including their own reimagining of skating legends Torvill and Dean's Olympic-winning routine, the Bolero.
The final kicks off on Sunday (March 12) at 6.30pm on ITV.
Last week, former The Only Way is Essex star Joey was saved by the judges, who after landing in the last skate-off of the series. He had earlier emotionally performed to High by Lighthouse Family in memory of his mother who took her own life when he was 10 years old.
"It still is very painful, It’s very raw and I don’t think I’ll ever fully properly get over that situation, I’ve definitely let go of something and released a lot of pressure after my documentary," he said before adding: "So, for me, it was like another little lesson to be like, ‘we can do this, and you’ve got what it takes to win’. So in my eyes, it was a blessing."
On getting ready for the grand final, Joey, 32, said the training has left him in "the most pain I’ve had so far throughout the journey".
At the weekend, he will need to score higher than former Olympic gymnast Nial, 27, who has had the most points in the skating series so far after gaining a perfect score last Sunday, and has never found himself in the skate-off.
When asked how it feels to be the frontrunner, Wilson said skating well is about "the process, not the results". He added: “This is very new to me but I quite like it, I don’t feel pressure. I just think all we can do is go out there every week and skate the best we can."
Meanwhile, the first winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK The Vivienne, whose real name is James Williams, said to get to the final with an Olympic gymnast is a "huge achievement". They added that Essex has “surprised everyone” as “probably people thought” they and reality star would be out first.
The 30-year-old Welsh drag queen also said: "So to be able to prove people wrong at every corner and people saying ‘we weren’t even (going to) be able to do one lift’. We’ve done about nine different lifts, and spinning lifts, rotational lifts and all this crazy stuff."
Leading bookmaker Coral currently has Nile as favourite at 1-5 to win the Dancing On Ice final on Sunday evening. The Vivienne is second best in the betting at 6-1, while Joey is 8-1 to spring an upset.
"Nile Wilson has been at the top our Dancing On Ice betting from very early in the series. He is one of the shortest priced favourites we have had for a final in the history of the show, so it will be a huge upset if he did not go on to lift the trophy," said Coral's John Hill.
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