Dancing On Ice star Ricky Hatton has found himself rock bottom of the bookies’ odds to win the show.
The boxer looks likely to be out first, just days after he sent fans into stitches by “punching” host Stephen Mulhern during the show.
Dancing On Ice star Ricky Hatton ‘punches’ Stephen Mulhern
During last Sunday’s live premiere, Ricky had fans in stitches when he punched Stephen during a skit.
In the skit, Stephen made Ricky hold up a microphone for him. However, Ricky kept dropping his arm.
Increasingly disgruntled, Stephen made him lift his arm up again. This went on for a while before Holly Willoughby turned to Ricky and said: “Just hit him, please, Ricky”.
Ricky was happy to oblige and socked Stephen one, knocking him to the ground.
Later, speaking to the MailOnline, Stephen said: “Ricky is one strong man, I asked him to punch me as a gag forgetting for a moment that he is a three-time boxing world champion and yes it hurt a lot!”
Ricky Hatton dealt blow ahead of this weekend’s Dancing On Ice
Now, the odds have been released for who could win the show – and it’s not good news for Ricky.
The former world champ is currently at 40/1 to win the show, according to BoyleSports.
A spokesperson for the bookies said: “It was a fantastic opening and while Ricky Hatton is on thin ice, we’ve seen money snowballing for Ryan Thomas and Miles Nazaire with the duo both tipped to go far.”
He is quite far behind the next in line, Roxy Shahidi, who is at 25/1.
At the other end of the scale is Ryan Thomas, who is currently at 9/4 to win. Amber Davies, meanwhile, is at 7/2, as is Greg Rutherford.
Colin Grafton dealt blow
In other Dancing On Ice-related news, pro skater Colin Grafton was dealt a huge blow, just hours before last Sunday’s live shows. The American found out that his father had suffered a stroke, not long before he took to the ice for the series debut.
“At first, Colin wanted to get on a flight right away and be there for his family. But he knew his dad would want him to do the show, and Claire [Sweeney] has [been] incredibly supportive to him – she has been his rock,” a source told The Sun.
“On the night of the first show of Dancing on Ice, Colin’s mum called him and to his surprise his dad was able to construct a few words and communicate to Claire and Colin to have a good show, saying ‘go get it’,” another said.
“This was very emotional for Claire and Colin before the show, bringing tears to all, and the wardrobe who was getting them in the dressing room. It was just moments before the first live show, which thankfully they were not competing in.”
Read more: Ricky Hatton gushes over his family after apologising for punching Stephen Mulhern on Dancing On Ice
Dancing On Ice continues on Sunday, January 21 at 6.30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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