ITV Dancing On Ice viewers ask 'since when' as they make Stephen Mulhern complaint

Stephen Mulhern and Holly Willoughby were back for all the ice drama this week

Dancing On Ice returned to our screens for its second instalment on Saturday night (January 21). Long-standing host Holly Willoughby reprised her role as presenter, joined by TV favourite Stephen Mulhern.

The second episode saw Coronation Street star Claire Sweeney, radio DJ Adele Roberts, ski jumper Eddie ‘the Eagle' Edwards, comedian Lou Sanders, Made in Chelsea’s Miles Nazaire and EastEnders star Ricky Norwood take to the ice to impress the judges.

Jayne Torvill, Christopher Dean, Oti Mabuse and Ashley Banjo dished out their marks throughout the show, putting Adele and her skate partner Mark and Eddie and his skate partner Vicky at the top of the leader board with a score of 27.5. Lou and her partner Brendyn found themselves at the bottom of the board with 19.5.

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But as the show went on, viewers were quick to complain about the banter between Stephen and Holly. TV star Stephen joked that he was 'down with the kids' earlier on in the show. For one gag, he started issuing 'parking tickets' to contestants.

And later on in the show, laughter broke out while Holly was presenting to the camera following Eddie The Eagle's performance. When the camera panned away, viewers saw Stephen suspended in the air, sat inside a giant eagle, as he announced that voting had officially opened.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, viewers complained about the jokes. @reduct0 said: "i do like stephen but he’s turning this into a parody show #DancingOnIce" as @zippy_tyson asked: "#DancingOnIce Since when did this become the Stephen Mulhern comedy show !"

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@dan_scott412 wrote: "Stephen. The jokes are falling flat. STOP. #DancingOnIce" as @NoirLox commented: "I like Stephen but the comedy interludes aren’t funny #dancingonice".

It comes as Stephen Mulhern sparked concern during the opening show when he was 'punched' by a contestant. The chaos unfolded as Holly chatted to the show's first set of couples when Stephen appeared and started messing around with one of the microphones as he wanted to share the news the vote had closed.

"Please just hit him," Holly quipped as she looked towards Ricky and the boxer did just that sending the Deal or No Deal host, 46, flying off his feet. Holly gasped throwing her hands to her mouth as Ricky looked towards where Stephen who was seemingly laying on the floor off camera.

The 42-year-old then did her next link before turning and checking on her co-host before a VT played out.