AceShowbiz - "Dancing on Ice" star Christopher Dean has been taken to hospital. The ice skating legend - famous as one half of the Olympics gold medal winning figure skating duo Torvill and Dean with Jayne Torvill, a fellow judge on the ITV competition - announced the news on a social media that he broke his finger, just mere days before the launch of the star-studded show.

"Yes broken [grimacing face]," the 64-year-old Olympic champion wrote along with a photo posted on Wednesday, January 11, 2023.

In a follow-up post on Twitter, Christopher joked about trying out the "Iron Lotus" move, an imaginary move from the 2007 ice skating movie, "Blades of Glory" starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder. He said, "We were trying the Iron Lotus, but ended up doing a Half Nelson. Or did I just fall over a suitcase in the middle of the night?"

Recently, Christopher - who along with Jayne, sits on the panel with Oti Mabuse and Ashley Banjo on the Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield-fronted contest - dealt with a bowel cancer scare.

He said, "Not knowing if I was going to live or die - it was a scary prospect being faced with my own mortality. My doctor was convinced I had an adenoma or adenomatous polyp."

The champion sportsman - who will see Patsy Palmer, Ekin-Su Culculoglu, John Fashanu and other celebrities take to the ice this series - gushed about the "relief" when it was deemed to be benign. Christopher said, "I can't tell you the relief I felt and it really did help me put things into perspective."

This is not the only injury to crop up in training as stand-up comic Darren Harriott revealed he had suffered "whiplash" back in December. The 34-year-old comedian said, "Soooooo... I fell backwards yesterday on the ice near the end of my lesson and I now have whiplash."

"I can't turn my head properly or raise my left arm. This is a big week for everyone on Dancing on Ice because it's promo filming and show and tell so I'm gutted."