Kate and Rio Ferdinand are going to ‘put on a united front’ on Sunday night (Picture: Getty/Instagram)
Kate Ferdinand is set for an apparently awkward reunion on Sunday night when the new season of Dancing On Ice gets under way.
The TV personality, 33, who’s married to ex-footballer Rio Ferdinand, will be supporting Rio’s brother Anton in the skating competition this year.
Kate and Rio married in 2019, four years after the tragic death of Rio’s first wife Rebecca Ellison – she died of breast cancer complications aged just 34.
Before meeting Rio, Kate was a star of The Only Way is Essex – on that show, she dated fellow reality TV star Dan Edgar, 34, who has also entered Dancing On Ice this year.
While Kate and Dan’s relationship is all in the past, any potential reunion between them on Sunday night could be an incredibly awkward one.
On a 2017 episode of Towie, Kate confronted Dan after numerous cheating allegations – it lead to a tense exchange in one of that year’s most dramatic episodes.
It might be an awkward night for Dan Edgar and his ex Kate (Picture: ITV)
Kate said to Dan: ‘You made me feel like I was a nut job, you were going, “You are crazy, you are making it up in your head.” You made me feel like I was crazy.’
In a 2016 episode, however, Dan admitted that he was struggling to forgive over rumours that she’d been cheating on him. Kate shot back by denying those rumours.
She said: ‘I’ve been acting strong for so long and I just can’t do it anymore. I’m sorry that I kissed a person and didn’t tell you but you’ve done a lot, Dan.
Dan and Kate were on and off for six years (Picture: Simon Ford/REX/Shutterstock)
The pair threw cheating allegations at each other (Picture: Piers Allardyce/REX/Shutterstock)
‘There’s rumours about you sleeping with people. You’ve told me you didn’t do it, I said you had. But I’m gonna leave it because I don’t want to go over it when we’re single.’
The pair dated on and off for six years on the show before finally separating in 2016, going their separate ways shortly afterwards.
A source told The Sun: ‘Rio and Kate will be putting on a united front as they come to the Dancing On Ice studio to watch Anton.
‘It is always awkward seeing an ex. Kate is just glad to have Rio by her side in the audience. Fortunately, Dan won’t be skating his first routine until next week so it means Kate won’t have to endure an entire performance.’
Kate and Rio married in 2019 (Picture: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty)
The source continued: ‘Things were on and off between Kate and Dan for years and there was clearly a lot of love between them.
‘Kate is obviously now very happily married to Rio and it shows the strength of their relationship that she is not fazed by being around Dan.’
Anton even chimed in, telling the publication that there has been no mention of Dan Edgar in their family group messages on WhatsApp.
Dan admitted in 2018 that it felt ‘weird’ to see Kate and Rio together, but he moved on with fellow Towie star Amber Turner and eventually began dating Ella Rae Wise.
It’s not clear if Dan and Ella are still together, with their relationship also being on-off on the show, but during the Towie Christmas special for 2024 it seemed they were ready to give things another go.
However, when asked which in a recent interview which Towie stars would be supporting him on Dancing On Ice, Dan didn’t mention Ella’s name.
While the Towie star is now focusing fully on the ice, he did admit in a recent interview that he’s a little nervous to get going.
‘I’m looking forward to it, but the thought of the live shows and performing is very real. I like to think I can ice skate a little bit but I’m a terrible dancer so that bit is going to need some work.’
Watch Dancing On Ice on ITV, Sunday night at 6.30pm.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.