Holly Willoughby has publicly addressed her return to Dancing on Ice on social media for the first time since she was confirmed to come back to the skating competition.
Speculation had been rife that Willoughby wouldn't be returning to the show without Phillip Schofield following his ITV departure in May.
Plus, in October 2023, Willoughby quit This Morning and has been absent from the spotlight ever since.
The 42-year-old decided to take time away from screens to spend time with her family after a murder and kidnap plot against her was foiled.
Now ready to return to screens, Willoughby will be co-hosting this year's Dancing on Ice alongside fellow ITV stalwart Stephen Mulhern.
Willoughby took to Instagram on Friday, January 12 to share a snap of the very first script of the series as she teased her comeback.
With her pet cat in the background, Willoughby held the script for the camera as she captioned alongside: "And so it begins…" followed by an ice skate emoji.
Following her return to Instagram, several of Willoughby's fans expressed their delight at the prospect of seeing her back on screens.
"Good luck Holly. We’ve missed you x," one fan said while a second added: "We've missed you Holly, so happy that we are seeing you on our screens again x."
A third echoed: "Looking forward to seeing you. I do hope you are well. You have been missed."
This will be Mulhern's first stint as Dancing on Ice while it'll be the first time Willoughby has fronted the series without Schofield.
However, the judging panel remains unchanged as Christopher Dean, Jayne Torvill, Ashley Banjo and Oti Mabuse will be back to provide their critique.
A new host of famous faces will be hoping to impress on the ice but ahead of Sunday's premiere, a former champion of the show has warned Willoughby may shift "focus" from the celebs.
Alex Murphy won the series with Joe Swash in 2020 and told GB News: "My experience with Holly and Phil was nothing but wonderful. We saw them on a Saturday and a Sunday, and they were always kind to me, always good to me, always checked in with me, Holly's children are adorable - they're just lovely people.
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Holly Willoughby is returning to Dancing on Ice
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"I do think she's been through a really, really tough year and that's got to be really hard. Now she's almost ripping the band-aid off where she's saying, 'I'm going back, this is my spot, I deserve this spot'.
"We can't take away the fact that she's a brilliant presenter, we should recognise that for her and just allow her to do her job.
"I do anticipate she's probably going to get people saying whatever they want to say, but Stephen Mulhern is amazing so maybe they could be a lovely duo. I'd love to see that."
Murphy conceded: "I do think that the really hard part about the show though (is) because the focus is actually on Holly and (Stephen) as opposed to the focus being on the show itself.
"So I hope that it doesn't distract too much from the show and I hope that she can just get on with it and live her life and keep the spot that she deserves to keep."
