Dancing on Ice 2012: Heidi Range and Sylvain Longchambon (Pic: ITV)
Dancing on Ice 2012: Heidi Range and Sylvain Longchambon (Pic: ITV)

Dancing On Ice contestant Heidi Range has admitted her skating performances are not exactly music to the ears - because she cannot stop grunting.

The 28-year-old Sugababes singer has revealed she is the Maria Sharapova of the rink as sounds spill from her lips due to the exertion of routines.

Range said the "manly grunts" and yelps often surprise her professional partner, Andrei Lipanov, during rehearsals, and she is glad she has no microphone.

"We've been trying some lifts, really high ones, this week and I'm shaking like a leaf during them, screaming and making random noises - I'm shocked by the noises I make," she said.

"Some of them are quite manly grunts, and sometimes I sound like my little dog, Betty."

The star has already amassed an array of injuries from the ITV1 show and is taking multi-vitamins and anti-inflammatories with ice packs to hand.

"I had a bone come out of my wrist, a bone come out of my ribs and pulled a muscle in my bum, but nothing serious. The wrist was when I fell on to my hand, but the rib and the bum are from the lifts.
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"The lifts are hard - even though the guy is holding you, you have to be so strong to hold on to the position. That's why I've been going to the gym to try and keep my strength."

The self-confessed "scaredy cat" said she is looking forward to showing off her latest moves in Sunday's classic movie-themed show.

"I love my new routine, and the theme of it. It went really well today in rehearsal, and if I perform it as well as I did in rehearsal, I will be really pleased," she said.

Fellow Sugababes Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen will be at the rink on Sunday to cheer on Range, who split from TV presenter fiance Dave Berry late last year.

Range admitted she was hugely disappointed to be put in the skate-off opposite Blue Peter presenter Andy Akinwolere in the first show.

"I was gutted, I really was. I've been training for so long and you get to the first show, and that's when the excitement starts," she said.
"I don't want it to end, I genuinely love it. It's exhausting and terrifying, but I would do it for the rest of the year if I could. It's one of the best things I've ever done."