Dancing on Ice star ditches neutrality to don kilt in show of 'patriotism' for skating medal hopes
Lewis Gibson and Lilah Fear are currently in silver medal position
Dancing on Ice star Mark Hanretty donned a kilt on the final day of the European Figure Skating Championships in a public show of support for Scottish ice dancer Lewis Gibson - but admitted he was breaking the rules in revealing his bias.
Scot Hanretty, who is hosting the international skating competition, held this week in Sheffield, said that as host, he was supposed to show neutral support for all of the skaters, but couldn’t help “a little bit of patriotism”.
Prestwick-born Gibson, with partner Lilah Fear, is lying in the silver medal position after the rhythm dance of the championships, just 1.5 points behind the leaders. Great Britain has not won a gold medal at the Europeans since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean last competed in 1994.
“There’s a little bit of patriotism going on here,” admitted Hanretty, who was born in Erskine and is a former ice dancer who competed at the championships in 2009. ”I can’t be seen to do too much, but I did want to showcase it a little.”
Hanretty, who is hosting the event live with another former ice dancer and Dancing on Ice professional, Molly Lanaghan, performed as a skater on the ITV series from 2011 until 2025.
The ice dance final will take place on Saturday night, when Gibson and Fear will take to the ice in tartan costumes and will skate to a medley of Scottish music including I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers.
The competition is currently led by French skaters Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier-Beaudry, with Gibson and Fear close behind. The bronze medal spot is currently being held by Italians Marco Fabbri and Charlene Guignard, with Lithuanians Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius and France’s Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud also all within six points of the leaders.
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