Dancing on Ice fans praise new host Stephen Mulhern

Dancing on Ice fans have praised Stephen Mulhern after he made his first appearance as host alongside Holly Willoughby.

The premiere of the sixteenth season of the slippery reality show saw the return of iconic judges Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, alongside Ashley Banjo and Oti Mabuse, and a star studded cast of celebrity skaters.

However, one big difference from previous seasons of the show was the substitution of Phillip Schofield for Mulhern.

Related: Holly Willoughby shares first Dancing on Ice update ahead of hosting comeback

Mulhern previously guest-hosted the reality skating show back in 2022 alongside Holly, but tonight (January 14) was his first episode as full time host – and fans have given a thumbs up.

"I’ll hear no Stephen Mulhern slander. One of the best presenters on the box at the mo," one fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter), with another adding, "Stephen Mulhern is a national treasure. There I said it."

Another viewer added, "Stephen Mulhern is smashing this, how can anyone not love him, he's funny AF," while another fan wrote, "Fifteen minutes in, and Dancing On Ice is so much better with Stephen Mulhern as co-host. There's so much more energy to the show now."

The episode also saw a This Morning reunion as Willoughby was greeted by former co-star and I'm a Celebrity contestant Josie Gibson, who presented Stephen and Holly with their own Bushtucker trial... two vomit fruit smoothies – though we suspect there was really something a little nicer in the cups.

Related: Dancing on Ice star replaced after sustaining injury

The first episode of the season saw six out of the twelve celebrities perform for the first time with their professional ice skating partners.

These included Olympic long jumper and presenter Greg Rutherford and his partner Vanessa James, Emmerdale's Roxy Shahidi and her partner Sylvain Longchambon, boxer Ricky Hatton – who received a good luck message from Tyson Fury – and his partner Robin Johnstone.

Also skating in week one were Love Island star Amber Davies with new professional Simon Proulx-Sénécal, former S Club 7 singer Hannah Spearritt and her partner Andy Buchanan and finally, Coronation Street's Ryan Thomas with (also new to show) partner Amani Fancy.

Ryan and Amani nabbed the top score (26.5), but as the bottom pair, when taking the public vote and judges' scores into account, Ricky and Robin will have to skate in next week's skate off.

Dancing on Ice airs on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.

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