Mollie Pearce hopes to ‘show people you can do anything’ on Dancing On Ice

The Traitors finalist Mollie Pearce has said she plans to “show people you can do anything” and give those with disabilities “hope” when she appears as a contestant on Dancing On Ice.

The 22-year-old, who will be paired with Colin Grafton, wears a stoma bag after being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at the age of 11, an autoimmune condition causing inflammation in the large intestine, which led to her having her colon removed.

She was also born with no fingers on her right hand.

Pearce finished as a runner-up on the BBC reality game show, when she was betrayed by her friend Harry Clark, who revealed he was a traitor rather than a fellow faithful at the end of the show’s second series.

Speaking about appearing on the show, the star, who has worked as a disability model for the likes of Kurt Geiger, Zalando and Bodyform, said: “The reaction from it has been amazing, and obviously Adele (Roberts, a DJ who also wears a stoma bag) last year did so much for the stoma community.

“So hopefully I’m going to continue that, and with limb differences as well, with regards to spreading awareness, and just to show people you can do anything.

“It’s obviously a very challenging show, it’s very physical, and I think it gives people, even if they haven’t had stoma surgery, it might be something in their future, gives them that little bit of hope that it doesn’t stop you.

“And I’ve got all these outfits on, and I’m skating around the ice, and I have a stoma bag, but that’s not the main focus.”

Roberts, 45, who also appeared on Big Brother in 2002, finished third on last year’s series, partnered by Mark Hanretty.

It comes as the third series of The Traitors is currently airing on BBC One and iPlayer.

The tense BBC game show sees contestants attempt to identify who among them are “faithfuls” and which are “traitors”, with the traitors plotting to murder the faithfuls, and the faithfuls trying to identify and banish the traitors.

Finalists have a chance of winning a chunk of the £120,000 prize but if a traitor survives until the very end, unidentified, they take home the full prize pot, while any faithfuls left go home with nothing.

Pearce’s fellow competitor, former Premier League footballer Anton Ferdinand, who will be partnered by German skater Annette Dytrt, said he would be “stepping on the ice nervous” despite having “never stepped on the football pitch nervous”.

He told PA: “I don’t actually know how I’m going to deal with it, that, to me, is a bit scary.

“But come show time, hopefully the switch will switch on and I’ll be able to deal with it.

“In football, I love repetition, because of football I can repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, and I don’t get bored of repeating it.

“So I think having that element has helped me be able to get things quick at times, although some things have taken a long time for me to get, I must admit.

“It felt like for me, football’s always also been a hindrance, because certain body positions I need to get into, my body doesn’t like it through playing football.”

During his career, the 39-year-old played for West Ham United, Sunderland and Queens Park Rangers.

In November 2020, he presented Anton Ferdinand: Football, Racism and Me, after former Chelsea defender John Terry was banned for four matches and fined £220,000 after being found guilty of racially abusing him on the pitch while Ferdinand was playing for QPR in 2011.

Dancing On Ice will be presented by Stephen Mulhern and Holly Willoughby, after Mulhern replaced Philip Schofield on the show when he resigned from ITV in 2023.

The show returns on Sunday, January 12, at 6.30pm, live on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player.