CLARE BUCKFIELD

Skating Partner: Andrei Lipanov

Bubbly Clare is brimming with excitement about the challenge that lies ahead and full of praise for her skating partner Andrei.

“Andrei is like a gentle giant! He is so lovely and really looks after me. He’s a strong, silent Russian. I think he’s sexy!

“Today we did the lift and I said ‘I’m sorry, there might be a few extra pounds there’, but straight away he lifted me with one arm! It’s like dancing with Patrick Swayze – he keeps saying to me, ‘don’t look down!’ It’s such a wicked experience – its something I’ll treasure forever. I trust him completely. He says ‘I will not let you fall!’

And not letting her fall is a blessing to Clare who has taken a couple of tumbles in training, the most painful injury she’s sustained is a pulled muscle under her ribcage.

“Because I had this rib thing I hadn’t fallen over for a couple of sessions and when I did it was like ok that does hurt but if that’s as much as it hurts then I can work through that.”

Clare’s practicing very hard and would love to make a great impression on the first show.

“I want to be one of those people who make a massive transformation. You do get on the ice and you’re wobbly. The biggest transformation for me would be to stay up and look graceful because I’m not a naturally graceful person so to look graceful on the ice and to be able to do all the things people did last year would be lovely.”

But Clare still thinks she may be a way off that at the moment.

“I seriously hadn’t skated since I was a little girl. I have danced before which I thought would help, but I don’t really think it does because you know you’re on such tiny blades on such a slippery surface.

“I would describe my skating now as a real calamity! I’m a bit bumpy, I’m not a beautiful skater – I’m a bit of a clumper! I’m just trying really hard, I’ve got so much to learn still, I’m just learning new things all the time.

“Skating is much harder than I thought. I didn’t think it was going to be easy to be honest but when you watch Jane and Chris they make it look so beautiful. You think I’d love to have a go at that but it’s so difficult with the edge work and how to do a spin.

“It’s a big thing trying to stop. First of all I learnt how to crash, so that’s how I first stopped.”

Although she’s loving the training Clare is very nervous, even meeting Torvill and Dean left her star struck.

“When I met Jane and Chris I was so nervous – they are like skating royalty! I didn’t know what to say to them. When I get nervous I waffle so I think I may have talked a lot on because I was just so nervous about meeting them.

And Clare thinks she’ll be pretty anxious ahead of the first live show so she’s planning to have plenty of her friends and family there for support.

“I am going to be so nervous! If I get nervous I visit the loo a lot and get an Elvis leg. My family think what I’m doing is fantastic. They will all be coming down to watch the show.

“Ant and Dec said they are coming to support me, Ant’s wife Lisa, my friend Michaela Dodd (Chloe from Hollyoaks/Fit Club) and I should let Biggins know. So my main supporters will be my family and friends.

“I remember Bonnie Langford banging her head on the first show so I don’t know what people are going to pull out of the bag. I’m not having sleepless nights at the moment – we’re still trying to sort out our routine. I’ll be nervous on the first show but it will be so exciting and entertaining as well .The main aim is to entertain everyone.”

But are there any of the skaters which Clare has already earmarked as possible competition.

“I haven’t seen many people skate for a long time as we are at different rinks but I was really impressed with Kyran and I caught Ulrika a couple of times, she looked pretty good.

“I’m looking forward to everything! I’m looking forward to the costumes! We’ve got a lovely piece of music that we’re skating to.

“I’m just there to have fun and enjoy my skating. My favourite skater last year was Gaynor. I thought she was a lovely skater. It was lovely to see her journey and she seemed like such a warm lovely person and Dan as well – they seemed like a real laugh – like it should be.”