Jayne Torvill opens up on reason for 50-year bond with Christopher Dean after final show

Jayne Torvill has opened up about the secret to her enduring partnership with Christopher Dean following their emotional final performance together.

The legendary ice skating duo, who captured the nation's heart with their Olympic gold at the 1984 Winter Games, decided to hang up their skates as a pair in 2024.

After concluding their goodbye tour, Torvill and Dean: Our Last Dance, with four last shows in Nottingham, they reflected on the journey that started it all.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Torvill, aged 67, said "It was all just very new for both of us.

"As we skated together a few more times, I think we both realised that we both had a passion for it, and we both wanted to get better. Keep doing it, practice, get better. And I think that's what kept us going all these years.

"I always say that we never got married, so that's why we are still best of friends and still love working together."

Chris, now 66, added: "Never leave the ice with an argument though. We've grown up through all those stages of life, from 15-year-olds to 20-year-olds to 30-year-olds to marriages to children, retirement now.

"We've done so much over the 50 years and seen so much together over the 50 years."

The Dancing on Ice legends, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, have hung up their skates for the last time as a duo, 40 years after clinching the 1984 Olympic gold with their iconic Bolero routine in Sarajevo, reports the Manchester Evening News.

As they embarked on the UK stretch of their goodbye tour this April, they performed Bolero one last time, with Chris hailing the crowd as "phenomenal" and expressing joy at being able to "bow out on a high".

While this signifies the end of their joint performances, the pair assured fans they have other ventures lined up and will continue to stay connected.

Chris revealed: "We'll meet up in London and go and watch a show at least once a month, something like that. We like mentoring. We'll work with other people.

"I still really enjoy choreographing, so I hope to work with other skaters, and certainly other shows, other skating shows."

Jayne added: "We've got other work things coming up, but not performing on the ice together. We are quite often invited to give talks at events and so on.

"And normally we wouldn't have had time for that, but we'll have more time to do stuff like that."