Oti Mabuse has insisted she won't be "biased" when it comes to judging Brendan Cole on 'Dancing on Ice'.
Oti Mabuse won't be 'biased' judging Brendan Cole
The 'Strictly Come Dancing' professional is now a judge on the ITV figure skating show, which returned at the weekend, and she worked with Brendan during his time as a dancer on the BBC One Latin and ballroom show, but has insisted she won't be giving her former colleague an easy time.
She told The Sun: "We worked together for two years. Brendan is such a big character, but I won’t be biased.
"He’s got one of the best professional skaters in Vanessa [Bauer], so there’s this expectation that he’s going to be amazing.
"Before he knew I was doing it [being a DOI judge], he told me: 'People think it’ll be easy, but it’s really difficult. And people expect that I’m going to be great, but I’m struggling.'"
During his time on 'Strictly', Brendan was known to challenge the judges, but the 31-year-old star - who is also a panellist on 'The Masked Dancer' - doubts the 45-year-old choregrapher will "argue" the 'DOI' panel, which is completed by skating legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean and Diversity's Ashley Banjo.
She added: "I don’t think he will argue with the judges. That’s something that he did on 'Strictly' because he was defending his partner.
"Now he’s the one learning the new skill.
"He’s grown up and he’s gonna take [the judges’ comments] on board and try to get better."
Brendan is partnered with Vanessa Bauer and has been hotly-tipped to win the show.
'Dancing On Ice' continues on ITV from 6.30pm on Sunday (23.01.22).
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