SWINDON’S Melinda Messenger is hoping people in her home town will get right behind her bid to win ITV’s Dancing On Ice – but that’s not all the support she’ll need.

“Hopefully I will get a nice strong ‘lock them in and lock them down’ bra,” said the former glamour model turned presenter, who has a 34DD bust.

“I think I am going to need one because it’s different in a photograph, you can set yourself, you don’t have to move, but moving around and being flung around in a low-cut outfit, it’s slightly daunting.”

Melinda, 37, takes to the rink tomorrow night to take part in the competition which pairs celebrity novices with experienced ice dancers in live skate-offs which will be shown each Sunday for the next eight weeks.

Mum-of-three Melinda, who now lives near Newbury, said although she thinks she’ll need an extra strong bra to hold everything in place while she’s being flung around the ice by her skating partner, Fred Palascak, she’s looking forward to the costumes.

She said: “They are always so glamorous and gorgeous . . . but I’m slightly nervous of it too, I was thinking, ‘God will everything stay in?’ “Just by judging from the previous years when I have watched, everybody has gone out looking like a million dollars, so from that point of view I feel quite comfortable.”

Melinda said that she is taking part in the series for her family – eight-year-old Morgan, Flynn, six, Evie, five, and her mum Avis, who wants to see her fly.

“They can’t quite believe it, they are so excited but they love the show anyway and every year we sit and watch it together and they do their own routines,” said Melinda.

“Evie will no doubt want a miniature version of whatever I’m wearing – she loves anything that has got sparkles and what is glittery and yes she is going to love it.

“The one thing I keep on thinking is, please let me stay in, because the one thing I would ideally love to do, as much for my mum as for anyone else, would be to do the flying bit.

“My mum is such a fan of the show, all she’s said, right from day one is, ‘Oh, I hope I get to see you do the flying’. I would love to do the flying. I think it would be magical. I don’t know what week that comes in at but I would love to still be around for that.

“If I had a wish it would be to get that point.

“Of course, nobody wants to be voted off first because it’s such a privilege to be doing something like this.

“You don’t want it to end, you don’t want to miss out.

“Of course, you can still carry on skating after the show but it won’t be the same.

“Everybody wants to keep on being part of it all. It will be heartbreaking to go out at any point.”

She’s been practising her moves at her local ice rink with a group of women who held her hand and led her onto the ice.

She said: “I went up to my local rink on about three occasions as I couldn’t even get around on my own or without holding onto somebody so I thought I at least needed to find my feet.

“Whilst I was up there there was a group of women and they took me round, they were brilliant.

“Actually they were in their forties and fifties and they were inspired by Dancing on Ice.

“They helped me round and they were giving me some pointers said they wanted to do all the things they didn’t get to do when they were children. They gave me some hints and tips.”

Melinda has been training hard and even asked Fred to put in some extra hours. She said: “It’s absolutely brilliant I love it. It’s so funny because I’m absolutely loving it but I’m also absolutely terrified all at the same time.

“It’s quite overwhelming getting the first routine it brings everything home all of a sudden you think, oh my God, I’m not just learning how to skate just for my own pleasure I’ve now got to make this into a routine.

“So I am petrified but exhilarated at the same time.”

The training is tough and Melinda hurt a rib in practice. She said: “I went to pick the kids up from school and they both lunged at me and I was like, ‘Arghhhh’.

“Evie, bless her heart, keeps on saying, ‘Mummy you mustn’t lift me up, you shouldn’t carry me’.”

Tomorrow sees the first programme where Melinda will show off her new-found skills.

“It might be only one minute 16 seconds but it’s a hundred moves,” she said.

“There is one lift we’ve been doing where I swing through his legs and I scream every time we do it. Mentally it’s difficult to put that fear aside and just go for it, which is easier said than done.

“The high point so far was when Chris Dean and Jane Torvill came to assess us and we did one of our lifts, it worked really well and they were really pleased, Fred was really pleased and I was really chuffed that I got it. That was really nice to have that sense that something had clicked and we’d achieved that.

“I was saying to Chris about how he makes it look so effortless and simple, and he said, ‘Well that’s what happens after 40 years of skating.’ It made me realise that, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve only had four weeks of skating.’ “When you see the professionals you think that’s so simple, of course I can do it, but it’s not until you try it that you appreciate everything that goes into one tiny step.

“It’s complex but that’s what makes it so brilliant. I love it, when else in my life will I get the chance to do something like this?”

  • The show is on ITV tomorrow, starting at 7pm. Don’t miss Monday’s Adver for full coverage including our own panel’s view on Mel’s performance.