ITV Dancing On Ice's Stephen Mulhern breaks silence following Ricky Hatton on-screen 'punch'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Stephen Mulhern has broken his silence on being 'punched' during Dancing On Ice's first episode of the season by boxer Ricky Hatton.The beloved ice skating competition returned on Sunday night, with Stephen joining Holly Willoughby as she marked her TV comeback.The former This Morning star had been off screens since last October after quitting the show after 14 years, writes the Mirror.Worried loyal fans feared that she may not return as Dancing On Ice host but were delighted when it was confirmed that she would not be giving up the presenting gig for the skating show.Catchphrase star Stephen joined Holly to co-present the show after taking over from Phillip Schofield.However, fans were shocked during the first episode as Stephen suffered a 'nasty blow' and was knocked flying in an unexpected skit.The hilarious moment saw former professional boxer Ricky Hatton provoked by Stephen, making Ricky - who ended up in the first skate-off - his human microphone holder.Holly then quipped that Ricky should 'just hit' her co-host, as she joked: "Please just hit him" and to viewers' surprise, the boxer did just that, leaving Holly visibly shocked.The punch resulted in Stephen flying to the floor behind her.Stephen has since taken to social media to share he was "starting to bruise".While Ricky's own account said: "Ricky even landing knockout blows on @dancingonice!

Hope you're okay @StephenMulhern."The TV star has since told MailOnline : "Ricky is one strong man. I asked him to punch me as a gag forgetting for a moment that he is a three-time boxing world champion and yes it hurt, a lot!"At the time fans took to social media to react to the skit.