Dancing On Ice star Christopher Dean has split from his wife of 16 years and is reportedly romancing married co-star Karen Barber.

The former Olympic champion married American skater Jill Trenary in 1994 and they lived in Colorado with their two teenage sons. Chris has recently been spending long periods of time in the UK as he worked on ITV’s Dancing On Ice and announced his marriage breakdown yesterday.

A spokesperson for the show denied that Chris and Karen are now an item, however The Mirror reports that they were pictured leaving a restaurant together on Thursday and allegedly spent a number of evenings at his flat in Bushey, Herts.