Singer Rachel Stevens has said she was “nervous” seeing her fellow Dancing On Ice competitors making their debut on the rink while she was sat on the sidelines due to fracturing her wrist.
The former S Club 7 star, 43, sustained the injury last month which prevented her from joining the second batch of celebrities on the ITV show last weekend.
She is due to finally take to the ice alongside her professional partner Brendyn Hatfield on Sunday where they will skate to a track from Moulin Rouge by Patti LaBelle.
Stevens told ITV’s This Morning of her mixed emotions when she was watching the show and not being able to skate, saying: “I was so nervous.
“I was like, ‘What is going on? I’m not even skating’.
“But the frustration was just in the not being able to get on the ice. We’ve had six weeks, more actually, away from it.”
The singer explained that she sustained the injury after repeatedly falling on the wrist while working with a different coach in December, but confirmed it had “healed really well”.
Stevens and Hatfield returned to the ice rink on Monday, having only trained in a dance studio for the last number of weeks.
Hatfield, who has skated as a professional on the ITV show for a number of years, said there had been “tough” moments as Stevens had to learn how to skate again whilst also translating the routine from the dance studio onto the ice.
The American skater admitted that he even needed some time to find his feet on the ice again as he said being away from it “does change how you feel”.
He added: “After having an injury like that, now there’s a new thing in the back of your mind while you’re skating.
“To be good at skating you have to fall, to get up and learn from that. After having just a little setback, it’s getting over that mentally.
“Because physically we’re in a good spot now but getting over that mentally is the big challenge.”
The other celebrity couples made their skating debut in two batches across two weekends, with Brendan Cole and Kimberly Wyatt topping the leaderboard in the first week and Regan Gascoigne in the second.
Former England rugby player Ben Foden became the first celebrity contestant to be eliminated after he faced broadcaster Ria Hebden in a tense skate-off on Sunday.
Hatfield has said their routine for week three to the track from Moulin Rouge will be “so fun” and teased that it will feature some body-roll dance moves.
He added that he feels Stevens has a “focus and a determination” which is necessary for ice skating and hopes to train her to win the competition.
