Rosemary Conley & Mark Hanretty

Fitness fanatic Rosemary says she feels 25 again after training for the show – and is the happiest she’s ever been. “I've been on the ceiling with excitement since I started training,” she grins. “My husband says he's never seen me so happy in the 28 years that we've been together!”

The diet guru has been making a packed lunch for herself and skating partner Mark each day. “I take Mark’s lunch everyday because I want to make sure that he is going to be well looked after,” she says. “So while I’m packing my own lunch, I’m packing his as well.”

However, on the subject of food, Rosemary is petrified she’ll be sick after doing a spin on the ice. “Last week we practiced a spin - but when Mark put me back down on the ice, I couldn’t get up! When I got home, I couldn’t eat my dinner – it took me four hours recover!”

Mark’s first major competition was in 2003, where he came third in the British Junior Championships as a solo skater. He then switched to ice dancing, coming second at the British Junior Championships in 2005.

Success came as an adult when in 2007 he came third in the British Championships, a feat he repeated in 2009. Mark then represented Great Britain in Ice Dance at the World Championships in both 2009 and 2010.

2010 also saw Mark achieve his proudest moment in competition, as he was invited to take part in The International Figure Skating Festival in North Korea, achieving first place.

Mark is a nationally qualified coach and is choreographer to many of Britain’s national squad skaters and international competitors. He joined Dancing on Ice last year partnering Nadia Sawalha, but sadly they were eliminated in the first show.