Former Dancing on Ice winner and professional skater Alex Murphy has shed light on her sudden exit from the series back in 2020, just months after she lifted the trophy with Eastenders star Joe Swash.
Speaking exclusively to GB News, Murphy has recalled the “four-minute long” phone call she received from ITV bosses telling her that she wouldn’t be needed for the following year – despite being the reigning professional champion.
At the time, Murphy took to Instagram to share the news with fans and admit she was “bewildered” by the decision.
And now ahead of Sunday’s premiere for the 2024 series, Murphy has claimed bosses at ITV told her agent that she could take the fall and say news of her exit was her decision.
Murphy was given no reason by ITV for her axe at the time and to this day she told GB News she’s still without an explanation.
“I’m a huge believer in positive everything. I’m a bit of a golden retriever, I’m happy all the time, and I choose not to be unhappy about it because the show gave me so much,” Murphy began.
Alex Murphy has spoken out about her Dancing on Ice exit
GETTY
The former DOI champ continued: “I’m married, I have a house, I have a dog all because I went on a TV show where I was an ice skater. And that led me to another TV show where I met my husband. That’s how I look at it.
“To this day, I still don’t know why they decided to let me go. I was genuinely heartbroken (but) I think it was the best thing that ever happened to me because you can only skate for so long.
“My goals are a lot bigger, I don’t want to just be an ice skater and be on the show for 20 years, I want to move forward and challenge myself and be on to the next thing and I don’t think that there was much more that I could have done.
“Once you’ve won, you’ve ticked that off the list. (But) it was really hard for me, I’ll be completely honest.”
Murphy admitted she would never want to “bash” Dancing on Ice as the show opened doors for her she never thought possible, although was still gutted after she “gave up my entire life” to commit to the process.
“I was a bit heartbroken because one; I had worked so hard that year, my life was dedicated to it, and I had given up so much for the show,” she explained.
“Fortunately, I have the best husband in the world and he understood it but I was absolutely heartbroken because I had no life, I gave my entire life to that show for three years.
“And I just was like, ‘What do you mean you don’t want me back? Why? Why? Joe Swash was in last place, you stuck him with me and I made him win!’
“I was so heartbroken about it but I do look back on it now and I think it was the best thing and I think that the show has to change. The show has to evolve. They need new people, they need to diversify with their types of skaters.
Alex Murphy and Joe Swash celebrate winning DOI with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield
ITV/SHUTTERSTOCK
“Maybe they wanted someone with a more classical trained (background), I don’t know, maybe they wanted someone smaller.”
Recalling the exact moment she discovered she’d been axed, Murphy said: “I did want a reason. As skaters, we just contract ourselves, we don’t have representation, we don’t have agencies. We’re not like the Strictly pros where like you have an agent and then you go on Strictly.
“So I didn’t know what I was doing. But when they did let me go, fortunately, at that time, I had finished Coach Trip the year before and I had been looking into representation and got an agent. And so I said (to the agent) they’ve let me go.
“They [ITV] just called me and it was a four-minute phone call, they said, ‘Thank you. You were amazing, what a great year, but we’re gonna rest you from the cast’. And I was like, ‘What does that mean?’ I didn’t understand.”
Murphy then shed light on the call her agent had with ITV in which she claims she was told she could take the blame and act as if her departure was her decision.
“I did call my agent and they said (to ITV), ‘Would you please tell me what happened?’ And they were like, ‘Nope, we love Alex, she’s great…’
“‘If she wants, she can say she’s leaving’,” Murphy said. “And I was like, no. I would never leave the show. I wanted to come back. I’ve always wanted to come back. I loved that show. It was a great show, but I didn’t want to say that I was leaving.”
Murphy never did take the fall for her exit and said outright in her farewell statement that the decision came as a “huge shock” which left her “bewildered, lost and devastated”.
The brutal axe even left Murphy packing in showbiz for good although she’s had a change of heart since as she admitted: “I’m ready to get back on TV.
“I took a long time after the show, it is extremely hard to want to do any of that again – you just feel like I’m done with TV, I’m never going back. Especially as an athlete, you’re like, ‘Why did I even subject myself to that?’
“It’s cut-throat and it’s not fair. And as an athlete, the best athlete wins, and as a TV person, you can’t explain why some people get TV spots and some people don’t.”
Murphy has gone on to build up a huge social media following since leaving the show and is hopeful of a return to screens soon – with Strictly Come Dancing or I’m A Celeb high on the pro skater’s wish list.
GB News has contacted ITV for comment.
