Dancing on Ice insiders have opened up about the huge cost of the show, revealing that its large budget can no longer be justified amid dwindling ratings for ITV

Fans should make the most of next weekend’s Dancing on Ice final – because it could be the show’s last ever episode.

Judges Torvill and Dean have now hung up their skates after giving a tearful live performance on the ITV programme last month… And channel insiders say the Sunday night series, presented by Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern, is likely to be dropped for next year after sinking to its lowest ever ratings – a far cry from its heyday when 12million tuned in.

Last year, the show scored its smallest live audience of all time when 2.9 million tuned in to one episode, a drop of 700,000 on the 3.6 million who’d watched the opener a few weeks earlier. This year, the show could only manage 2.9 million for the launch, and by the fifth episode another half a million viewers had melted away, leaving just 2.4 million.

This year’s line up of intrepid celebrity contestants might be the last to take to the rink in Dancing on Ice ( 
Image:
ITV)
It means that over the past two years Dancing on Ice has lost more than a million viewers, with the 2023 launch watched by 4.1million but this series never making it above 3million, according to official overnight ratings from BARB.

This year’s line up of intrepid celebrity contestants might be the last to take to the rink in Dancing on Ice ( 
Image:
ITV)
It means that over the past two years Dancing on Ice has lost more than a million viewers, with the 2023 launch watched by 4.1million but this series never making it above 3million, according to official overnight ratings from BARB.

Channel chiefs believe the only way to justify the huge costs involved in making Dancing on Ice going forward is by attracting a blockbuster audience, which just isn’t happening. One source said: “There are very real fears this is the end of the road for Dancing on Ice. It’s had a good run for nearly 20 years and has a very loyal set of viewers who really love it but the sad truth is there’s just not enough of them. We need bums on seats but the ratings have dropped to a point where it’s difficult to justify the cost.”

Many of the 12 celebrity contestants earn six-figure sums because of the months of training needed to get them through the routines. ITV also pays big fees to presenters Holly and Stephen, the 12 professional ice-skaters and four judges – comprising ice-skating legends Torvill and Dean plus Strictly star Oti Mabuse and fellow dance expert Ashley Banjo. They also have to maintain the purpose-built studio rink at Bovingdon Airfield in Hertfordshire.

An ITV spokeswoman told The Mirror: “The Dancing on Ice team is fully concentrating on the much anticipated series finale this coming Sunday and therefore no decision has been made.” She said that when catch-up viewing was included, the series had averaged 3million viewers across the current run, thanks in part to 3.6m streams on ITVX.

Michaela and Mark are the favourites to win this year – but will they be among the show’s last ever contestants? ( 
Image:
Kieron McCarron/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Michaela Strachan, who dances with Mark Hanretty, is the firm favourite to take the trophy next Sunday, with bookies putting her at evens. If she does, it would make her the first female winner since gymnast Beth Tweddle triumphed in 2013. The BBC wildlife presenter is the last female in the competition, skating against Corrie star Sam Aston, TOWIE’s Dan Edgar and former footballer Anton Ferdinand,

Torvill and Dean have now officially stopped live performances, having completed their final tour. Announcing their planned retirement from the rink a year ago, the pair insisted: “We have no plans to step back from Dancing On Ice and hope that the series continues for years to come.”

The show launched in 2006 but ended after its ninth run in 2014, when Torvill and Dean said they wanted to leave “on a high” following the 30th anniversary of their Bolero win. “I think there comes a time when you know we’re not spring chickens any more,” Christopher said at the time. “We’re still able to do it, to a certain degree we feel good about it, but that will go.”

Four years later the show returned with the pair swapping their role as mentors to the contestants for the judging panel – where they have been ever since. At least if the show does not return in 2026, it’s not all bad news for Stephen and Holly, who are set to make more episodes of rebooted gameshow You Bet later this year.