Holly Willoughby has issued a statement as she waved goodbye to Dancing On Ice. The 44-year-old fronted the ITV contest across its first stint from 2006 – 2012 and since it was revived in 2018.
Holly has presented the last two seasons of Dancing On Ice alongside Stephen Mulhern, who replaced former host Phillip Schofield in 2023. The mum-of-three has now confirmed the show’s second stint on air has come to an end as she issued a heartfelt statement on Instagram.
She shared a snap from the 2025 final, won by Coronation Street’s Sam Aston, alongside the caption: “A huge thank you to @itv, The brilliant team, Crew, Celebrities and Everyone who has been part of our Dancing on Ice family over the last 19 years.
“Every year, just when January felt at its greyest, Dancing on Ice arrived like a burst of glittering, dazzling light, warm, joyful, and full of heart… It has been an absolute privilege to work alongside true national treasures Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, and to have a front-row seat to their breathtaking skating.
“Watching them glide across the ice was nothing less than pure magic… A special thanks must also go to Arnica, Deep Heat, Spanx and fake tan, unsung heroes of the rink! …
“I will miss it hugely, but I count myself so lucky to have had it for as long as we did. Finally and most importantly, thank you to you for watching, you’re the BEST!”
Fans took to the comments to share their sadness after the ITV show’s future was confirmed. Jo said: “I am really going to miss it. As you say it brightened up a miserable, dark two months. Thanks all for the memories”
Fiona commented: “Very sad it’s all over… Loved a Sunday night brilliant show…” Tasha posted: “This is sad news. Will miss seeing your beautiful ball gowns every Sunday! hope we get a new show to replace.”
Jen commented: “Sad to see it go. Was one of my favourite programmes to watch & it did brighten the cold winter months.” Fran said: “Gutted it’s come to an end.”
Holly’s announcement comes after reports during the most recent season that ITV had plans to shelve the show amid dwindling ratings. Last year, the show scored its smallest live audience of all time when 2.9 million tuned in to one episode, a drop of 700,000 on the 3.6 million who’d watched the opener a few weeks earlier.
The 2025 launch episode could only manage 2.9 million viewers, and by the fifth episode another half a million viewers had melted away, leaving just 2.4 million.
According to official overnight ratings from BARB, it means that over the past two years Dancing on Ice has lost more than a million viewers, with the 2023 launch watched by 4.1million but this series never making it above 3million.
Ahead of the final, our sister site, Mirror Online, said show insiders reported fears the diminishing viewership could lead to the show being cancelled. A source told Mirror Online: “There are very real fears this is the end of the road for Dancing on Ice.
“It’s had a good run for nearly 20 years and has a very loyal set of viewers who really love it but the sad truth is there’s just not enough of them. We need bums on seats but the ratings have dropped to a point where it’s difficult to justify the cost.”