Dancing On Ice judge Karen Barber spends five nights at Christopher Dean's house as he splits from his wife

By Mail on Sunday Reporter
Updated: 05:56 EST, 8 March 2010

Dancing On Ice's Christopher Dean spent five nights with a married co-star after splitting from his wife of 16 years, it was revealed yesterday.

Dean's agent confirmed last night that the 51-year-old had separated from his second wife, U.S. Skater Jill Trenary.

The Olympic gold medallist is said to have become 'close' to Karen Barber, 48, a fellow former professional who judges the ITV show in which features Dean is a mentor to the celebrity contestants.

Viewers were given no clues as the the pair played it cool on last night's show.

But last week, Miss Barber stayed every night at Dean's luxury Hertfordshire apartment, just a mile from the home she shares with husband Stephen Pickavance, himself a trainer on the ITV show.

Out for dinner: Christopher Dean and Karen Barber, who is comforting him after the marriage split, leave the White Head pub in Shenley, Hertfordshire, last week

The 48-year-old has been married for 21 years to Stephen Pickavance, who works as a trainer on the ITV1 show.

Carrying on as usual: Christopher Dean appears on Dancing On Ice in his mentor role with Jayne Torvill

But while Mr Pickavance spent last week in Lancashire teaching the show's northern contestants, Karen remained in Hertfordshire visiting Dean at his £3,000-a-week rented home. She was spotted leaving separately from Dean's house early each morning.

On Monday evening, she arrived at 9.50pm after picking up belongings from her own house just a mile away. She left at 9am the next morning.

On Tuesday she arrived at 7pm clutching a bouquet of flowers before again slipping out the next morning. The pair were then together at a celebrity event on Wednesday evening in central London.

A taxi brough them both back to Hertfordshire at midnight, dropping Christopher at his house and taking Karen back to her own flat. Just five minutes later, she joined Christopher at his home, leaving at 9.40 the next morning.

The pair then met for a pub dinner on Thursday evening, along with Jayne Torvill. They shared a taxi back to his home, where she stayed for a fourth night. They also spent Friday night together at his luxury apartment.

It is claimed that she has been helping him through his separation, with her spokesman saying over the weekend that suggestions of a romantic link were 'nuts', adding: 'They have been family friends for years'.

Christopher, one half of the duo Torvill and Dean who won gold for Britain at the Winter Olympics in 1984, lives in Colorado Springs in the US along with Miss Trenary and their two sons Jack and Sam.

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Top marks: Judge Karen Barber, far left, gives a standing ovation to Hayley Tamaddon, who scored a maximum on last night's show

However, he has been spending increasing amounts of time in the UK filming Dancing on Ice.

Before rift: Deanand former American skater Jill Trenary had been married for 16 years and have two children

Miss Trenary, a former American figure skater, is Dean's second wife. He split with world ice champ Isabelle Duchesnay in 1993.

Over the weekend, Dean's agent confirmed the split.

He said: 'Christopher Dean and his wife Jill Trenary have separated. They remain good friends and devoted parents to their two sons.'

Jayne Torvill and Dean became the highest scoring ice-skaters of all time with maximum points after performing their Ravel's Bolero routine.

It earned them the gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.

They also won bronze at Lillehammer in 1994 and earned British, European and World Championship medals.

They retired from competitive skating in 1998 and Dean has been living with Jill, his second wife, in Colorado Springs in the U.S. with their two children.

Torvill and Dean did not skate together again until coming out of retirement to take part in Dancing on Ice.

A spokeswoman for ITV said: 'No comment. It's a personal matter.'

Making his name: Torvill and Dean dance their way to Olympic gold with Bolero in 1984