DANCING On Ice competitor Joey Essex has revealed he sacrificed everything to take part in the show – but has no regrets.
The former The Only Way Is Essex star admitted his sole focus was getting to the final after making a “promise” to take the show seriously and focus on training.
Joey, 35, who is set to face the final of the ITV competition this weekend, admitted he had “not seen his family” in order to stick to the strict regime he set himself.
He explained: “From the start, I made myself a promise.
“When I was on This Morning, they asked me [if I was] going to take this seriously, and I said ‘Yes’. I’ve kept to my promise.
“I’ve not seen friends, family. I’ve not really gone out I’ve not done anything. My whole life has been focused on Dancing On Ice.”
Despite this, Joey insists that he doesn’t have any “regrets” thanks to him making it all the way to the upcoming final.
“I won’t have any regrets because I know, because that’s why I believe where I’m at, and being in the skate-off I felt was a blessing,” he said.
“It’s almost prepared me for the final.”
Elsewhere, Joey lifted the lid on what really happened when he tried to kiss his skating partner Vanessa Bauer on live TV.
He was left red faced during the competition when his pro partner swerved his smooch during their routine – despite them growing very close off the ice.
Now, the star revealed they did in fact discuss the kiss beforehand but Vanessa was “too overwhelmed” to go through with it.
He said: “Basically we planned to kiss before we went out, didn’t we?”
Vanessa revealed: “It was overwhelming for me in the moment in the live show with the camera on us.”
Joey continued: “I asked Vanessa over ten times ‘You wouldn’t pull away, would you? You want me to kiss you right?’
“She goes ‘Yeah, I want you to kiss me’, I go ‘OK, you wouldn’t pull away though?’, ‘I wouldn’t pull away’.
“She says she still thinks she didn’t pull away, I said ‘Did you see the picture?’ It’s very fresh to get pied like that… I styled it out well.”
Speaking about their relationship, Joey said: “Me and Vanessa have a great bond. We’ve always got on with each other since day one.
“It’s very special. It’ll be nice to see what’s going on on the outside. We’re mainly just in the ice rink to be honest, doing inside edges.”
Joey will go up against The Vivienne and Nile Wilson this weekend to be crowned winner.
Dancing On Ice returns on Sunday at 6:30pm on ITV
