‘Ben doesn’t make me feel hard to love’, Dancing On Ice’s Amber Davies on falling in love with her stage co-star
TONIGHT she’ll be getting up close and personal with a Canadian hunk in front of millions of viewers.
But there’s no chance of a romance between Amber Davies and her Dancing On Ice partner Simon Proulx-Sénécal, because her heart lies firmly elsewhere.
She’s been dating her West End co-star Ben Joyce for just over a year and Amber couldn’t be happier.
“Ben and I became friends first – none of my previous relationships have started that way,” says Amber, 27.
“So I fell in love with his mind before anything else.
“He’s the kindest soul. He brightens up any room he walks into – he has that power. And he puts me before himself every single time, going above and beyond. He’s one in a million.”
When former Love Island winner Amber landed a starring role as Lorraine Baines in Back To The Future: The Musical in 2022, she had no idea how much the show was about to change her life.
Within weeks of joining the cast, a real-life fairy tale began to blossom behind the scenes, and Amber and Ben, 23, finally confessed their feelings for each other during a night out at London members’ club Soho House.
They’d been “joined at the hip” before then, but neither had plucked up the courage to say out loud how they felt.
“It was a slow burner,” says Amber.
“He’s since told me that he thought he’d never have a chance with me, so he never brought it up. It was me who mentioned it first. I said: ‘I think I fancy you!’ and he was like: ‘Oh my god, me too!’
“I was worried, because I thought if this went wrong we were committed to working together for another year. It could have turned out really sour. But he’s the type of person I could be around 24/7 and not get bored. It was so natural and like nothing I’d ever experienced before. The chemistry and the tension between us was intense.”
Amber’s previous relationships were high-profile – her romance with fellow Love Islander Kem Cetinay ended six months after the show wrapped, then she went on to have a two-year on/off romance with businessman Nick Kyriacou.
But she says she’s never experienced the sort of contentment and security she’s found with Ben, who played her on-stage son Marty McFly.
“He doesn’t make me feel hard to love and I’ve never had that before. Ever. I’m happy that I’ve experienced some of the relationships I’ve had in the past, because now all I want is someone to be kind to me. Someone who likes me as a person and wants to be with me.
“We are the male and female versions of each other, but first and foremost, he’s my best friend. I feel like the stars fell in line when I met him – he’s everything I want in a partner and the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Amber adds that friends and family have noticed a huge difference in her since she met Ben.
He has given her confidence and self-belief and helped settle her anxieties.
“They think I’m completely different since being with him. I’m a lot less on edge. I’m calmer, more relaxed, not so frantic. I’m just content in all aspects and Ben has really balanced that out for me.
“The relationship I’ve got with myself has changed. I can be unapologetically me. I feel like I love who I am now, because he’s shown me that it’s easy.”
Although Amber left Back To The Future last summer to join the touring production of Pretty Woman: The Musical – while Ben is still starring as Marty – absence has only made the heart grow fonder.
They went from being together 24/7 to hardly seeing each other, but Amber reckons they are stronger for it.
“Our relationship did a complete 180, but that’s felt like a new chapter and we got used to our new normal. We had such a good foundation that we didn’t think twice about it. And what helps is that we live together, so we have the same base.”
Although she’s clearly smitten with Ben, pro skater Simon is very much the other man in her life, and the two of them have developed a close friendship since ice training began late last year.
“This is Simon’s first year on Dancing On Ice and I love that we’re experiencing this for the first time together. He’s a fantastic teacher. I couldn’t imagine doing it with anybody else,” she says.
She admits she’s been slightly over-awed by the experience so far – Amber has a background in dance, but doing it on a pair of skates is an entirely different matter.
When she first started training, she told mentors Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean that she wanted to attempt the famous “headbanger” move in the first week.
It involves the male partner spinning the female round by her ankles, while raising her up and down so her head comes within inches of the ice.
“Well, you’d best believe that’s not happening,” says Amber today.
“I am nowhere near that yet. I’ve been shocked at how hard it is! At the beginning, I watched some clips on YouTube – they make it look so easy. But when I got on the ice, I was like Bambi.
“My mum and dad would never let me go ice skating when I was little, because they thought it was too dangerous, so I’ve only skated a handful of times in my life, and that was all before I was 13.
“It’s probably the most challenging thing I’ve done in my life.”
The new series marks a return to reality TV for Amber after a nearly seven-year absence.
Since winning Love Island in 2017, she has been careful about her job choices, conscious of the need to earn the respect of the theatre industry, but also because she says she’s not made for the harsh world of reality TV.
“I promised myself after Love Island that I was never going to do a reality show again, as I don’t have the personality for it. There are big brash personalities out there who are perfect for it, but that’s just not me.
“What I love about Dancing On Ice is that it mixes the two worlds of TV and talent. It’s an opportunity that won’t come around again and I couldn’t turn it down.
“It’s coming up to seven years since I’ve been on telly, so I’d love for people to see who I am now. Hopefully I’ve grown up! I do feel like a completely different person and I want people to see that.”
