Could this really be the end of Dancing On Ice after 19 years?
The ITV show's future is unclear.
Does anyone actually watch it? The question has become an all too common copy-and-paste insult flung at many shows. The playground taunt of the TV industry, if you will. But in the case of Dancing On Ice, the fear is that the answer is increasingly becoming ‘no.’
For the first time in the ITV show’s 19-year-long history, mumblings about the show being next on the broadcaster’s chopping block seem plausible and, well, advisable.
Dancing On Ice’s major existential issue is its growing failure to attract audiences. This season, the declining interest from viewers at home was even more pronounced. From the offset, it has failed to grab attention: the opening episode had 700,000 fewer people tune in compared to last year and around six million less than its launch nearly two decades ago.
The dwindling viewing figures are also making the cost of producing Dancing On Ice ‘difficult to justify.’ It is an expensive show to produce, and if only a small number of people are watching, it is simply just a waste of money in a TV industry that is already struggling with cash flow due to plummeting advertising revenues and competition from global streamers like Netflix and Disney Plus.
An option would be for ITV to start dramatically cutting costs, but it is difficult to identify an area where that would not irreparably damage the show. The logical first place to start is the talent, as they are often the biggest money-drainers. It is not known how much Dancing On Ice presenters Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern command, but it is thought to be in the region of six figures.
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Previous Page Next PageHowever, as arguably the UK’s most profitable and in-demand presenters, Holly and Stephen are never going to come cheap. The majority of the UK’s TV industry, including global players like Netflix, are clamouring over TV’s ‘golden girl’, Holly, in particular, and she can command huge fees. It is a huge coup that she still presents Dancing On Ice, and they can not afford to lose her.
If not the presenting talent, then a struggling TV show could look to scale back on the celebrity contestants. But on Dancing On Ice, this would be a fatal error. There are already complaints from viewers that they don’t recognise most of the cast of this year’s Dancing On Ice, which featured stars including The Traitors’ Mollie Pearce and Love Island’s Chris Taylor.
It’s fair to say Dancing On Ice doesn’t attract the star wattage of rival reality formats I’m A Celebrity or BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. Last year, I’m A Celebrity scored huge names like Coleen Rooney, while in the recent past Strictly has secured legends from Les Dennis to Robert Webb. No contestant on Dancing On Ice over the past few years has created the same buzz. They need to spend more money on the cast, not less.
Even the lesser-known celebrities on Dancing On Ice command reasonable fees, and herein lies another insurmountable flaw with the format. Ice skating is one of the most challenging and technical sports and, as such, requires months of training. That means stars have no choice but to take more time off their other projects for rehearsals and, rightly so, demand bigger pay cheques to fund that loss of earning. Without scrapping ice skating altogether, aka the entire premise of the show, it is impossible to see a way around this.
Sam was crowned the winner of Dancing On Ice 2025 – but will he be the show’s last? (Picture: Kieron McCarron/ITV/Shutterstock)Loss of interest from viewers, high production costs and failure to attract household names are a recipe for disaster for any show. With this all considered, there does not seem to be saving grace for Dancing On Ice. Sometimes, a programme just loses its legs and needs a ‘do not resuscitate’ notice slapped on it.
Dancing On Ice has done better than most, too. It first aired 19 years ago, an impressive feat not to be sneered at. It has also produced some TV gold moments that will go down in history: who can forget Gemma Collins’ epic fall in 2019, for example? TV bosses will be weighing up whether it’s best to preserve Dancing One Ice’s integrity and legacy than to sully it with another lacklustre season. Everyone knows it’s best to go out on a high.
It’s telling even ITV seem uncertain about Dancing On Ice’s future. When asked to comment on speculation it had been axed, a spokesperson told Metro: ‘The Dancing on Ice team has been fully concentrating on the much anticipated series finale last night and therefore no decision has been made.’
However, it did take the broadcaster a while before sounding the death knell on The X Factor. It only finally announced the show – which was no longer in the zeitgeist and was receiving criticism over the treatment of contestants – was cancelled in 2021. Let’s hope it doesn’t also let Dancing On Ice run well beyond its sell-by date.
Dancing On Ice is available to stream on ITVX.
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