Torvill & Dean: ‘Single kiss ensured we were ice legends’

Jayne says that after sharing the smooch on a bus they put romance to one side – and became a dynamic duo on ice. The figure skater, who described Christopher as a “blonde prince” when she first met him, tells Radio Times: “We did actually kiss once – before we were a skating couple. We were in the back of the bus going to a league match, and it just happened.

Jayne, 61, has been married to her husband Phil Christensen, for 28 years and they have a son Kieran and daughter Jessica.

Jayne added: “On Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, Chris said, ‘We dabbled’. So that’s what it is now – Dabblegate.

“It was a kiss!”

Despite this, fans still believe the Dancing On Ice duo are together in real life even when she’s with her actual husband: “We were married to skating rather than to each other. Although people still think we’re a couple. They’ll see me and my husband Phil and call him Chris!”

“It was a one-off. We never talked about it afterwards. We laugh about it now.

“People say that we act like an old married couple, so I’m sure we could have ended up together, but during that period when you start dating, we were absorbed in our skating.”

The pair, who have skated together for more than 40 years, went down in Olympic history with their record-breaking figure skating performance to Ravel’s Bolero in 1984.

The moving and passionate routine scored a row of perfect sixes for artistic merit.

Meanwhile, Christopher has been married twice, firstly to World ice dance champion Isabelle Duchesnay, then American skater Jill Trenary. They have two sons, Jack and Sam.

The couple split in 2010 and Christopher has been dating Dancing On Ice judge Karen Barber since 2011.

The 60-year-old said of Jayne: “There is still a romance, though.

I love Jayne. But in a passionate friend way.

“When couples dance together, it’s very intimate. You spend a lot of time together, it’s close, it’s physical.”