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'They spent years telling me no!' Steps' Ian H Watkins is proud of historic all-male pairing on DOI

Steps star Ian H Watkins talks making TV history as part of the first all-male couple on Dancing on Ice credit:Bang Showbiz
Steps star Ian H Watkins talks making TV history as part of the first all-male couple on Dancing on Ice credit:Bang Showbiz

Ian 'H' Watkins was told he couldn't dance with a man on TV for "so long" before 'Dancing on Ice' allowed it.

The 46-year-old pop star - who is best known as part of the dance group Steps alongside Faye Tozer, Claire Richards, Lisa Scott-Lee and Lee Latchford-Evans - claimed that various show bosses had always refused his requests to be part of an all-male pairing on television but after welcoming his twin boys Macsen and Cybi in 2016 via surrogate with then-partner Craig Ryder, he offered the producers of ITV1 skating show an ultimatum when they came knocking for the 2020 series.

Speaking on the 'White Wine Question Time' podcast, he told former 'Loose Women' anchor Kate Thornton: "For fundamentally as a person, I wanted to be completely authentic the way I presented myself. Especially because I'm a dad now, I wanted my children to see daddy living his best life. And it's something I had asked for for so long for so many years on all those contestant-based shows that you do interviews for.

"I've always asked the question and I always had a 'No', but this time I was in a very different headspace and I said to the producers 'If you want me then great, but these are my conditions. If you don't want to do that, then I will bow out.' I was that sure of myself and it was that important to me that I didn't want to be paired with the opposite sex.

The 'Tragedy' hitmaker went on to explain that the team at 'Dancing on Ice' were "completely behind" the idea and remarked that it has been "mind-blowing" to see other same-sex pairings - such as comedienne Jayde Adams and Karen Hauer on 'Dancing on Ice' - featured in on-screen competitions so much.

He added: "They came back and were completely 100% behind the idea. And then of course, I got partnered with the amazing Matt Evers who was completely on the same page as me and we made history together.

" Since then, it's just mind-blowing to see the effect its had." It took somebody and it could've been anybody but all of the stars aligned and it was us that got to do it. That's one of the things that I'm so proud of. Apart from my children, 'Dancing on Ice' is one of the most amazing things that has happened in my life."