Chico relishes Dancing on Ice opportunity

Chico relishes Dancing on Ice opportunity
Chico relishes Dancing on Ice opportunity

Former X Factor hopeful Chico has admitted he is nervous about replacing injured Dancing On Ice contestant Chesney Hawkes - but said landing the gig was "the opportunity of a lifetime". The singer is getting his skates on just days before the new series of the ITV1 show hits screens, after one-hit wonder Chesney sprained his ankle and fractured a bone in his leg during rehearsal. Chico, who has been in training as a stand-in, said: "I'm delighted that I'm in but very, very disappointed for Chesney. Hopefully I can fill those boots of his, because he was looking fantastic on the ice." The former stripper - who reached the quarter-finals of the 2005 series of The X Factor - added: "I've been given the opportunity of a lifetime and I'm going to grab it with both hands. "I haven't done any (skating) for the last two-and-a-half weeks. I'm really a little bit apprehensive, because it's kind of like, 'Oh my God, it's here'. I didn't think I was going to be in. "I've got to go out with another partner, we've got to get used to the new routine and perform it as soon as possible. So no pressure ..." The singer, who has so far managed to avoid injury on the ice, said he hoped to stay in the show long enough to skate along to his 2006 chart topper, It's Chico Time. And Chico - whose other songs include Curvy Cola Bottle Body Baby and D.I.S.C.O. - also revealed his methods for keeping positive during the contest, which returns to ITV1 on Sunday night. "I'm a spiritual person so I meditate, I think of my spiritual master. I've got prayer beads and things, so I do that to ward off any kind of negativity," he said.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.