Jorgie Porter

DANCING on Ice star Jorgie Porter has admitted she has her less-than-grade A Manchester schooldays to thank for helping her to skating success.

The Hollyoaks actress has been wowing professional judges with her routines on the Sunday night show, winning praise for her natural dancer’s poise on the ice.

That’s no surprise, since she started ballet classes at the age of three.

But she confesses she was so single-minded in following her dream she also used to skip academic subjects at Moorside High School in Swinton to concentrate on dance and gymnastics.

“To be honest I used to wag all my lessons and just do anything to do with PE,” jokes the 24-year-old. “Everyone else was stressing about what college they wanted to go to and about their GCSEs, but I just thought, ‘well I don’t need to because I’m going to dance’.

“I knew I could never be a ballerina because I’m not skinny enough, but I thought I’d probably end up working as a nightclub dancer or as a backing dancer.”

Since she began training before Christmas, Jorgie and her partner Matt Evers have been splitting their time between sessions in Altrincham ice rink and run-throughs in London with Olympic mentors Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean. Read more »