Colin Grafton has revealed the impact of The Vivienne’s death(Image: PA)
Dancing On Ice star Colin Grafton has revealed he was close to pulling out of the last series of the ITV show following The Vivienne’s death. The ice skater was partnered with the late RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star on his first season of the show in 2023.
They made show history together and became incredibly close friends. Colin was left devastated in January, just days before the start of the 2025 series, following the news of The Vivienne’s death.
The Vivienne, real name James Lee Williams, was found dead at home i n Cheshire, on January 5 after taking ketamine at the age of 32. The family revealed in March that the drag queen died “from the effects of ketamine use causing a cardiac arrest”, to raise awareness.
Since the news of Dancing On Ice’s axe, Colin has taken some time away from the spotlight to spend time with family and friends. Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, he admitted it was “much needed” before returning to work for an ice skating show in Mexico.
Colin became close friends with celebrity partner The Vivienne(Image: Matt Frost/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Deatiling his favourite memory on the ITV show, Colin told us: “I think my year with The Vivienne was obviously so special because that was my first year on the show.
“Obviously very sad of passing, so that’s another reason I had to take some time after the show just to process as I had no time during the show. That whole season for me was just very special.”
Colin almost didn’t take part in the latest series of Dancing On Ice with the Traitors star Mollie Pearce despite their months of training.
“It was really tricky for me to get my head in the right place to do the series,” he admitted. “I actually had a lot of thought of if I was going to do it or not. My partner Mollie was just so fantastic and was there for me along with the other pros and everybody really.
Colin re-wore The Vivienne’s outfit(Image: colin_grafton/Instagram)
“It was very challenging, but at the same time… Mollie and I had put in so much work and I know that’s what Viv would have wanted me to do. Go out there and show everybody our hard work and that’s how we did it.”
Colin made sure to pay a touching tribute to The Vivienne, which may have been missed by some viewers. He re-wore The Vivienne’s final outfit from their series together after the costume team kept it back.
At the time Colin told his fans: “Tonight was extra special. Thank you to you all for voting. This was The Vivienne’s’ last costume on our season of Dancing on Ice and it felt so special to wear it tonight, she was with me.”
Revealing how it came about, Colin said: “The wardrobe team were so sweet and they were like ‘if you want to wear this, it’s yours to wear’. I was able to wear it and I got to keep it, so I have it now.”
He also opened up as to what it felt like to wear the outfit as he added: “I was expecting to feel quite emotional, but instead I felt really powerful. I just felt like she was there and it was wonderful. It was really, really nice. It was a really great feeling.”
