Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards on Dancing On Ice: I thought I broke my elbow in fall

The former Olympic ski jumper, 60, will make his competitive debut skating on the ITV celebrity show on Sunday along with contestants including Made In Chelsea star Miles Nazaire and former EastEnders actor Ricky Norwood.

Edwards said: “The biggest challenge at the beginning, when I first started skating, was the blisters. You’re given a brand new pair of skates, and it takes me half-an-hour to put the skates on.

“And then for the initial sort of two weeks, you get blisters, and no matter how much you try to get rid of them, they just keep popping up and so that was very, very difficult to get used to.

“Falling over a few times, had bumps, I thought I broke my elbow at one point, but that survived … but I’m constantly falling over anyway because if you’re not falling over, I don’t think you’re pushing yourself hard enough really.

“But so far, nothing too serious so, I’m very pleased that I’m still in one piece.”

Edwards is a replacement for former Gogglebox star Stephen Lustig-Webb, who had to withdraw last year before the competition began due to an injury.

“I always feel like I’m trying to catch up and because I see very little of all the other guys … (it’s) very, very difficult to judge how well I’m doing compared to everybody else,” he said.

He also said he used to put his skis on in a certain way, when he was competing, but that he had abandoned this routine for Dancing On Ice.

“As I’ve aged … I’ve become less superstitious,” he added.

Nazaire, who has taken a break from Made In Chelsea to skate, said he hoped viewers saw him not as one of “these posh boys” doing nothing and more than “goofy and lighthearted”.

He added: “I feel like it’s quite nice to prove to a lot of people and to myself like ‘Hey, I’m not just this person that you see on reality TV’. There’s a lot more to me.”

Nazaire has also stopped drinking for several months as “the enjoyment of alcohol’s kind of left my life a little bit”.

Celebrity Big Brother runner-up Norwood said he would return to EastEnders as Arthur “Fatboy” Chubb after fans enjoyed his cameo on the BBC soap last year.

He added: “You know what it’s like in this business, you just got to kind of do what you do and if a phone call comes or if an opportunity comes … you’ve got a question to answer but until that moment, (you’ve) just got to keep driving forward.”

The latest series, which kicked off on Sunday, marked the return of Dancing On Ice presenter Holly Willoughby to TV screens after she left This Morning in October.

The 42-year-old is hosting the show alongside Stephen Mulhern, who has replaced Phillip Schofield following his departure from ITV.

Former world champion boxer Ricky Hatton was put in the skate-off on Sunday.

He could face radio presenter Adele Roberts, Norwood, actress Claire Sweeney, Nazaire, comedian and writer Lou Sanders, or Edwards if they come bottom of the table following the judges scores and public vote at the weekend.

Dancing On Ice returns 6.30pm on Sunday on ITV1 and ITVX.