Former Dancing on Ice professional ice skater Alex Murphy Klein has spoken about her departure from the show, with her telling fans that she was "utterly devastated" at the time.
Alex, now 36, made her debut on the ITV show in 2018, after having worked on an international version. She notably won the long-running skating contest with Joe Swash, now 42, in her third season, which concluded back in March 2020.
It was announced just months later that Alex wouldn't be returning for the next series. ITV said at the time that the team behind the show "explores opportunities to potentially introduce some new faces" to the line-up of skaters each year. They also wished Alex "all the best for the future".
Following her departure, she pursued opportunities as a content creator amid the Covid pandemic and now has more than 900,000 followers on TikTok. Alex, who's from the US, currently lives in the UK with her husband Paul Klein, 32, whom she met whilst filming Celebrity Coach Trip.
Alex "reintroduced" herself to fans in a recent video, in which she discussed her departure from Dancing on Ice. She told viewers that she was "fired" from the ITV show and said that she's "grateful" to have found a new career since.
She began by saying: "Get ready with me while I reintroduce myself." Later, after naming the show, she said: "Hence why I live in the UK now. I got casted for the UK version and I did that show for three years. [...] It's like a really cool show."
Alex continued in the video: "I finished my third year on Dancing on Ice the week before Covid started and we had just won so it was crazy - all these things that we were supposed to be doing when the show finished, ended up like getting completely ruined. Like all these other TV shows and opportunities because the show was over and I mean we were all locked down for, what, two years?"
She added that she wasn't able to see her parents and moved in with Paul. She shared: "[I] started creating social media content cause he's a social media content creator." She suggested that it's "kind of like performing" and looked "fun," adding that "every ice rink was closed" at the time.
Alex said: "Then I got fired from my job on Dancing on Ice, which was miserable. We had literally just won the show and I found out in June of that year with a five minute phone call that I wasn't going to be asked back and I was absolutely and utterly devastated. Like completely lost my mind because obviously [I'd] met this guy and I wanted to stay here in the UK and being on the TV show was my ticket to staying here in the UK."
She then continued: "I spent a few more months working on social media and because of that I was able to sign with a company that would get me a visa to stay here. [I was] able to stay in the UK, which was very, very fortunate for me because I didn't wanna go home - even though I wanted to see my family. I wanted to be able to stay with Paul and see how it was gonna go, if this was serious."
Discussing her new career, she said: "I started to make money on the social media that I was doing so I was able to make it a full-time job, which is like really exciting. I mean, I had no other choice. I didn't know what I was gonna do. Every ice rink was closed so I couldn't coach and I had just been fired from Dancing on Ice so I honestly had no idea what I was gonna do anyways - I had to make this work."
Alex shared with fans on TikTok that she has "ended up staying" in the UK and now lives with Paul and their dog in the couple's home. Alex added that she married Paul in December last year after six months of wedding planning. She also stated that they are now looking to update their home.
She said that content creating has "completely changed" her life and she is "so grateful for it". Alex said: "I haven't really skated in like a really long time. I haven't put my skates on in ages but I do miss it. I miss it when it's convenient, like I miss it during the winter [and] when I wish I was performing. I do miss it and I would go back if the right job or the right time or the right opportunity was there, but right now we're focused on building a family, building a house."
Mirror Online has reached out to ITV for comment.
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