Dancing On Ice got off on a sombre tone in the latest episode as it was confirmed professional skater Vanessa Bauer had been forced to quit the show. ITV's long-running winter sport reality contest has a long history of participants being forced off the ice due to injury - making it arguably one of the most dangerous shows on TV. And this week, 28-year-old Vanessa became the latest participant to take an early exit - bowing out of the 2025 contest after just four weeks on the air.

Vanessa was paired with Love Island star Chris Taylor for the current season - which is the 17th in Dancing On Ice's 19-year history. And while the pair had gelled well and won warm scores from the judges, their time on the ice as a pair has been cut short after she suffered a torn ligament in a horror behind-the-scenes accident. On Sunday night, viewers tuning in to Dancing On Ice were informed of the news as show hosts Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern opened the show. Viewers watched the stars take to the rink - with Chris noticeably introduced as skating with Robin Johnstone.

Stephen said: "You may have noticed Chris Taylor’s partner, Vanessa Bauer, wasn’t in our line-up. Sadly, she’s had to withdraw from the competition due to injury. But we’re very grateful that Robin Johnstone has stepped in to perform with him tonight.". Hours earlier, Vanessa had broken the devastating news to her fans in an Instagram video post. She told her followers: "I'm here today with rather upsetting news. I am unfortunately not going to be able to continue on Dancing on Ice with Chris.

"That's really upsetting for me. I have trained Chris since October last year and it is always such an amazing achievement for myself to see someone else progress so much in a skill they've never done before. So it's been really rewarding for me to watch this whole journey for Chris [and] the way he's got better week since October and also since the live shows started.". Vanessa continued: "I unfortunately had a little accident backstage last week on Dancing on Ice just before the live show on Sunday. And I didn't realise how bad it was then, but we did an MRI and it turned out that I have a completely torn ligament, grade three sprain injury and a major grade two sprain injury.

"I shouldn't be skating on an injury like that and so I'm taking all of the advice from the medical professionals here, I am in very good hands." Continuing, Vanessa explained that she would be receiving rehab for the injury. She explained: "My pain threshold, I don't trust it, I have been skating this whole week with a lot of pain but I just didn't realise that it was such a significant injury so I didn't voice my pain. It just goes to show that you should listen to your body and try to tune into your body a lot.

"I don't want this injury that is already bad to get even worse and so the one sensible decision is to step away, do rehab, focus on my health - I guess mental health as well - because it's really bad that I have to leave. But I'm excited to get better and to get back to skating properly every single day." She added in a caption: "Thank you so much for your support this season and over the past 8 years!".