Ricky Hatton attacked Stephen Mulhern on Dancing On Ice, and the injury is still giving him grief.
It’s been 10 days since professional boxer Ricky hit presenter Stephen in the arm, and he’s learned the hard way that even jest jabs may have serious effects.
Recalling how the skit came to be, Stephen said: ‘I said to Ricky, do us a favour…Holly [Willoughby] will say to you “Just punch him Ricky’, which she said off the cuff initially and I said: “We should do that live”.’
Ricky, 45, took his job seriously and delivered a strong left punch to Stephen’s arm as a lighthearted punishment for tampering with a boxing microphone he was holding. Stephen reacted by theatrically collapsing to the ground.
Reflecting on the situation, Stephen, 46, says he ‘forgot’ Ricky, a world champion boxer, proposed the sketch. I doubt he’ll forget again soon, and if he does, he’ll have a lovely bruise to remind him.
‘He nearly knocked me out. If I showed you the bruise, it is massive. It’s on the arm, it’s very painful,’ he told The Sun.
Luckily, Stephen can see the funny side and posted a video on Instagram of him instructing a security guard: ‘If Ricky Hatton even looks at me, touches me, you knock him right out.’
The bruise caused by the former British light-welterweight has lasted longer than he did in the competition!
Ricky was the first participant to depart the competition on Sunday’s broadcast, following a skate-off with comic Lou Sanders.
Judges Jayne Torvill, Christopher Dean, Oti Mabuse, and Ashley Banjo decided unanimously to rescue Lou, leaving Ricky ‘gutted’.
‘I’m gutted to be going home. I may be out in the first round but I’ve had a great time and made some wonderful friends,’ he told Stephen and Holly.
Ricky, who skated with Robin Johnstone, may have seen him performing press-ups at your local ice rink as he expressed his desire to continue skating.
Stephen may not be the only one sporting a bruise; professional skater Mark Hanretty managed to stack it during his maiden routine with radio personality Adele Roberts.
Adele, 44, and Mark, 38, were dancing to I Can See Clearly Now, and as they swirled around, he tripped and fell to his knees before swiftly recovering to the next step.
Despite the error, the couple still managed to get the highest mark of the series thus far – 27.5 – propelling them to the top of the standings.
Dancing On Ice airs every Sunday at 6:20pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
Source My Celebrity Life.