Holly Willoughby was forced to apologise last night after appearing to use a swear word on Dancing On Ice.
The incident happened before Emmerdale star Roxy Shahidi was due to skate her Beetlejuice-themed routine.
Holly’s presenting partner Stephen Mulhern pranked his co-host and made her jump, with Holly appearing to swear under her breath in a moment of shock.
Later in the show, Holly apologised for any offence caused. However, viewers quickly took to X to dissect – and voice their disapproval over – the presenter’s apology.
Dancing On Ice host Holly Willoughby lets slip a swear word on live TV
Introducing Roxy and pro partner Sylvain Longchambon, Holly said: “Right our next couple are taking on one of cinema’s spookiest characters Beetlejuice. Hoping to give their components a fright of their lives…”
Stephen then shouted, giving Holly a fright of her life! Holly was heard muttering something – widely thought to be the F-bomb – under her breath before turning to Stephen and playfully slapping him. She said: “It’s Roxy and Sylvain. You stupid boy!”
Later in the show, Holly told viewers: “Now a little bit earlier on, Stephen may have made me jump and I think it might have sounded like a naughty word slipped out. I don’t think I did, but I’m sorry if that’s what you thought you heard. I’ll watch it back on ITV player.”
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However, as ITV fans will know, the ITV Hub has recently been rebranded. It is now called ITVX. The BBC streaming platform is calle iPlayer, so this could be where confusion set in for Holly during the live show.
If Holly thought that perhaps her little slip-up might go unnoticed, though, she was mistaken. Her blunder was quickly all over social media, with one commenter on X even joking that it might well be a “sackable offence”.
One said: “ITVX HOLLY NOT ITV PLAYER #DancingOnIce the ITV bosses CRYING up in the gallery!” “ITV PLAYER!? OMG HOLLY NOOOO IT’S ITVX,” said another. “It’s ITVX Holly, not player. And we did hear you say [bleep],” said a third.
Another seemed to be just as confused as Holly. “Holly it’s not called ITV Player any more, it’s called ITVX,” they said, also getting the streaming service’s old name wrong.
“ITV will let Holly off for swearing but calling @ITVX the ITV Player is probably a sackable offence,” joked another.
Read more: Holly Willoughby causes a stir with ‘inappropriate’ Dancing On Ice dress
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