Ferne McCann gives real reason she quit her own show as she's announced as first Dancing on Ice 2025 contestant

The 34-year-old, who rose to fame on ITV’s The Only Way Is Essex (TOWIE), launched her own reality series titled First Time Mum in 2017 – which was later renamed My Family And Me. But, earlier this month she told her 2.9 million IInstagram followers she had decided to stop recording the show.

But, this morning (Monday September 30), the mum-of-two revealed on Good Morning Britain (GMB) that she would not be stepping away from TV altogether, as she officially announced she will be taking part in the next series of reality show Dancing on Ice. The show may not air until January 2025, but it was back in August that it was first said that McCann would be taking part in the show. Now, the news has finally been confirmed that she is the first official contestant.

Announcing her participation, the star said: "I'm so excited, it's going to be a huge challenge but I'm excited for the glitz and glamour of the show." It was while on GMB that McCann also revealed the real reason she’d decided the time was come to end My Family And Me. She said that her eldest daughter, six-year-old Sunday asked her if she was “famous” because of the show - and admitted this caused her distress. She explained: "I know it sounds really contradictory, because we’ve had the reality show, and it’s all Sunday’s ever known, it’s actually…. normal for her to film (the) show, and it really just stopped me in my tracks, and it made feel really uncomfortable.”

McCann originally announced her intention to end the show two weeks ago. She said on Instagram on Sunday September 15 that “after an incredible 13 series”, she has “made the very difficult decision” that the latest series of the show, about motherhood and relationships, will be the last one. McCann gave a “huge thank you” to her fans, and added: “This show has been such an incredible part of my life for the last seven years and what a ride it has been filming from being pregnant with Sunday to now.

“Your support and loyalty to me and my family has, at times, lifted me more than you will ever know. Thank you. From the day I started filming I have poured my heart and soul in to the series. I genuinely feel like I’ve laughed, cried, loved and lived with you, sharing all the ups and downs. This decision hasn’t been an easy one, but it feels like now is the right time for a change.

“I made this decision with my children (especially Sunday who has been on this full journey with me) in mind. They are my absolute priority and Sunday is now at an age where she is very much her own little person and I want her to go out there and take her own path.”

Speaking further about her decision to to bring My Family And Me to a close, she told The Sun: "The show has been going on for so long that we joked we’d still be filming when Sunday had children and be calling it Second Time Nan. But I knew the time would eventually come to either have a break or stop altogether, and for the last year I’ve been thinking about it.

"The point where everything changed was when Sunday actually said to me: ‘am I famous?’ A few of her friends had seen her on an advert. And I was like: ‘oh I don’t know…’ It made me feel uncomfortable, because I don’t want her to feel she is different Sunday has done the show since she was born, so she’s always been aware of the cameras, but we’d never felt she was aware of the situation."

McCann also said although Sunday has never watched the show, her daughter's innocent comment made her rethink her future on the show. "After that it felt like a whole different ball game, so I went away and worked out what I was feeling, and it felt like the right time to stop," she added.

Dancing on Ice's official Instagram page also confirmed the news of McCann’s participation in the show. Alongside a promotional photo of her, the caption read: "Coming through with the glam, @fernemccann joins our sparkling #DancingOnIce Class of 2025!" McCann herself also shared the post along with two skate emojis. In her Instagram Stories this morning she wrote: “Eeeek, best get practising my Bolero.”

McCann began her TV career on TOWIE when she joined the ninth series in 2013. The reality star also then featured on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! in 2015 before beginning her own reality TV series.

McCann shares a baby girl named Finty with her fiance, property developer Lorri Haines. She also has an older daughter, Sunday, with her ex-boyfriend Arthur Collins. Collins was handed a 20-year jail sentence in December 2017 for carrying out an acid attack in a nightclub.