Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean believe “dainty and “graceful” Gemma Collins will go far on Dancing on Ice.
The former ice skating world champions have been impressed with how well the TOWIE star has been doing in training for the ITV show and believe everyone will be surprised by her flexibility.
In an interview with The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre TV column, Jayne spilled: “You might say Gemma is a bit big, and she’s a tall lady too, which means you have further to fall.
“But if you’re skinny it hurts more because there’s not much natural padding. A lot of the skaters have to wear padded things to protect their hips.
“And Gemma must have done ballet as a child, because she’s actually very dainty and graceful.”
Chris has been particularly amazed by how naturally Gemma can do the splits and says the reality star will prove the “naysayers” wrong.
He said: “She’s larger than life but she can drop into a splits. You just say, ‘Gemma, split!’ and down she goes.
“We saw her right at the very beginning when she first took to the ice and she wasn’t afraid of it. I’m as excited as everyone else to see what she has done.
“But we aren’t wanting to see what’s happened until that first show.
“She’s going to show all the naysayers that she is going to be there, and I think she’ll be there with bells on.”
Gemma has even offered to lift her professional skating partner Matt Evers, which would be a first for the show, but both Torvill and Dean admit it would be challenging.
Chris said: “Girls have done it in skating before, but not on ‘Dancing on Ice’. We always love a first on the show.”
Jayne agreed: “Gemma is someone who would say, ‘I can do this!’ but I don’t know if her partner would be happy with it.”
Dancing on Ice starts on ITV1 on Sunday (06.01.19) from 6pm.