Chemmy Alcott

April 2012

DOING Dancing On Ice has been massively surreal. I did go into it thinking I’m a ski racer, this could be a doddle for me. But I was thrown in at the deep end and realised that it’s really challenging. 

I have such a new found respect for ice skaters. They have to be super athletic, they have to learn choreography, they have to perform... it’s not just sport, it’s entertainment.

I remember skating out for the very first show and them saying ‘we have ten million viewers, everyone have a great skate.’ It excited some of the others but it didn’t excite me. I was thinking ‘Oh my gosh!’

I remember being at the Olympics knowing that a million people were watching and thought that was a dream come true.

It is weird being recognised for taking part in a reality TV show as opposed to being top ten in the world in your chosen sport. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I’m not complaining.

I ranked eight in the world for my sport and I hardly had any attention. They day before I crashed I had something like 900 Twitter followers. The day after I crashed I got an extra thousand. Now I’m on over 30,000.

A lot of the ski-ing world thought ‘Why would you do this?’. But I’m an intelligent girl. I knew that it would raise my profile. And I need to raise £90,000 to ski when I come back. Yes, it’s great that I spent a year doing rehab but if I can’t afford a world class programme what’s the point?

I’m trying to organise my comeback to ski-ing as well as working on the tour. I knew when I broke my leg how bad it was and that recovering was going to take a long time. The aim was always the Olympics in 2014.

One of the other reasons I did the show was to see how my leg would handle it.

And it’s a different side to me. I’ve never been a performer or an actress and at the beginning I did feel really silly. But then I started enjoying it. It’s fun to challenge yourself.

I’ve gone from the start gate and raced down to the bottom but I’ve never been judged. I just look at the watch to tell me whether I’ve won or lost.

But Dancing On Ice is all about showing people that you’re loving it and smiling the whole time while thinking about every single move. That was a challenge in itself.

And I have had so many people sending messages saying I inspired them. They’d say ‘I’ve had a crash, I’ve been injured and you’ve inspired me to get of the couch and do something with my life.’

On the first show they talked about me breaking my neck when I was 11. And there was a little girl who is seven who broke her neck the day before that show. And she completely latched on to my story.

Her parents said that I’m the one getting her through this. She realises that she can walk again. It’s amazing that you can affect someone in such a positive way.

Chemmy Alcott joins Matthew Wolfenden, Andy Whyment, Heidi Range, Chico, Jorgie Porter, Jennifer Ellison and Sam Attwater on the Dancing On Ice Live Tour 2012 at the Capital FM Arena on April 20 to 22. Performances will be at 7.30pm on April 20 and 21, at 2.30pm on April 21 and at 1.30pm on April 22. Tickets range from £42.50 to £125 and are available from the venue box office in Bolero Square, by calling 08444 124624 or through www.capitalfmarena.com