There’s no doubt that Amber has worked her socks off to fulfil her childhood dream of making it in musical theatre.
Behind the success of the last few years is a lifetime of dedication and sacrifice, including a move from Wales to London at the age of 16 to take up a scholarship at the Urdang Academy.
Amber’s older sister Jade is also a performer and currently touring the UK in the musical Wicked, and both relied on the help of bursaries to fund their training.
Their mum Sue is an NHS mental health nurse and dad Hefin a plumber, and they could never have been able to afford it otherwise.
“Unless you get funding which, thankfully, my sister and I did, there would have been no chance,” says Amber.
“But this is all I’ve ever known ever since I was a young girl. I didn’t have a typical childhood. I wasn’t going out playing with my friends – every day after school, I was doing ballet or musical theatre lessons, so in my mind there was no other option for me.
“Moving to London at 16 seems wild now. But I knew what I wanted in life, so it was a no-brainer. I had a gut feeling that I was going to be OK. Being in this industry is a marathon. It’s eight shows a week and it’s tough. But because I’m trained, I’ve got that discipline and I will always give 110% to everything I do.”
After graduating in 2016, Amber won Love Island a year later, then her big break came in 2019 when she was cast as Judy Bernly in 9 To 5 The Musical, alongside Louise Redknapp, who she now counts as one of her closest friends.
Her roof-raising performances won praise from the critics and put paid to any whispers of her being hired for her profile rather than her talent.
“People ask if it was strategic to do Love Island, but it honestly wasn’t. I was 20 and it was a gamble because I wasn’t getting any other job in musical theatre. It kick-started things, but it was on me to work hard and commit, and show people that I was serious about this.”
Winning the role of Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman: The Musical, the part made famous by Julia Roberts in the iconic 1991 movie, is testament to how far she’s come.
Amber was unsuccessful when she first auditioned for it five years ago and, at the time, was crushed.
However, with hindsight she accepts it would have been too soon.
“I was 22 and I know now that I’d never have been able to handle it. It probably would have broken my confidence because it would have been too big.
“I believe that everything happens for a reason, and I think I was always meant to get the part in my late 20s. This is what I’ve been working for. Vivian is such a big responsibility. I don’t leave the stage for two and a half hours, which pushes me as a vocalist, but I love it so much.”
As a seasoned stage performer, Amber is more than aware of the great singalong debate that’s been raging all year, ever since unruly members of The Bodyguard: The Musical audience were asked to leave after joining in with I Will Always Love You.
To sing or not to sing? “Absolutely not,” says Amber.
“There are two types of people: theatre people and non-theatre people. The people who say they’ve paid X amount for a ticket and therefore will sing when they want to, I can’t relate to at all. There have been times when I’ve been on stage and I can hear people singing in the audience and it’s like: ‘Please just let us do our jobs’. It ruins the experience for everyone. It’s like a football fan running on to the pitch in the middle of a match, saying: ‘Let me take this shot!’”
Has she noticed a decline in the etiquette of audiences?
Some London theatres are reportedly considering removing phones due to persistent issues with people taking photos and videos during performances.
“Honestly, we see it all,” says Amber.
“People filming on their phones has been going on for years now. It comes down to basic respect, doesn’t it? Respect to the performers on that stage, to the backstage crew and the other people in the audience.
“The silver lining is that the theatre community has come out fighting. We will support each other until the cows come home, and it has shown how much we really do have each other’s backs.”
Over the next couple of months, Amber will be taking a short break from Pretty Woman to focus on Dancing On Ice, but with the tour continuing through to the autumn, she has a busy 2024 ahead. After that, does Broadway beckon?
“I’d love to get to Broadway, maybe before I’m 30. I’d also like to do some television. I did Almost Never [on CBBC] with Kimberly Wyatt and Aston Merrygold in lockdown and I’d love to give that another go.”
She adds that her major goal is to one day play Elphaba in Wicked and to perform that ultimate show tune Defying Gravity.
“My mum has a photo of me when I was about five and I’d painted my face green. If that’s not manifesting, then I don’t know what is!” she says.
“It’s a huge part to play and I’m not there yet. Give me a couple more roles and maybe I’ll be ready to take her on.”
- Watch Amber on Dancing On Ice, tonight, ITV1 and ITVX.
In the make-up chair with Amber
Do you have any skincare heroes?
I swear by 47 Skin’s serums, exfoliators and masks. They have totally changed my skin.
Any beauty bargains?
You just can’t go wrong with Carmex lip balm.
What do you splurge on?
I love Molecule and Baccarat Rouge perfume.
What are your beauty hacks?
Chop your false lashes in half and glue them to the outer part of your eye. It gives your eyes a really amazing shape.
Do you have any make-up bag essentials?
Charlotte Tilbury Charlotte’s Magic Cream, Mac brow gel and Laneige Water Sleeping Mask.
Who’s your celebrity beauty icon?
Hailey Bieber – who else?!