Dancing on Ice champion Alex Murphy has pinpointed the "underestimated" Adele Roberts as a surprise choice to win this year's competition.
The 44-year-old radio DJ and former I'm A Celebrity star is partnered up with Mark Hanretty for this year's competition and Murphy thinks it's time a female celeb should win the contest.
After all, there hasn't been a female celeb win Dancing on Ice since the ITV series was rebooted back in 2018.
Sharing her desire to see Roberts buck the trend, Murphy exclusively told GB News: "I think this year's lineup is a bit interesting, I'll be honest, I think a little bit different than usual.
"I do think and who I would love to see do really, really well, that I think could be a bit of a dark horse is Adele Roberts.
"I think Dancing On Ice definitely needs a girl to win. They need a girl champion, it's been a long time since we've had a girl champion - every year that I was on it, it was always a male who won!"
Adele Roberts and Mark Hanretty have been paired for this year's Dancing on Ice
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Murphy explained why she thought why this was the case: "I think the audience gives the men more credit.
"They're like, 'Look, they're lifting these women above their heads!' And it is sometimes harder for the men, but I think it's time for a girl to win and I would love for it to be Adele Roberts, I think that she's just a little superstar.
"I worked with her on Coach Trip and I absolutely love her and I think she's underestimated a lot so I think it would be amazing to see her actually do really well and I think she could surprise you."
Roberts' resilience alone isn't the only reason why Murphy thinks she could do well as the DOI champion went on to laud her skating pro partner.
"She's got a good partner, Mark Hanretty is a great partner to have," Murphy explained. "He teaches the basics unbelievably well, he's great at choreography, so I think that they could like just weasel their way in slowly."
However, Murphy also issued some words of advice for Hanretty and the other male pro skaters in her plea to see a female celeb lift the trophy.
"What it comes down to is that sometimes the choreography by the professionals doesn't necessarily lend itself to (the idea that) they're not being lifted the whole time and they're actually skating," she mused.
"So I think it's really important that the male professionals choreograph to show that the women are skating, whereas, because the men start off not being able to lift the female celebrities, the women (pros) kind of have to choreograph to show their skating skills."
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Adele Roberts has been tipped for glory
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Ahead of their debut performance on Sunday evening, Roberts - who was diagnosed with stage 2 bowel cancer in October 2021 - has also lauded Hanretty as they target Dancing on Ice glory.
"I was a bit starstruck when I met him because I've watched the show for years and I felt a bit bad for him because his partners have been stellar," Roberts told ITV.
"He's had Kimberly Wyatt or last year, Carley Stenson. I told him I'll give it everything that I've got. He's just such a lovely, gracious guy and he wants us to do well.
"Obviously he knows I'm never going to be figure skater level like him, so they know to just work with what they've got. It's been lovely getting to meet him and work with him."
