Patsy Palmer believes that turning 50 has given her a new lease on life, pushing her out of her comfort zone with Dancing On Ice.
Last May 26, the former EastEnders star celebrated the occasion.
She was later confirmed as the first star for Dancing On Ice 2023, alongside The Wanted’s Siva Kaneswaran, Joey Essex, and drag queen The Vivienne.
Patsy, who is skating with show legend Matt Evers, has said that turning 50 inspired her to say yes to more opportunities.
‘It was such a shock, I can’t believe it,’ she said of her age on The One Show after sailing through the first week on public vote, adding that it didn’t feel’real’ when she woke up on her 50th birthday.
‘It was strange,’ she admits. ‘It’s simply a strange age to be when you feel 25.’

‘They asked me to do it and I was like, right, everything I do now I have to have some sort of sparkle, or something fun, so I did it this year.’
Pro skater Matt then explained that this was not the first time the daring ITV show had approached Patsy about participating.
‘We’ve been asking her for probably the past, well, since the series reboot, which was five series ago, and we’ve been trying to get her on! So we finally got her!’
Matt, who has been on the show from its inception and has appeared in all 15 seasons, then laughed when asked how Patsy compared to prior partners Gemma Collins and Pamela Anderson.
‘Oh jeez, it’s a huge question, it’s apples to oranges. Everybody does the show for their own personal reasons and everybody takes away from the show their own individual thing,’ Matt began.
‘I think what I love about Patsy is that she has fallen in love with our sport and that doesn’t always happen.
‘She’s already said that she wants to take up skating when she gets back to LA, join a local club, so for me, I’ve already done my job because we love our sport, it’s such a beautiful sport, and the fact that I’ve transferred that onto her is really nice.’
Patsy added that taking part in the dangerous yet glitzy programme has been ‘amazing.’
‘It keeps you completely in the moment, very hard not to be because, you know, you can be standing… I’ve stood still before on ice skates and then I’ve just hit the deck and I’m like, how the hell did I do that? So when you’re moving around, it can be dangerous.
‘But the key is to try and relax. But it’s so difficult!’
Despite how difficult she is finding it, Matt was full of praise for his partner’s performance, and evidently fans love her, as votes poured in, meaning Patsy and Matt will skate again next week.
Dancing On Ice continues Sunday on ITV.