Dancing On Ice contestant Saara Aalto has hit back at the suggestion that her skating experience puts her at an advantage in the competition.

Saara, who originally came to prominence as a finalist on The X Factor back in 2016, has said that although she did practise ice skating growing up in Finland, even she wasn’t prepared for how grueling the competition would be.

Speaking to The Mirror, she insisted: “In the beginning, I was all, ‘Yeah I’ve been skating before, it’s gonna be fine’. I didn’t understand how difficult it was going to be.”

Revealing just how intense her training has been, she continued: “I need to do all these tricks, they’re really hard, they don’t come naturally. That’s why my body is breaking! I’ve injured my elbow, shoulder, wrist and ankle! I can skate but it’s very painful.”

Earlier in the series, Saara appeared to be a frontrunner in the contest, and made Dancing On Ice history when she became the first contestant to sing live while skating, performing Let It Go from Frozen during Musicals week.

However, in the most recent live show, she found herself in the dreaded skate-off against Grease star Didi Conn, who the judges chose to send home.

This week she’ll be hoping to bounce back during Dancing On Ice’s fairytale-themed live show, as will Gemma Collins, who’ll be performing for the first time since making headlines when she fell over last week.

Dancing On Ice airs on Sunday nights at 6pm on ITV.