Dancing On Ice star Rufus Hound has admitted he is struggling to adapt to the rink.
The comedian has been paired with professional skater Robin Johnstone on the ITV show, which returns for a new series on Sunday.
Hound, whose recent acting credits include Sky One sitcom Trollied, said he is already “over” the programme.
“At no point in my life did I ever want to do ice skating or be an ice dancer,” he said.
“I find myself in a position that this is what I have to do to pay my mortgage and every day I get up earlier than I want to and have to go f****** ice skating and I’m f****** over it.”
Hound, 41, said he has been training for Dancing On Ice for three months but insists “I hate it” and it is time “I will never get back”.
Asked if he will be dusting off the outfit he wore to dance to Cheryl’s Fight For This Love for Sport Relief, he replied: “I will not be dusting off anything because the ice does not allow for dust. The ice is an unforgiving bastard of a mistress who wants nothing more than to hurt you and make you cold.”
Despite his misgivings about other areas of the show, Hound was full of praise for Johnstone.
He said: “I feel like they’re trying to trick me into liking ice skating. I’m onto their wily ways, they’ve given me a really lovely woman as a partner, a woman called Robin who’s endlessly patient and kind and optimistic and supportive and knowledgeable and she has to basically turn up every day and stand for hours watching me – an overweight, hairy man – fail to do even the most basic things she’s told me to do, over and over again.”
Hound suggested Johnstone may soon be tempted to start insulting him, adding: “How could you not after this amount of time of watching somebody fail to ice dance?”