Dancing on Ice’s Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean call on Olympic figure skating to welcome same-sex couples: ‘That’s the next step’
Dancing on Ice judges Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean are calling on the Olympics to follow the show’s example and allow same-sex partnerships to compete.In 2020, Dancing on Ice beat Strictly Come Dancing to open its doors to a first same-sex partnership with Ian ‘H’ Watkins from Steps and his professional partner Matt Evers.In the current series, Brendan Cole ended up partnered with Brendyn Hatfield when his skating pro Vanessa Bauer was forced to miss a week after testing positive for Covid.The moment was a celebrated move for Dancing on Ice and did wonders for LGBT representation on screen.Jayne and Christopher, however, would like to see the same progress at Olympics figure skating contests. ‘Well, if it’s on Dancing On Ice, yes, anything is possible,’ enthused Jayne.Chris added: ‘Who’s to say in a few years time that could change because there’s actually a shortage of male figure skaters.‘So you might have to have same sex female skaters skating together.‘All organisations are now open to diversity and inclusion.
So, yes that’s the next step.‘But it always comes down to how people are thinking and accepting at the moment.’Comic Relief 2022 raises incredible £42,790,147 in star-studded telecastComic Relief 2022: Tom Daley reveals fear of open water as he raises £1,000,000Comic Relief 2022: David Tennant 'helpless' amid Ukraine war in moving speechOn Strictly Come Dancing 2021, John Whaite and Johannes Radebe became the first same-sex couple to reach the final, coming in second place to Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice.Last night’s Dancing on Ice saw a huge double elimination, with The Vamps singer Connor Ball and BMX racer Kye White both missing out on a spot in the final, which has been postponed until March.
