News

Phillip Schofield issues urgent plea as Dancing On Ice celeb’s skates stolen

The skates are specially molded to each contestant's feet

Donna Air’s weekend performance on Dancing On Ice is in jeopardy after her skates were STOLEN from her car.

The television presenter’s personalised ice skates were swiped after her vehicle was broken into late on Monday night.

And speaking on today’s This Morning, Dancing On Ice co-host Phillip Schofield stressed just how important those skates are to Donna.

Phillip pointed out each celebrity’s ice skates are specially molded to fit their feet, so they are impossible to just replace.

Read more: Holly and Phil are taking on Ant & Dec in TV battle

He said it’s not a simple case of buying Donna a new pair of skates, as she’s been training in her stolen pair for months now and they’re a perfect fit.

While he didn’t explicitly say new skates would affect Donna’s performance, that was very much the gist of his plea.

He told viewers: “Donna Air’s skates have been stolen out of her car. The thing is, you think, just get more skates, the rink must be full of them, but they will have been molded to her feet and they are really special. She’ll have been wearing them from the start.

“Donna’s partner, Mark Hanretty, has started a campaign to find Donna’s skates. She was in a gym car park. Any information is greatly received as they will be so special for her and she’s skating on Sunday.”

Holly Willoughby then rather unhelpfully chipped in to joke perhaps one of the other Dancing On Ice celebrities had stolen them to “sabotage” Donna’s performance.

It was Donna’s skate partner Mark who first raised the alarm with a plea on Twitter this morning.

He told fans: “Late last night Donna rang me really upset as her car was broken into while she was at the gym and her skates and skate bag were taken.

“We have a show in five days and my partner has no skates so it’s a bit of a disaster.

“I’m praying the power of social media can help us recover Donna’s boots in time for us to train and compete in Sunday’s show.”

The stolen skates are made by GAM, a size four and sprayed a nude colour.

Donna, meanwhile, has pleaded with the Metropolitan Police to help locate the skates, saying she now has CCTV footage of her car being broken into.

She tweeted at the Met Police: “Please contact me we have clear CCTV footage of my theft and culprits stealing my possessions and Dancing On Ice skates!!

Read more: Piers Morgan divides viewers with startling vow on GMB

“Reward for anyone who FINDS my skates. I’m sure the thief would have dumped them somewhere as of no use to anyone but me ! molded to my feet and impossible to replace for Sunday.”

Donna added that she’d searched for two hours last night to no avail.

Dancing On Ice kicked off last weekend with six celebrities taking to the ice; Donna is among the final six celebrities who will give their first performance this coming Sunday evening.


Nancy Brown
Associate Editor