Dancing On Ice’s Adele Roberts on final: Being alive is me winning
She was declared cancer-free in 2022 and is continuing to live with a stoma bag.
Former Radio 1 presenter Adele Roberts has said that “being alive” is her winning ahead of the Dancing On Ice final.
The radio DJ, 44, has been competing in the ITV skating competition to raise awareness of bowel cancer and living with a stoma bag.
She was declared cancer-free in 2022 and is continuing to live with the waste pouch, which Roberts has referenced during her time on the show.
Roberts, who is partnered with professional ice dancer Mark Hanretty, said: “It’s weird when you watch the show at home, you think about the celebrity and them winning but when you’re in the competition, you want to do it as a partnership.
“It’s not about us, it’s about your partner as well but I think, me just even being on the show is me winning, like me being alive is me winning.”
She also said that she believes the show has “changed people’s lives” by helping viewers.
“I think they’ve saved lives as well, the awareness of bowel cancer, the fact that they’ve empowered a lot of people with stomas to be more confident to leave the house,” Roberts added.
“I’ve had so many messages along those lines and every week, me and Mark get to skate. Hopefully, it helps even more people.”
Roberts also said the series has “given me so much more confidence”.
When asked about life after the show, she said: “I think I’m at a point in my life now where I feel lucky to be alive.
“I feel like I’ve got a second chance at life and… I want to mourn my mom, I want to go home with my brothers and sisters and think about her and talk about her and cry about her and be happy about her and then see what happens next because I literally have no job, I am unemployed.
“But for some reason, I’m kind of cool with that. We’ll just see what happens.”
Her mother died on January 4 at the age of 61 and she dedicated one of her performances, an emotional routine to Clearly by Grace VanderWaal, to her during the series.
Last week, Roberts landed in the skate-off but prevailed against Love Island star Amber Davies to stay in the competition as the last female contestant and make it to the end alongside former Coronation Street actor Ryan Thomas, Made In Chelsea star Miles Nazaire and Olympic long jumper Greg Rutherford.
Rutherford spoke about how his groin injury is still creating issues for him ahead of Sunday.
He said: “I thought I was out of the show at that point, I didn’t think I was (going to be) able to carry on because it was so painful.
“And we’ve been effectively just letting it heal as much as we can, while still pushing. I’ve been really, really lucky… (it is) still healing so it still, pulls ever so often (and) feels a bit tight and sore.
“But this is performance-led and I had exactly the same when I was an athlete, I think there’s probably only one major in my career where I felt completely healthy.
“So you expect to have these little niggles and little issues, so you just put your mind to it and push through it.”
He also said he does not feel “fully prepared” for the last hurdle.
“I think everybody thinks because, obviously, I’m the athlete (it’s) win at all costs,” he also said.
“But this is a very different world, for me, this isn’t what I did before as well. I’m still learning every day.”
This year marks the 40th anniversary of when judges Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won the Olympic gold.
The celebrities will perform a routine, inspired by the skating duo’s performance of Ravel’s Bolero in Sarajevo at the 1984 Winter Games, at the weekend.
The 16th series of Dancing On Ice finishes on Sunday at 6.25pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
