RAY QUINN - BRACKEN: RAY'S THE MAN TO BEAT ON DANCING ON ICE

BRACKEN: RAY'S THE MAN TO BEAT ON DANCING ON ICE

Former Dancing on Ice winner Kyran Bracken has backed Ray Quinn to win the current series of the ITV1 contest.

Ex-rugby player Bracken won the second series of Dancing on Ice in 2007 and received the highest score ever recorded - at the time - in the semi-final of the show as he and partner Melanie Lambert were awarded a 29.5 by the judging panel.

The pair were victorious in the final after a performance involving simulated flying and Bracken has since become a professional ice dancer, touring with Holiday on Ice.

Speaking soon after former X Factor contestant Ray Quinn achieved a perfect score of 30 points, Bracken said he is watching the current series "every Sunday".

"I'm amazed at what Ray can do and I'm enjoying watching some of the other contestants do their best to get up to Ray's standard", he told inthenews.co.uk.

"It's enthralling, actually, and who knows who's going to win at the end of the day?"

Bracken, capped 51 times for England and a member of the World Cup winning squad in 2003, also revealed he had no idea of the way in which Dancing on Ice would change his life.

"I think everyone faces challenges in life and I never thought in a million years I'd be in a pair of skates and the lycra with the sparkles, and that I'd love it so much!" he admitted.

"I never thought I'd find a new sport, win the show and carry on a business in ice skating."

Bracken was speaking while supporting the third annual learndirect Achievement Awards, which close for entries on the 27th March.