Mark Little reacts to his Dancing On Ice 2019 exit

Mark Little has spoken out after his exit from Dancing On Ice 2019.

The celebrity ice skating competition is back this year for what is its eleventh series overall, after being revived in 2018.

Sunday night saw the first elimination and it was Neighbours star Mark who left Dancing On Ice, skating off against cricketer Ryan Sidebottom.

The twelve celebs on the Dancing On Ice 2019 line up had made their debuts across two shows, with six performing on each night. Mark had been bottom of the combined judges’ scores and viewer votes in the first week while Ryan found himself in danger at the end of Sunday’s show.

After both performed their ‘Save Me’ skates, judges Jayne Torvill, Christopher Dean, Jason Gardiner and Ashley Banjo unanimously decided to save Ryan and send Mark home.

Reflecting on his time on the show, Mark said this week: “Well… it was hard, very hard. But I had a good skate and I really enjoyed it. Being in the skate-off meant I had to skate last so I had my boots on for a long time and I had a long wait watching all of the other skaters perform.

“That was hard, waiting to see who I’d be up against and making sure I got my skate right. It was very tiring. I was just happy that I stayed up right and that I did not clatter into my partner, Brianne, that was my main worry! She’s still in one piece, as am I! We did a good skate, I couldn’t do anymore.”

On his exit, Mark said: “It’s a bit of a double-edged sword. I would have liked to have gone further but I’m an old fellow, I get my London bus pass this year, I’m 60 this year! I did my bit.

“It’s not an old person sport, it’s a young person’s sport. I spent the last three months pretending to be elite sportsman which has been very hard work. There is a bit of me that is glad it’s over.”

He added: “I’m definitely keeping up ice-skating as a past time. I recommend it to people, I can’t recommend it highly enough as an exercise. Ice people are nice people! They’re a good crowd.

“Under doctor’s orders he said I had to lose some weight, well ice-skating you’re losing something like 1400 calories an hour, by just having a leisurely skate! I’m definitely keeping it up, I’ve got the bug.”

Dancing On Ice continues Sunday nights on BBC One.