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THE OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL WINNERS HAVE CONFIRMED THEY WILL SOON RETIRE FROM SKATING 10:35, 19 Jan 2025 Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean are set to return to screens tonight for another

edition of Dancing On Ice. The figure skating legends are renowned for their roles as judges on the popular ITV show. The "greatest show on ice" returned for its 16th series last

weekend as a new batch of celebrities donned their skates for the challenge. The Olympic gold medal winners were joined by fellow judges, Oti Mabuse and Ashley Banjo, as they ranked the

performances from six of the 12 celebrities in the line-up this season. Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern return as hosts to welcome the performances from the celebrities. Former This

Morning host Holly said she was "so sad" after Torvill and Dean's announcement last week as they re-confirmed their intentions to retire after the current tour. Dean said:

"We're 50 years skating together. It's our last time around so when we finish the tour, the skates will be hung up." However. they confirmed the partnership will continue

away from the ice and they will remain as judges on the show. The skating partnership announced their retirement from the sport in a joint statement last year. Ahead of their current tour,

which comes to Liverpool on May 8 - 9, the skaters said: "Whilst we will continue to work together off the ice, this will be the final time we will skate together following our 50-year

partnership. But not without celebrating one final time with all of our incredible fans across the UK, who have supported us constantly over many years. "We promise to put on an amazing

live show – and we really hope to see you there." The two also confirmed they have no plans to leave Dancing On Ice as they added: "Our 2025 'retirement' which will

follow our UK tour will purely be from ice skating. Article continues below "As we said in Sarajevo earlier this week, we will continue to work together away from the ice. We have no

plans to step back from Dancing On Ice and hope that the series continues for years to come." Torvill and Dean announced their retirement in Sarajevo, the city where they shot to

stardom when they won gold at the Winter Olympics in 1984 with a legendary 'Bolero' performance. Torvill and Dean have been in the limelight ever since and their incredible

chemistry on the ice has previously fuelled speculation they enjoyed a romantic relationship. However, the two are just friends and each have families of their own. Jayne has been married to

Phil Christensen since 1990 and Christopher has been in a relationship with Karen Barber since 2011. In an interview with Radio Times, Jayne was in hysterics as she revealed a comment from

Christopher added fuel to the romance rumours. The 67-year-old said: "One journalist said, 'So, Chris, when are you getting married?’ and he said, 'Not yet!' And that was

it – there were reports we were going to get married. I thought, 'Oh no! Why did you say that?'" Jayne also revealed in an interview with the Radio Times the two did kiss

when they were teenagers. She said: "We were in the back of the bus going to a league match, and it just happened. It was a one-off. We never talked about it afterwards. We laugh about

it now," Chris added: "We were 14-years-old, and teenagers in the most naïve sense." Christopher said the two decided to put their careers ahead of any potential romance. The

66-year-old said: "We got close but at some point realised that we weren't going to make a relationship off the ice in terms of a romantic one. We had seen a lot of partnerships

fail. The skating was everything and having a relationship just didn't occur to us." Although their partnership on the ice may be coming to an end, Torvill and Dean are excited for

what the future will bring. The two love their roles on Dancing On Ice and can't wait to see which celebrity wins the contest this year. Michaela Strachan was the stand out performer

from week one as she is currently top of the leaderboard. There was also an impressive performance from Coronation Street's Sam Aston, who is currently in second place on 27 points.

Article continues below Sunday will see the other six celebrities take to the ice for the first time. Stars such as Charlie Brooks and Sir Steve Redgrave will be among the celebrities taking

to the ice for the show tonight, which gets underway at 6.30pm on ITV