Nadia Sawalha "lost" half of her ‘Dancing On Ice’ fee because she was too scared to skate on the rink again.
The former ‘EastEnders’ actress appeared on the sixth series of the ITV figure skating show in 2011 but she and her professional partner Mark Hanretty didn’t make it through the first two qualifying episodes which in place that year.
Nadia admits she declined to appear in the group dance in the series finale because she "hated" being on the ice, and she didn’t care about losing money by not taking part.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, Nadia said: "Nobody could understand how scary and difficult that is. I’m a good dancer but what I didn’t realise is you have to dance on knives on ice, and believe you me it is like dancing on knives – the first fall I had I said, ‘I’m never getting on the ice again without holding his hand.’ When you come out of Dancing On Ice you are obliged in your contract to go back on the very last episode and that’s when you get paid your second half of money if you go to the last dance, and I wouldn’t go and they said, ‘We can’t pay you 50 per cent of your fee.’ And I said, ‘Well I’ll just lose it then because I can never get back on the ice again.’ That’s how much I hated it. I mean I love the show, it was exciting, the costume, the glitter, the hair, but I just hated being on the ice."
The 54-year-old ‘Loose Women’ panellist is watching her co-star Saira Khan compete on this year’s ‘Dancing On Ice’ series with the same professional skating partner, Mark, and Nadia was so "relieved" when her friend survived the skate off on Sunday night (20.01.19), against Richard Blackwood and his pro partner Carlotta Edwards home.
Nadia said: "I was screaming my head off, I was speaking to Mark, her partner. I’ve had a few messages from her [Saira] saying, ‘Phone me, phone me!’
"I was really frustrated that she was down to the last two because she’s only danced once before and she couldn’t dance the first week, she couldn’t do a single thing on the ice and she was being spun around and everything. I thought she was brilliant, and I was just so relieved when she went through."
Nadia was speaking to promote a new study conducted by theme park Alton Towers which has revealed the extent to which the nation’s concerns for 2019 will influence people’s behaviour, with Brits set to invest more than £8.2 billion on time spent with their friends and families.
Speaking about the important of fun family time, Nadia said: "I love to cook with them [my kids] and go to theme parks and go on crazy rides with them. Home education is so much free learning, say for instance, we’ll have dinner with them and Mark and I will have thought up a subject and have a conversation and debate and they won’t even know what we’ve done."
The research was commissioned by Alton Towers Resort to mark the launch of Power of the Towers – a year of celebrating experiences that bring people together to create memories.
Nadia Sawalha lost half her Dancing On Ice fee rather than skate again
