‘Dancing on Ice’ bosses are keen to recruit a black professional skater.
The team at ITV wants to make their professional team more "diverse and inclusive" and they are in the midst of screen-testing black skaters to appear on the show.
A source told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre TV column: "ITV wants to make sure Dancing On Ice is fully representative. It’s one of its biggest shows and it’s important it is diverse and inclusive. They are currently screen-testing black skaters for a full time role but have yet to settle on someone who they think will slip into the team seamlessly. It’s not long until the show starts recording and a decision will have to be made. Bosses feel it is a natural step after having Ian ‘H’ Watkins dancing with Matt Evers last year."
It comes after Brianne Delcourt quit ‘Dancing on Ice’ after 10 years on the show.
She said: "It has been a back-and-forth question mark in my mind for some time now. The hardest part will be missing my ‘DoI’ family and I have so much to thank the show for, including introducing me to my absolute soulmate in Kevin. I’m 39 – 40 in February – and I’ve been on the road for so long and as a working mum – a single mum. I really had to work hard for everything on my own. The show has been a huge part of my life and part of Gracie’s too."
Brianne met her now-fiance Kevin Kilbane on the show this year when they were partnered together, and she admitted it was a tough decision to leave the ITV programme behind after it has been such a huge part of her life and that of her three-year-old daughter Gracie’s.