Dancing on Ice viewers have admitted the show had ‘run its course’ after news of its cancellation broke.
Overnight ITV announced the long-running series, which launched in 2006, would not be returning to screens.
‘Following another successful series earlier this year, Dancing on Ice will be rested in 2026 with no current plans for another series,’ an ITV spokesperson told Metro.
‘We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the cast and crew who have worked on the show since 2006, and over the previous 17 series, for all of their hard work both on and off the ice.’
During the first season finale, the show attracted an impressive 13 million viewers.
However, the recent 2025 finale, which was won by Coronation Street actor Sam Aston, only drew in 2.7 million viewers.
The series has been plagued by cancellation rumours for weeks, but when it was finally confirmed – many said it had been a long time coming.
The announcement of the news drew over 3,800 comments on Facebook, with many Metro readers saying the format had grown tired.
‘Haven’t watched the show in yrs. No great loss,’ Nadine posted.
‘The last series wasn’t as good as normal, Jane and Christopher are retiring it seems the right time to end,’ Teresa shared.
‘It’s had its day. When it was first on it was great they couldn’t skate, and you saw them all improve now they are brilliant from the start, so I stopped watching it,’ Carol explained.
‘It’s had its time. It wouldn’t be right without Jane and Chris skating either. I avidly watched the first couple of series’, but I haven’t watched it for years now. It just completely went off the boil,’ Debbie added.
Reflecting on the most recent season, many others also weighed in.
‘Am gutted and sad to hear this but after this last series I feel it’s the right decision as it was nowhere near as good as it used to be. Felt very rushed this year and the standard wasn’t as good as it was in the earlier series’,’ Ant wrote.
‘This series wasn’t the best in my opinion. And when they said it would be the last performance of Torvill and Dean on TV, that was the announcement [it was over],’ Charlotte explained.
Why Dancing on Ice was doomed to end
After nearly 20 years on air, Dancing on Ice was failing to maintain the loyal audience it once held.
During its series premiere in 2006, the ITV show attracted an impressive 9.8 million viewers, figures it maintained for several years.
From 2007-2013 the season premieres drew between 8.3 million- 10.2 million.
The final season before its first cancellation saw 7.1 million tune in, still somewhat respectable figures.
When it returned in 2018, 8.5 million watched Dancing on Ice, but numbers have dramatically dropped since then.
Over the past two seasons its struggled to crack over 5 million viewers – with the past few years’ figures being 4.6 million, 4.2 million and finally, just 3.3 million earlier this year.
With more people switching off, it’s no surprise ITV was forced to put the programme on ice.
While this season was airing, it was reported that the drop in viewership was making the cost of producing the programme ‘difficult to justify’.
‘We need bums on seats, but the ratings have dropped to a point where it’s difficult to justify the cost,’ a source told The Mirror.
There’s also been criticism from fans over the years for its lack of star power, with many often complaining they don’t know many of the celebrity contestants, in stark contrast to the famous faces who sign up to rival shows like Strictly Come Dancing and I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!.
Dancing on Ice was originally fronted by Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, before he was replaced by Stephen Mulhern two years ago.
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The series was previously cancelled by ITV in 2014, with the broadcaster’s director of television saying at the time that the show had ‘reached its natural end’.
However, it was then revived four years later, but struggled to attract audience numbers it had initially received.
Over 200 celebrities have taken part in the show over the 245 episodes.
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Dancing on Ice is streaming on ITVX.
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