Age: 29
Professional partner: Sean Rice

I love to dance, I’m very uninhibited. I’m one of these people who hit the clubs, dancing wildly, and you’re like ‘Good on her, lets not copy it though!

She may have tackled some of the toughest slopes in the world but sportswoman Chemmy Alcott admits that she is having the time of her life learning a new skill for Dancing On Ice.

As Britain’s number one skier for a record seven years, Chemmy admits that she has found a new passion in ice skating and it’s helping her rehabilitation since recent skiing accident.

Chemmy said, “I have this massive opportunity with Dancing On Ice to do something that is going to help me get into the right state with my leg and with my sport and with my head. It’s just amazing and I’m so grateful. The first few skating sessions that I did, the coach would say ‘on your right leg, which is the one I broke, ‘go on your outside edge’. It would take me 10 meters to make that connection from my head to my leg. If I was doing that in a skiing situation, downhill, that would have been disastrous. That’s why I can’t bounce back and do my racing straight away; I don’t have that body control any more.”

She continued, “This is teaching me to do it in a safe environment. I didn’t realise I was going to find it tough with my leg. I’ve been doing rehab for the last eight months, and it hasn’t been sports specific, it’s just been labouring rehab. But being able to take part in Dancing On Ice has been an eye opener I worry because if I hadn’t of done this, I would have rushed back to skiing and I would have not been ready.”

The professional skier admits that whilst her sporting background helped at the start of her training it’s now become a hindrance.

Chemmy says, “When I was a very beginner it was helpful because I had the discipline to know where my body was, but now that I’m getting better it’s a huge hindrance because I have trained my body for 28 years, getting into a certain position. For instance I look out of the circle when I’m ice skating, so when I’m skiing I put all my pressure, and my body leans over but I have to do the exact opposite for ice skating and my body pattern doesn’t work that way.”

As the tallest female in the competition this year, Chemmy admits she was relieved to be paired with Sean Rice who is 6ft 2.

Chemmy said, “We’ve start doing the lifts which are massively exciting. To be honest Sean does a huge amount of work, because the forces are all over the shop when you’re dancing with me, and he has to hold all of that. They can do that, that’s why you get the professionals.

She added,” I love practising lifts but I do get a little bit dizzy after the spirals and stuff. One of my best abilities is to be able to trust people, whether that’s financially, emotionally, when I go into things I go 100%. I never hold anything back. I feel guilty a little bit because I see him working extremely hard, I’m like ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have had that curry last night!’

Chemmy is hopeful she will be able to make the transition from the slopes to performing a choreographed routine.

She says, “I love to dance, I’m very uninhibited. I’m one of these people who hit the clubs, dancing wildly, and you’re like ‘Good on her, let’s not copy it though.’

Chemmy continues, I saw Jennifer Ellison the other day and she just looks beautiful on the ice. After watching Jennifer I was like ‘my God, I need to work harder!’ Although I don’t know how to work harder because I’m working as hard as I can go!”