With less than a week to go until Dancing On Ice starts, we imagine the contestants are feeling a mixture of excitement and trepidation.
However, one of the celebrity skaters, Candice Brown, has revealed that she experienced another emotion in the early stages of training – FEAR that she would be dropped from the ITV show, after suffering a rib injury.
Last year’s Great British Bake Off winner, 33, explained that she almost PASSED OUT from the pain, and had to be reassured by her professional partner Matt Evers that she wouldn’t be booted off the series.
She told The Sun Online: “I really suffered with my ribs a few weeks ago, and just felt like: ‘This is sore, this is sore.’ And then I sneezed and I thought I was going to pass out.
“Then it was that panic that they were going to drop me from the show because I’m injured, but Matt said it’s the same every year.”
Candice explained that rib injuries are common on the show – especially among female competitors, as they’re constantly being raised aloft by their male partners.
Thankfully for Candice, Matt was right and she’ll definitely be taking part in the series opener on Sunday evening.
Read more: Dancing On Ice star almost weed herself during training
However, she revealed that she’s had to use an anti-inflammatory to keep the pain at bay – which has its downsides.
Explained the star: “I smell like a Sunday League changing room at the minute, because of all the Deep Heat I’m using!”
Speaking of lifts – at last month’s London launch for the new series, Candice and Matt revealed the awkward positions they can find themselves in while carrying out manoeuvres on the ice.
Matt told presenter Phillip Schofield: “We get very personal, VERY quickly! I had to reintroduce myself after those moments! ‘Hi, my name is Matt.'”
Read more: Dancing On Ice judge Jason Gardiner hits out at ‘Mr Nasty’ label
And Candice added: “It did happen yesterday! Nobody saw. There was no one filming it – except three cameras!”
However, the cooking star insists that her time on the ice is the perfect way to get in shape for her forthcoming wedding to fiance Liam Macaulay.
She told The Mirror Online: “I spend most of the time on the ice freezing my butt off.
“I hope it will get my body ready for the wedding. That will be quite nice. I don’t really enjoy the gym.”