After nearly two decades on our screen, viewers were left shocked when it was announced that Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern will not be returning to ITV’s Dancing on Ice as it been cancelled and will not air in 2026.

The ice skating competition show – which has aired since 2006 – saw a drop in viewing figures this year and last month an ITV spokesperson said there were ‘no current plans for another series’ in the future.

And now insiders say that Phillip Schofield – who previously presented the show alongside ex best friend Holly before his shocking affair scandal in 2023 – is enjoying the news.

Phillip Schofield

A source tells Closer, ‘Phil is absolutely reveling in the news Dancing on Ice got cancelled – he thinks it’s payback and that it’s down to his departure. He’s been laughing to himself and gloating, and even believes ITV bosses will be on their knees begging for him back any day now.’

Holly, 44, and Phil, 63, first started working together co-presenting Dancing On Ice when it began before becoming a household name duo in 2009 when Phil brought Holly onto This Morning.

They were just as close off screen, with the pair’s families’ even holidaying together. But in 2023, Phil’s ‘consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague’ came to light, leading to him to resign from ITV – something which Holly claimed Phil had lied to her about.

Phillip Schofield Holly Willoughby Dancing On Ice

While at first he publicly apologised to and defended Holly, Phil’s sentiment turned last year when he indirectly hit out at what viewers thought was Holly on his Channel 5 show Cast Away claiming she ‘brought [him] down’– with insiders also claiming he called her ‘the witch’ to friends.

Holly has faced her own struggles since Phil’s departure, quitting This Morning herself last year following a terrifying kidnap plot and – after hosting new Netflix show Bear Hunt and You Bet!, before quitting ahead of series two – currently has no projects in the pipeline.

And the source says, ‘The last few years for Holly have been agony – with the kidnap plot ordeal, all the changes with her career, and now Dancing on Ice being cancelled.

Closer magazine

‘And Phil thinks Holly is only a success because of him and without him, she’s failing. It’s hurt him to see her host without him and to do other shows – and so now to see Dancing on Ice fail without him seems like the ultimate payback.

‘The likely truth of it is that the show just lost its spark and wasn’t interesting enough for people anymore – but in Phil’s head, it’s because he left.’