Dancing on Ice 2021: Rufus Hound completes line-up

Actor and comedian Rufus Hound has been confirmed as the final celebrity skater to take part in ITV's Dancing on Ice.

Hound is best known for TV roles in the likes of Doctor Who and Trollied.

He has also enjoyed a prolific theatre career, appearing in the award-winning One Man, Two Guv'nors, Wind in the Willows and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

He will join stars including Jason Donovan, Rebekah Vardy, Denise Van Outen and Myleene Klass on the ice when the series begins next year.

Revealing the news on ITV's Sunday Best, Hound joked: "I'm doing it for the money... Actually, the adventure of it is doing things that you might start off thinking, 'Not in a million years' and then fate conspires and you end up doing the most fun things."

Dancing on Ice, which starts filming in January, will see 12 celebrities and their professional partners try to impress the judges - Torvill and Dean, John Barrowman and Ashley Banjo - and the voting viewers at home.

Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby will return to host the programme, which was won this year by actor Joe Swash.

Rebekah Vardy,who appeared on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2017, said her footballer husband Jamie "thinks it's such a brilliant idea" for her to be competing in Dancing On Ice this year.

She has been in the headlines over the past year for her row with Coleen Rooney, wife of Wayne. "We tried to sort things out amicably, it just didn't work," Vardy told Good Morning Britain.

She went on to tell GMB her dad had taught her to skate when she was seven, but that she now only skates at Christmas with her children.

Athlete Colin Jackson won two 110m hurdles gold medals at the World Athletics Championships, as well as silver at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

"The first thing for us all is to get used to our boots," he told BBC Breakfast as it was announced he was doing Dancing On Ice.

"I can do a little bit of skating. I think with sport in itself you've certainly got a bit of balance and that will be transferable in this circumstance."

Former Olympic skier and broadcaster Graham Bell was announced alongside Jackson on BBC Breakfast.

He told presenters Jon Kay and Sally Nugent: "Ice doesn't scare me, it's the dancing, whereas I know you can dance, Colin."

Bell and Jackson know each other well - Bell actually coached Jackson on Ski Sunday in 2007.

Bell admitted the extent of his dancing experience was confined to "dancing on tables, wearing ski boots in après ski". He joked: "It's not graceful and elegant!"

Billie Shepherd shot to fame on The Only Way Is Essex and has since gone on to feature in Sam & Billie: The Mummy Diaries, which follows Shepherd and her sister Sam Faiers through the joys and challenges of parenting.

Revealing her Dancing on Ice news on Instagram, Shepherd said: "I still can't believe I'm doing it! I am soooo nervous but so excited... This will honestly be one of my biggest challenges yet!! I have zero ice skating or dance experience. But I'm going to give it my all."

She added that she wanted to make her children, Nelly and Arthur, proud.

Capital Radio DJ Sonny Jay hosts the station's breakfast show alongside Roman Kemp and Sian Welby.

"I'm so excited, I don't know how I kept it a secret," admitted Jay.

His co-host Kemp seemed fairly confident in his chances. "You might fall over a few times and it might hurt but I think you're going to smash this," he said. "I've got a lot of faith in you, pal."

Jay replied: "I don't want to fall over, not in front of the nation. I don't want to be a meme the next day!"

Actor and singer Jason Donovan rose to fame in the 1980s on Australian soap Neighbours, and went on to have a career in the charts and on stage.

"Skating is all about balance and confidence," he told ITV's This Morning as the news was announced.

"I've done a little bit of skating in my youth, in Australia, surprisingly in the heat of an Australian summer.

"I've surfed, I've skied a lot, so I guess I'll bring a little bit of that confidence."

Actress Faye Brookes is perhaps best known for playing Kate Connor in Coronation Street from 2015-2019.

"This is the first time I think people are just going to see me, not being a character… just being me," she said.

Actress, singer and presenter Denise Van Outen has previously competed on Strictly Come Dancing, finishing as joint runner-up in 2012.

But this year, she's taking to the ice. She said her daughter Betsy would be "so excited" because she is a huge fan of the show.

"Hopefully I'll be able to skate" said Van Outen. "Because I literally cannot stand up on ice...

"And every time I've taken Betsy at Christmas time to a rink, I've been the one on the penguin!"

Birmingham musician Lady LeShurr, who rose to fame with the help of YouTube, released her third EP, Quaranqueen, in June.

"Oh my gosh I don't what I've got myself in for," she told Kiss Breakfast.

"But everyone knows me to be that person to just throw myself in at the deep end and I just wing it a lot of the time."

She added: "I'm petrified, [but] I've always wanted to ice skate so what's better than doing it in front of millions of people?

"I'm looking forward to having a new skill, [skating] backwards and just showing off in front of my friends."

Soap star Joe-Warren Plant said he was glad he would get time off from his Emmerdale day job "to really focus on training".

"It's a new challenge, I've never done anything like it before, so super excited," he added.

Musician and presenter Myleene Klass said she "can't wait" to get out there on the ice.

"I have a 13-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old daughter who are obsessed with ice skating," said Klass, who has previously appeared on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!

"They both ice skate and I stand there and I hold the coats. That's my role - to tie the shoelaces and hold the coats.

"Now it's my turn to learn and I can't wait!"

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