SIR Steve Redgrave is swapping oars for skates for the next series of Dancing On Ice – and there is a very good reason for it.
The Olympic rower, 62, will be gliding into the new year after signing up for the 2025 series of the ITV1 show.
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Sir Steve revealed the news on daytime show This Morning and told hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard that he will be the the “oldest and heaviest”.
The five-times gold medalist even joked that his skating partner will have to be “someone big”, as he currently tips the scales at 18st 8lbs (120kg).
But the gruelling training regime for DOI could see Steve slimming down, which is likely to be the reason he signed up for it.
In an interview last year, Steve admitted that he has a borderline testosterone deficiency, which has led to unexplained weight gain.
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The professional rower, who has also been Type 2 Diabetic for almost three decades, retired from rowing in 2000 and is keen to keep fit and healthy.
Speaking to The Herald, Sir Steve said: “I generally try to keep fit – nothing compared to when I was an athlete, but I try to eat healthily and look after myself.
“My eldest daughter Natalie, who’s a doctor, is pregnant, so I’m going to be a grandfather in July, and I want to be healthy and fit for the grandchildren that are going to start coming along from now.
“It’s my first grandchild, and I’m looking forward to being a grandfather. But it makes me feel old!”
Sir Steve said he played golf once a week, visited the gym and enjoyed static biking.
The retired athlete was revealed as the latest DOI 2025 contestant during Monday’s episode of This Morning.
Throughout the show, hosts Cat and Ben teased a series of clues before revealing his identity.
Sir Steve then told them: “I must be closest to being one of the oldest, if not the oldest, on the show, but I’m certainly the heaviest that’s ever been on the show.
“120 kilos, so that’s around 20 stone, so I’m not light. And I’ve been asking (for) somebody big that can lift me.”
When asked why he was giving it a go, Sir Steve laughed: “I don’t know!
“But earlier this year on the series it was Torvill and Dean’s 40th anniversary of winning their gold medal, and it’s my 40th anniversary as well … and we’re friends.
“Some of my friends are saying it’s a midlife crisis, but I’m too old for a midlife crisis!”
Sir Steve is the third celebrity to be revealed for Dancing On Ice 2025.
Former TOWIE star Ferne McCann confirmed The Sun’s exclusive story that she had signed up during Monday’s Good Morning Britain.
We previously told how she had agreed to take part in Dancing On Ice after quitting her own reality show Ferne McCann: First Time Mum.
Mollie Pearce, from BBC One’s The Traitors, was the second star contestant to be announced during ITV1’s Lorraine.
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