DANCING ON ICE: KYRAN BRACKEN
DUNCAN IS GETTING ALL THE FANMAIL .. I'VE HAD TO WRITE ONE TO MYSELF!
By Julie Mccaffrey 10/03/2007
PINNED to the notice board backstage at Dancing On Ice, a pink card covered with love hearts declares: "I love you, Kyran Bracken. You're sexy and gorgeous and I hope you win. PS Will you marry me?"
You could be forgiven for thinking a besotted fan was writing to the rugby ace. But you'd be wrong.
Squirming with embarrassment, skating favourite Kyran confesses: "Duncan James was getting sack-loads of lovey-dovey fan mail, and being sent knickers and teddies daily, but I didn't get a single thing. It wasn't fair."
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He looks at his pink card: "So I wrote it myself!"
He may have fewer lovestruck female fans than pop pin-up Duncan, but sporty Kyran is definitely the better skater.
He and ice dance partner Melanie Lambert have already scored a perfect six from the expert judges and are hot favourites to win ITV1's Saturday night show.
Despite being jealous about the Blue heart-throb getting all the girlie fans, family man Kyran has already found his dream woman - Victoria, his wife of six years.
He says: "In the week I skated to Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars, a song Victoria and I love, I wrote a note to leave on my wife's chair in the audience saying, 'I'm skating for you tonight'.
"But the runner left it on someone else's seat!
"And it was quite hard to radiate love and give a convincingly romantic performance with someone who wasn't my wife. So that week, as I skated to slushy music, I looked at Melanie and saw Victoria."
Former England scrum-half Kyran, 35, fell instantly in love with Victoria, 30, the moment he met her in a night club eight years ago.
He says: "I'd just finished with a girlfriend and didn't want to meet anyone else for a while. But I had a feeling I'd meet someone that night.
"A rugby friend introduced Victoria, and within minutes I knew I'd marry her. People say looks aren't important, but I always insist they are. She was beautiful - tall, blonde and slim. And we had so much in common we clicked immediately.
"We were both trainee solicitors, both sporty and out-going and we got on really well. I was smitten from that moment."
Kyran, who won 51 caps for England and was part of its World Cup-winning squad, kissed his wedding band after his first Dancing on Ice performance in a display of devotion.
"I just wanted to show Victoria how much I appreciated all her support since I started training for the show," he explains. "She's been amazing.
"I gave up rugby to spend more time with my family, but now I see less of her then ever! And I'm going on the Dancing On Ice tour after the show so I'll be away a lot, which will upset her. But she's been so good about everything."
It's a strong woman who can handle watching her husbands dancing in such close proximity to a gorgeous, glamorous woman in skimpy ice-dancing dresses. But Kyran - who goes commando during performances as he finds thongs too irritating - insists Victoria trusts him completely.
And he denies ever getting overexcited when he's been on the ice in spray-on Lycra trousers and no underpants.
He says: "Believe me - sex is the last thing you think about when you're on skates in front of eight million viewers.
"The only thing in my head is the steps of my routine. All I'm thinking is, 'two turns, lift, bend knees, step twice'. "The one time I had a problem down there was this week when we all had a go at being hoisted into a harness, to make us look like we're flying if we make it to the final.
"The harness yanked everything upwards to places they haven't been before - arghh!"
Kyran and Victoria, who live in Barnet, North London, have two sons Charlie, four, and one-year-old Jack.
The cute little lads have brought out a softer side in hunky Kyran, who is clearly a dedicated dad.
He says: "The birth of my boys changed me so much. I was elated when they were born, and still feel elated to be their dad. They brought meaning to everything. Jack already points to the telly and says, 'Daddy!'. And Charlie now says he wants to be a skater, not a rugby player.
"He was transfixed when he sat in the audience recently, and I wish he could come every week but it's quite a long show for a little one to sit through. He and Jack are such fantastic little fellas. Victoria goes mad because I keep waking Jack up half-an-hour before he usually gets up just so I can cuddle him. And all day I keep asking Charlie for kisses, but Victoria says his friends will soon say he's too old to be kissing his daddy."
In tonight's semi-final, Kyran will show off his own made-up moves to Michael Jackson's Billie Jean hit.
He says: "People say it'll be a show-stopping performance, but that's only if I get it right.
"In my misspent youth I used to breakdance and body pop, so I've tried to adapt those old moves and we're calling the dance 'ice popping'. Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean looked shocked when I first did it - I hope that's a good sign."
Back at the start of the series in January, Kyran's rugby friends had a field day taking the mick out of their macho mate in pink shirts, tight trousers and sequins.
They ribbed me something rotten," he says. "Every Saturday I'd get a flood of text messages saying, 'nice belt', 'you suit pink' and 'you big girl'.
"But I must have managed to impress, because now my texts say, 'Wicked! Can I get tickets for the show?'
"At first I winced at the costumes. But now I'm giving it my all, and I don't even mind the spray tans or make-up.
"I don't even mind pulling all the facial expressions we do as part of a performance, because it distracts people's attention away from my skating and knobbly knees. But even though I'm in better shape than when I played rugby, I still can't look at myself on screen. I cringe when I see myself trussed up like a muscly monkey in Lycra."
At 1-2 favourite to win next week's final, Kyran is being careful not to become over-confident.
He explains: "Most of the people I've met tell me they didn't vote for me because they thought I was safe since I skated well.
"So I can't even allow myself to think about making it through to the final, never mind winning it.
"I'm a bad loser, so it will hurt if I'm voted out. Winning will mean an awful lot. It means spending so much time away from Victoria and the boys wasn't a waste, and training for four hours a day was worth it.
"And if I win, I might even get some genuine fan mail!"
DANCING On Ice is on ITV1 tonight at 6.20pm, with the skate-off at 9.20pm.
Tickets for Dancing On Ice - The Tour starting March 31 are available by calling 0870 011 2626 or online at
www.dancingonicetour.co.ukKyran on his rivals..
DUNCAN JAMES
HE'S had the biggest journey, from being an average skater at the start of the series, to being a very good skater who can perform. The public like that story. And he's got a lot of support from girls, hurrumph!
EMILY SYMONS
I THINK she must be the favourite to win. Emily has so much support, despite a few falls and some low marks from the judges. That great smile of hers is back because she's got over her mid-series crisis and has come through on top. I would love her to win.
CLARE BUCKFIELD
CLARE has been the strongest skater, and has great showmanship when she's in the air. But she's suffered from the fact that she started off skating amazingly-well, so even though she performs fantastically every week, people expect that from her.
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