fans believe they have worked out the identity of the first celebrity set to join the skating competition next year.
On Sunday night (January 12), Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern returned to the helm to welcome 11 new contestants onto the ice.
Also returning to the ITV figure skating competition was the star-studded judges, Oti Mabuse, Ashley Banjo and head judges Jayne Torville and Christopher Dean.
But one famous face who didn’t take to the ice this year was Paralympic athlete Dame Sarah Storey and her professional skating partner Sylvian Longchambon.
Last month the sportswoman revealed that she was forced to quit the show after she sustained a nasty injury while training with the pro skater.
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Sarah Storey sustained a nasty injury while training with Sylvian Longchambon (Image: ITV)
During the launch night of the new series, the dynamic duo joined Holly and Stephen from the sidelines where she opened up about how she broke her ankle.
She told the co-hosts: “We’d been training together for about four weeks and just towards the end of that session I was just doing something simple for the finish before we stopped.
“But it wasn’t so simple and I fell over and my ankle took the brunt of it in the fall and it’s broken. I’ve had surgery and I’ve got two plates and eleven screws.”
Speaking about her progress, Sylvian insisted: “She’s really good, she was doing so well and really enjoying it as well so it’s a real shame. But maybe next year, who knows?”
It didn’t take long before fans flooded to X – formerly known as Twitter – to pass on their disappointment to the gold medallist online.
One user penned: “Such a shame @DameSarahStorey and @slongchambon had to drop out due to Sarah’s injury. I think they would have been potential winners this year #DancingOnIce.”
Another agreed: “Poor Dame Sarah, I hope they come back next year #DancingOnIce.” A third chimed in with: “They’re definitely coming back next year #DancingOnIce.”
Meanwhile, a third pointed out: “Getting rid of the dance off when there are mor skaters this week than next week (because Sarah pulled out) is completely unfair because it puts one group at a disadvantage to the other #DancingOnIce.”
Fans will have to stay tuned to see if the multi-medal winner will return to the show next year. Dancing on Ice airs on Sundays from 6.30pm on ITV1 or catch up on ITVX.