Mark Rhodes warms up for Dancing on Ice debut

Darlaston-born TV presenter Mark Rhodes has been putting in hours of training since securing his place in the latest series of ITV's Dancing On Ice.

The former Darlaston Comprehensive School pupil will be getting his skates on alongside his children's TV presenter partner in crime Sam Nixon and 13 other celebrities.

Inspired in his childhood years by watching ice dance duo Torvill and Dean, the 30-year-old says he has mixed emotions about getting on the ice for the first show tomorrow night.

• See more pictures in our gallery to your right

"I'm dreading it and looking forward to it at the same time," he said.

"As soon as the music starts I know I'll get into it. I'm just dreading that someone has to go in the first week. The competition is going to be very tough."

After finding out in October, the co-presenter of CBBC's Sam and Mark's Big Friday Wind Up said it had been difficult to keep the news from family and friends.

The celeb line-up for the show was publicly announced earlier this week.

He said: "It's been nice to tell everyone. I've been practising quite a lot since I found out. The training has been quite mad.

"It's quite a difficult thing to get into but my partner Frankie has been brilliant."

The former runner-up in TV talent show Pop Idol said he had been a fan of Dancing On Ice for years. He said: "Being a kid in the 1980s, I grew up watching Torvill and Dean. I wanted to see how good I could be. This is taking up quite a lot of my time. I still try and go back home as much as I can to see family and friends."

Mark and Sam Nixon have more than 100 hours of live television under their belts since both of them shot to stardom on TV talent contest Pop Idol in 2003.

After notching a number on e single they have presented Top Of The Pops Saturday, TMi, Skate Nation and Copycats and made regular appearances on ITV's This Morning and their own radio show.

Other celebrities taking part in Dancing On Ice this year include EastEnders star Laila Morse, Sugababe Heidi Range and singer Chesney Hawkes.