Dancing On Ice’s Chelsee Healey reveals struggle with ‘pressure’ as Strictly past ‘knocks her confidence’

CHELSEE Healey’s drama-packed Dancing On Ice journey so far has seen her blackout in rehearsals and controversy around the scoring of her debut routine.

The Hollyoaks star, 36, is as game as they come and has thrown herself into the ITV skating show in a bid to impress her two young daughters Coco, seven, and Cookie, one.

But she’s also doing her best to temper expectations after previously impressing on the Strictly dancefloor and reaching the final in 2011 – which is weighing heavily on her mind.

In an exclusive interview with The Sun ahead of the series, Chelsee said: “It’s quite a bit of pressure because I did alright on Strictly Come Dancing.

“I feel like everybody expects me to be okay at skating but I’m really, really not so I just feel that added pressure is knocking my confidence a little bit.

“They’re so different. I always knew that I had a bit of rhythm and I’m good on my feet. Ice skating, I’m on a blade.

“I don’t do ice skating, I’ve never done ice skating so I’m really out of my comfort zone. So yeah, they’re completely different and no one pre-warned me how hard it would be.”

Soap stars have fared well on the show in the past with the likes of Ryan Thomas and Hayley Tamaddon winning and Chris Fountain finishing as runner-up.

Chelsee is keen to stress she might not make it as deep into the competition as the trio though.

“I keep watching like Ryan Thomas’ skates last year and he’s absolutely amazing,” she said. “But yeah, I mean don’t tar me with any of their brushes because I’m way down here.”

Her first routine with pro skater Andy Buchanan received a score of 22 and saw them finish at the bottom of the leaderboard.

Viewers weren’t happy with the scoring, claiming the energetic routine deserved more.

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Explaining the reason behind their scoring, judge Christopher Dean said: “When you started the skate I could see the confidence starting to drop a little bit.”

While Jayne Torvill added: “A great performance and you obviously can dance.”

It’s little wonder Chelsee was feeling tentative on the ice after a horror accident in rehearsals.

Andy described the scary moment, telling The Sun: “We had one fall. She fell right on her tailbone, right on her coccyx. You know that shock that goes right through your body, and then she fainted. That was a bit of a scary one.

“She was out for a minute. I was like, ‘Look at me,’ and then there was no looking at me.”

Chelsee added: “I remember Andy waking me up and going, ‘Chelsee, Chelsee,’ and he picked me up and dragged me off the ice. I was all dizzy, and then I just went.”

Unfortunately, on Sunday 19, January 2025, Chelsee became the first contestant to be eliminated without a skate-off.

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