The winner of Dancing On Ice 2024 has been announced following a challenging series with several dropouts.
Ryan Thomas won alongside his professional skating partner Amani Fancy.
Ryan generously exclaimed ‘Greg, this is for you’ after being crowned the winner, after finalist Greg Rutherford was rushed to the hospital after sustaining a serious injury in rehearsals hours before the finals.
Adele Roberts and her professional partner Mark Hanretty were the first to go, leaving Miles Nazaire and Vanessa Bauer and Ryan and Amani in the last two.
Following a suspenseful final duel in which both sets of hopefuls performed bolero performances, Ryan and Amani emerged victorious.
Holly Willoughby returned to TV for the first time since leaving This Morning, partnering with Stephen Mulhern following Phillip Schofield‘s resignation, but the journey has been far from pleasant.
On Sunday, hours before the Dancing On Ice final, Olympian Greg Rutherford withdrew due to medical checks following a’significant injury’.
And only days before, speculations circulated that S Club 7 star Hannah Spearritt had opted not to return for the final skate after being ousted in Week 3.
In the finals, radio DJ Adele and her partner Mark, Made In Chelsea’s Miles and Vanessa Bauer, and soap star Ryan Thomas and Amani Fancy competed to win the crown.
It comes after Love Island‘s Amber Davies and professional partner Simon Proulx-Sénécal were ousted in a dramatic semi-final, despite receiving the full 40 points from judges earlier in the night for their ‘almost perfect’ performance of Taylor Swift’s Wildest Dreams.
Ricky Hatton MBE, Claire Sweeney, Lou Sanders, Eddie the Eagle Edwards, and Ricky Norwood comprised the series’ original cast.
Stephen Lustig-Webb, a Gogglebox celebrity, was scheduled to appear but had to withdraw owing to an injury before the series began, setting a bad precedent.
On Sunday, when it was confirmed that Olympian Greg would not be participating due to an injury, he posted a video of himself in a hospital bed on Instagram, calling the scenario ‘a nightmare’.
‘Sadly I picked up a big injury in rehearsals,’ he said. ‘So I will not be performing on Dancing On Ice tonight. I am devastated. But these things happen. What a nightmare way for this to finish.’
It remains to be unclear what the series will look like next year, although sources suggest that host Holly has been given a hefty deal to return.
A source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Dancing On Ice is definitely coming back in 2025 and the plan is that Holly will host it.
‘Contracts are being negotiated but the chiefs love her and they know that there are others who would love to sign her up but ITV love her and they want to keep her very much part of the ITV furniture for years to come.’
Catch up on Dancing On Ice on ITVX.