The 30-year-old reality star and musician, who was crowned the winner of Dancing On Ice 2018 with professional skater Vanessa Bauer, 22, told The Sun show bosses intentionally pair celebrities with pros with whom they might find a spark. “They always put you with maybe who you can… maybe you’ll get on,” Jake Quickenden told the publication. “But most people are coupled up and nobody wants to ruin a relationship.” The former X Factor contestant said he could see why stars might strike up romances on the ITV show.
“You spend a lot of time with people, dancing and stuff,” he explained.
However, Jake insisted Dancing On Ice isn’t like Strictly Come Dancing, which has its own so-called ‘curse’.
He noted how training time wasn’t spent getting hot and sweaty in a studio but rather “freezing” on the ice.
“[You’re] thinking about if you fall or drop someone in a lift there’s a good chance of injury,” he continued.
“Everything’s shrivelled up, do you know what I mean? It’s not the sexiest of places, to be honest,” he added.
Express.co.uk has contacted ITV asking for comment.
Jake’s comments come after 20-year-old Dancing On Ice 2019 hopeful Wes Nelson’s girlfriend Megan Barton-Hanson, 24, became embroiled in drama when she called out his professional partner Vanessa on Instagram.
After Vanessa confirmed her split from boyfriend Louis Nathaniel just hours before she and Wes took to the ice, Megan wrote in view of her 1.8 million followers: ““@vanessabauer_skates love that you decide to announce your breakup with your boyfriend on the night of your first performance with my boyfriend!
”You’ve never reached out to me once or invited me to watch you train, it pained you to introduce yourself to me last night you didn’t even look me in the eye LOL.
“Hope the tactical breakup got you the headlines you wanted babe,”(sic) she added, tagging Wes in the post, which she deleted several hours later.
Vanessa has since appeared to hit back at Megan’s rant after the Love Island star called her break-up “tactical”, speaking about “women empowerment” in a post to her own 63,000 followers.
She uploaded a series of snaps from her routine with her fellow pro skater Hamish Gaman, 35, along with the caption: “Because whenever I’m on the ice everything is good again.”
Vanessa went on to thank fans for their votes and said: “Last night’s number was an absolute dream. I can’t thank everybody enough for all the love and support.”
She seemed to reference Megan’s comments by including the hashtags: “#strongwoman #DancingOnIce #womenempowerment.”
Vanessa previously spoke out about her break-up after The Sun reported Louis had become concerned about her “growing closeness” with Wes.
She said the split had “nothing to do” with Dancing On Ice, telling her Instagram fans: “Louis and I split for absolutely private reasons.
“It’s hard enough to deal with a break up privately. So upsetting to see papers inventing stories not respecting ones privacy at all,”(sic) she continued.
“Don’t believe all the b******t.”
Dancing On Ice continues Sunday at 6pm on ITV.