08 January 2024 , 21:21
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Boxing star Ricky Hatton has split from his girlfriend - days before he is due to debut on ITV’s Dancing On Ice.
The 45-year-old sporting champ had been romantically involved with a model named Chelsea Claire, 31. But it seems an age gap and work commitments got in the way of their romance - and the relationship has been written off as a ‘fling’.
Ricky - who will appear on season sixteen of ITV’s Dancing On Ice this month, where he has been paired with professional ice skater Robin Johnstone - is said to have felt he is at a different stage of life. While Chelsea is reported to have been a model for Playboy - and the pair had started dating last summer before things went official last October.
Now news has broken that the pair have decided to go their separate ways. And this means Ricky won’t have Chelsea cheering him on from the side of the rink when Dancing On Ice returns to screens on Sunday.
Ricky Hatton has split from girlfriend Chelsea Claire after four months of dating (Instagram)A source told The Sun: “Ricky and Chelsea had a great time together, but it ended up being more of a fling. They are at very different stages of their life and Ricky is really throwing himself into training and wants to concentrate on that. Things are still really amicable and they will be friends going forward.”
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Dancing On Ice has been accused of having a ‘curse’ - much like rival BBC show Strictly Come Dancing. Over the course of the ITV show’s eighteen years on screens, a number of relationships have crumbled once stars lace up their ice skates.
Former Love Island star Maura Higgins saw her romance with Curtis Pritchard implode when she was training for Dancing On Ice - and her skate partner, Alexander Demetriou’s marriage to fellow skater Carlotta Edwards crumbled soon after. Maura had hit out at speculation something had happened between her and Alexander to destroy his marriage of 11 years.
Ricky will soon be competing on ITV's Dancing On Ice (ITV)
Chelsea has modelled for Playboy in the past (Instagram)And another example of a ruined romance was that of Jake Quickenden and Danielle Fogarty. The former X Factor star had started off his Dancing On Ice journey engaged to Carl Fogarty's daughter - only for the relationship to collapse weeks after he won the show.
A source told The Sun at the time: “They always put you with maybe who you can… maybe you’ll get on, but most people are coupled up and nobody wants to ruin a relationship. But you can see why it might happen, you spend a lot of time with people, dancing and stuff.”
Former Dancing On Ice judge Jason Gardiner has previously discussed the show's curse. He told the Daily Star previously: "We’ve had loads of those. We just don’t make a song and dance about it.” While a source added: “It seems that there was a lot more going on backstage at the ice rink than fans got to know about. Clearly Dancing On Ice is worse than Strictly.”