Dancing on Ice's Sonny Jay reveals what Torvill and Dean are really like off camera

Dancing on Ice 2021 winner Sonny Jay has revealed what Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean are like off camera.

The Capital FM host won the 2021 series of the popular ITV skating show last year alongside his pro skating partner Angela Egan.

Reigning champ Sonny spoke exclusively to Daily Star ahead of the grand final of this year’s series, offering his hot take on world renowned figure skating duo Torvill and Dean, who sit on the judging panel of the show.

The final took place on Sunday, March 27 and millions of viewers watched Regan Gascoigne beat Kimberley Walsh and Brendan Cole to become the 2022 winner.

When asked about what it was like to dance in front of Torvill and Dean week on week, Sonny admitted it was “surreal” as he knew how iconic the skating “legends” are.

However, that didn’t stop him from teasing Jane that she was flirting with him when he saw them in the studio.

Sonny said: “[It’s a] bit surreal to be honest because you know how amazing they are and you know how much they’ve achieved and you know how the reason that show exists is really because of them. So you do really want to impress them.

“The thing I loved about them so much is I just had a laugh with them everytime I saw them. And I always had this joke with Jane that she was flirting with me whenever she used to say something to me. I’d be like ‘Oh alright Jane! Come on, chill out!”

“I just have to joke about something because I know I’m standing in front of two legends, but honestly they’re so good and I was really lucky enough that when I was training I was training at Ally Pally.

“That was where I was sort of rehearsing some of their skates that they do every other week or so.”

The Breakfast radio host later explained he was lucky enough to watch the pair perform in rehearsals at the historic London venue, and they even offered him some invaluable skating tips.

Sonny went on: “So I actually just got to see them in action just in rehearsals and have a chat with them and they’d sort of ‘how are you getting on’ or ‘I watched you five minutes ago, you need to get better at this’

“So I was really lucky that I got to spend a bit more time with them than other people, because obviously no-one was training together at the time because of Covid. Whereas this year they’re probably all training together now anyway.”

The show winner said the judges are “really lovely people”, and they ultimately gave him the confidence to win the show.

Sonny said: “So yeah they’re really lovely people… the thing I loved about them every week was that they could see that I was progressing and they could see that I wanted to try and get better.

“So they were egging me on to do better which then gave me the confidence to, I guess, go on and win the show.”

Sonny explained it’s “so hard” to go on the show as a contestant relatively unknown to the public.

He also reflected on how he never thought he would win the skating competition amid stiff competition from the likes of Jason Donovan and Denise Van Outen.

He said: “That was the one thing was always in the back of my head was ‘I’m not going to win this’. I’m up against Jason Donovan, Denise Van Outen, Myleene Klass, all these people you know the names of and you know what they do and stuff.

“I think it’s so hard for someone who is unknown like my going on that show to just be you on air and for people to get to know you. So that’s why I do hope he [Regan] wins.”

When asked what his highlight of this year’s series was, Sonny scored it for Bez’ boulder-dodging routine.

He said: “My highlight of the series was watching Bez do Jurassic Park and seeing the boulder and seeing the boulder come towards him, and seeing him trying to ice skate away from it. If that doesn’t become a meme in years to come I’m gonna be really annoyed.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk