I’M FROZEN OUT
DANCING ON ICE STAR’S SAD EXILE Mark mourns lack of coaching work in his native Scotland that sees him stuck south of the Border to earn
BY KATHLEEN SPEIRS DANCING on Ice professional Mark Hanretty has said he is “deeply saddened” by being unable to coach the next generation of ice skaters in Scotland.
Mark, 33, lives in Nottingham with wife Kathy and their children, Lukasz, five, and Liola, one.
The ITV star told the Record having to move south for work leaves him with a heavy heart and that he’d return to Scotland in an instant.
He said: “One thing I find really sad is that I don’t get to coach up in Scotland.
“When I’m not with Dancing on Ice, I teach skating in the Nottinghamshire area because that’s where I’m based, my wife is from there.
“But I’d move back to Scotland in a heartbeat if the work was there and would just love to coach new skaters back home. It does sadden me.”
Erskine-born Mark first took to the ice at the Lagoon Centre, Renfrewshire, with the Paisley Ice Dancing and Figure Skating Club at age nine.
From there, he worked at Braehead Ice Rink in Renfrew for a couple of years while training at East Kilbride and Murrayfield.
Mark added: “There are opportunities to skate in Scotland.
“I trained in different parts of the country and there’s a real hub for it in Dundee. But work took me down south.”
Mark is partnered with Loose Women star Saira Khan for this year’s ice dance contest, which began last night.
He first appeared on the hit skating show with Saira’s fellow Loose Woman Nadia Sawalha in 2011 but was booted out in the first week. He said: “Let’s hope I don’t have a repeat of that with Saira.
“Nadia was definitely better than Saira to begin with but Saira has a brilliant work ethic and has been giving it her all since we started training together last month. Hopefully we go as far as possible.”
Meanwhile, Gemma Collins was branded a “ledge” by judge Ashley Banjo last night after she delivered a dazzling routine just hours after suffering a “massive fall”. The TOWIE star had said she needed “a miracle” after falling just a couple of hours before the start of the show. The star – who is skating with Matt Evers – posted a video on her Instagram Story. She said: “Guys, I’ve had a massive fall while in rehearsals, we escaped the ambulance this time. I’m gonna need a miracle tonight.” But later she appeared to have recovered, performing a series of jumps and the splits to Beyonce’s Crazy In Love.
I’d move back to Scotland in a heartbeat if the work was there MARK HANRETTY ON BEING FORCED TO MOVE TO ENGLAND TO COACH