{"id":1889,"date":"2025-03-12T15:02:27","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T16:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/?p=1889"},"modified":"2025-03-13T15:03:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T15:03:15","slug":"holly-willoughby-is-better-off-without-dancing-on-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/12\/holly-willoughby-is-better-off-without-dancing-on-ice\/","title":{"rendered":"Holly Willoughby is better off without Dancing on Ice"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Editorial\t<\/div>
The end of Dancing on Ice marks an exciting new beginning for Holly Willoughby (Picture: Kieron McCarron\/ITV\/Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Holly Willoughby could be about to enter her best era yet \u2013 without ITV<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For the last 16 years, Holly has been ITV\u2019s darling, becoming one-half of the most popular double act since Ant and Dec alongside the now disgraced Phillip Schofield<\/a> on This Morning.<\/p>\n

Their visibly tight bond was unmissable television. Beneath clips of them curling up into fits of laughter, there would be endless comments from fans tagging their friends, writing \u2018this is us\u2019.<\/p>\n

In turn, Holly quite rightly became TV\u2019s \u2018golden girl\u2019, she couldn\u2019t put a single foot wrong.<\/p>\n

We got to see her naughty side on Keith Lemon<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s debaucherous Celebrity Juice<\/strong><\/a> (where she was a captain for 22 series) but she held her own in tough interviews (unless they were with then Prime Minister Boris Johnson) and was pitch-perfect as the best friend a closeted gay man needed when Schofield came out on national television<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro’s TV Newsletter.<\/p>\n

Sign up to our newsletter<\/a> and then select your show in the link we’ll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

But two years ago, the gleam of Holly Willoughby began to fade \u2013 albeit due to circumstances out of her control.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Holly\t<\/div>
Holly confirmed she won’t be returning for a second series of rebooted same show You Bet!(Picture: ITV)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Signs that her friendship with Schofield <\/a>was waning became glaringly obvious on This Morning.<\/p>\n

In his abysmal TV comeback on Channel 5\u2019s Cast Away, Schofield claimed he was sacked from the show<\/strong><\/a> because his brother was jailed for child sex abuse and not<\/em> because of his affair with a much younger ITV colleague.<\/p>\n

For Holly though, navigating her \u2018TV husband\u2019 being at the centre of such a colossal scandal was always going to be her Everest.<\/p>\n

The public lost trust in This Morning and, through no fault of her own, they\u2019d also lost trust in her.<\/p>\n

Then, just weeks later, police confirmed a security guard from Essex, Gavin Plumb, plotted to abduct, rape and kidnap Holly<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Naturally, she stepped down with immediate effect soon after and cut herself off from the public glare.<\/p>\n

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Holly\u2019s biggest solo job to date, Celebrity Bear Hunt, was <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/02\/05\/holly-willoughbys-star-studded-new-netflix-show-im-a-celebrity-steroids-22488900\/\">a resounding triumph<\/a> when it launched on Netflix this year, shooting straight to the top of the streamer\u2019s chart just hours after its release.<\/p>\n<p>Critics and fans loved it. The last thing anyone thought we needed was another jungle show but watching celebs including Mel B, Boris Becker and Laurence Lleweylyn Bowen genuinely risk their lives to be chased around by Bear Grylls was surprisingly fun and will be back for another series \u2013 a rare feat under the notoriously ruthless Netflix that loves swinging its axe on series before they\u2019ve been given a chance to grow.<\/p>\n<p>Many thought Holly wouldn\u2019t recover from her This Morning exit, but a number one show on Netflix in 2025 is beyond anything she could achieve on ITV.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, it was confirmed <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/03\/09\/holly-willoughby-quits-itv-series-co-host-stephen-mulhern-22697266\/\">she\u2019s quit a reboot of the game show You Bet! <\/a>alongside Stephen Mulhern after one series and Dancing on Ice is said to be on the chopping block \u2013 which could be exactly the news she needs.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/SEI_237521420-db86.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-22439314\" alt=\"Holly Willoughby in Celebrity Bear Hunt.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Holly’s was a triumph on Netflix’s Celebrity Bear Hunt (Picture: Netflix)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Since splitting from Schofe, Holly seems lost on ITV. <\/p>\n<p>Dancing on Ice is insignificant compared to its nearest rival Strictly and there\u2019s something quite sad about watching her present tired game show reboots no one asked for.<\/p>\n<p>Netflix, however, saw her worth and gave her the perfect new direction. Celebrity Bear Hunt was high-stakes, the celebrities were often in peril and Holly got to swoop in as their maternal guardian angel and finally take charge of a big-budget blockbuster reality TV series without a male co-host.<\/p>\n<p>According to The Sun, her rebrand is only just beginning. While the best ITV could offer her was You Bet! the BBC is reportedly lining her up for a long overdue reboot of Blind Date \u2013 and she is the perfect match.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s warm, much funnier than she\u2019s given credit for and I would happily let her set me up on a blind date if I didn\u2019t already have a boyfriend to cook and clean up after.<\/p>\n<p>For millennials like me and Holly, Blind Date was by far Cilla\u2019s most memorable show. It came when primetime Saturday night was at its best, with Baywatch followed by Gladiators followed by Cilla and our Graham.<\/p>\n<p>It was trash TV but with a weirdly classy touch and the first time I saw real love actually unfold before my eyes.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"430\" src=\"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/SEI_147377908-eba4.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-22566097\" alt=\"Cilla Black presenting Blind Date\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Holly’s reportedly lined up to front a reboot fo Blind Date (Picture: ITV\/REX)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Holly is a romantic, she has an empathy few other presenters manage to convey with genuine sincerity and will make Blind Date her own for generations who are just experiencing Gladiators for the first time with the BBC\u2019s massively successful reboot.<\/p>\n<p>After his car-crash TV comeback, Schofield\u2019s career seems to now be <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/02\/05\/phillip-schofield-looks-glum-after-holly-willoughbys-triumphant-reinvention-22503871\/\">limited to being pictured taking the bins out<\/a>, but Holly\u2019s dignified response to his cutting remarks has been to bounce back with silence and huge success on her own two feet.<\/p>\n<p>But ITV simply hasn\u2019t had the space or scope to make the most of Holly. Its Saturday night schedule is booked up with Ant and Dec and hasn\u2019t had a successful new entertainment show since The Masked Singer, which is now in its fifth year.<\/p>\n<p>Just two years after many wrote Holly off, she\u2019s conquered streaming and with Saturday night television on its knees, she could be the one to save it on the BBC.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Do you have a story you\u2019d like to share? Get in touch by emailing <a href=\"mailto:ross.mccarthy@metro.co.uk\" data-type=\"mailto\" data-id=\"mailto:ross.mccarthy@metro.co.uk\">Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk<\/a><a href=\"mailto:Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk\" data-type=\"mailto\" data-id=\"mailto:Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk\">.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Share your views in the comments below.<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The end of Dancing on Ice marks an exciting new beginning for Holly Willoughby (Picture: Kieron McCarron\/ITV\/Shutterstock) Holly Willoughby could be about to enter her best era yet \u2013 without<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/12\/holly-willoughby-is-better-off-without-dancing-on-ice\/\" class=\"readmore\">Continue reading<svg class=\"icon icon-arrow-right\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"img\"> <use href=\"#icon-arrow-right\" xlink:href=\"#icon-arrow-right\"><\/use> <\/svg><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Holly Willoughby is better off without Dancing on Ice<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1889"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1889"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1896,"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1889\/revisions\/1896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}