ITV Dancing On Ice Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean make emotional announcement on future

Dancing on Ice legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean will deliver their final live TV performance in the forthcoming series, with the Olympic gold medallists citing their age as a reason for stepping back. The iconic British duo accumulated 16 gold medals throughout their careers, dominating at World, European, and British Figure Skating Championships before retiring in 1998.

They seized gold during the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, captivating 24 million UK viewers with their unforgettable Bolero routine. Since then, they've graced Dancing on Ice with their presence since its inception in 2006, but now Torvill and Dean have decided it's time to retire from performing after this year's season ends.

"This will be our last live skate - here on Dancing on Ice," confirmed Christopher. "We're doing our last tour this year as well so once we've finished our last skate on tour, we won't be performing again. There are lots of endings."

At 66, Christopher feels ready to close the skating chapter with Jayne, 67, after more than fifty years.

"We've been doing it a long time and people our age shouldn't be doing it now," he explained. "So we're just happy that we can still do it."

The duo will no longer be performing on Dancing on Ice, but they will continue to serve as judges alongside Diversity's Ashley Banjo and former Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse. "Dancing on Ice feels like our baby because we were approached by ITV in the early days and we came up with this format together of how it might work," Jayne explained.

"We didn't know much about TV but they didn't know how skating works so together, the programme developed and it's great that we were there from the beginning."

Christopher disclosed that after retiring from skating, he plans to follow in David Beckham's footsteps with an unexpected new hobby. "I've taken up beekeeping. It sounds like a good thing to do," he shared.

"It just sounds so idyllic. It's outdoors, it's gentle."

The new series of Dancing on Ice, hosted by Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern, features EastEnders' Charlie Brooks, footballer Anton Ferdinand, The Traitors' Mollie Pearce, TV presenter Michaela Strachan and Olympic rower Steve Redgrave strapping on their skates. Jayne and Christopher revealed that the skating standard is "quite high" this series - however, Coronation Street star Sam Aston is one to watch in the competition.

"Sam has taken to it quite naturally," Chris commented on the Chesney actor. Jayne added: "I was impressed by Anton as well. I like his attitude because of his football background."

Dancing on Ice skates back onto screens this Sunday, January 12th and you can see the full line up of celebs here.