No Limits Magazine - Aug/Sept 2007
Dancing On Ice Tour
AXM Magazine - April 2007
Kissmas Hunks
Londino 2006
Stefan the Rain King
Stefan in Kenya with World Vision
Loose Women - Spring 2006
Skating through the pain barrier
Exclusive: I'm Skating on Thin Ice
Stefan - Daily Record - January 2006
Dick Whittington - BBC Three Counties Radio
All About Soap Magazine - March 2002
All About Soap Magazine (2) - March 2002
Hollyoaks Interview
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 He was the self-confessed action man and proven comeback kid on ITV1’s Dancing On Ice, and has also since travelled thousands of miles with World Vision to bring home awareness of the drought-stricken communities of Northern Kenya. Thankfully, we managed to get the unstoppable Stefan to sit still for a few moments, and reveal all about his skating, skiing and sessions with the So Solid Crew! How did you wind down after the punishing Dancing On Ice schedule? I don’t really like doing sunshine holidays so I ended up going skiing in the French Alps, which was absolutely fantastic. I got my heart’s desire, which was to do a bit of off-piste, a few black runs and ski the Swiss Wall, which was brilliant! I haven’t skied for a couple of years so I went absolutely manic and got rid of a few demons! I’m quite a hyperactive person so I tend to throw myself into crazy situations. In fact, I only had a motocross accident at the weekend, but I just jumped off, somersaulted, carried on rolling and got minor concussion. So that’s good! Did you go skating up in the Alps? No, I wouldn’t want to get back into those hired boots again, and if I’d packed my own skates they would have taken up half the allowance! They’re like bricks! Are you still in touch with skate pro Kristina? Yeah, very much so. We haven’t had time to meet up. She’s been to-ing and fro-ing from Canada, and I’ve lost all my telephone numbers so I’m emailing! Were you gutted not to win? No! Not at all. I was extremely content to make it to the final. That was all I ever wanted. All I ever wanted was to get the chance to do the Bolero. I felt really flattered to come second, especially after all the skate-offs when I thought, ‘No one loves me!’ Can you tell us about the work you did with World Vision in Kenya? Basically there is a three year drought happening at the moment, and they’re not getting the rainfall that they need. People are very keen to publicise the need for immediate aid and relief in countries that need it, but in certain circumstances, if we get there quick, help with the issues that they’ve got, and capitalise on the little resources that they have, there’ll be less aid money wasted because it will have gone into long term projects instead of one-off hits. World Vision asks the communities what they need, and the money goes straight into wells, or bore holes or livestock or irrigation systems. It’s really fantastic to get involved in these projects and see them first hand. Obviously there were times when I was completely heart broken and thought, ‘This is not fair, it doesn’t need to be like this.’ For those reasons I got very upset, but it dawned on me after a while that by getting upset in front of the people I met was not doing any justice to their dignity. Survival is one thing and sustenance is another. People only do something about it when people are dying. I don’t want this to be a situation where people start seeing dying children on their TV screens in a couple of months time and start acting on it then. It would be nice if people would start doing something now, and it’s totally possible. What we’re asking for is not a handout, it’s more like a leg up. I’m in a privileged position being an actor, and I’m happy that people associate my face with something that means a lot to me. What is your forthcoming movie, Back in Business, all about? I’m playing the son of Chris Barrie which is interesting because Chris is hilarious. Chris plays my father and Martin Kemp plays his mate. They get back together to do a heist. We had a lot of fun doing it. It was Ridley Scott’s crew who filmed the motion picture and we had some really great people on board. I made some good friends and I got to work with Joanna Taylor again! Jo’s a lovely girl. You're also a musician. Is it true you’ve jammed with the So Solid Crew?! It was kind of by accident that I collaborated with So Solid. When they were doing their demos I just did some sessions on their album as a favour for the producer. I used to do a lot of session singing and session guitar work. I love my music. I love nothing more than to relax by writing music, having a sing song and getting my guitar out. I think music brings people together. I worked hard at it as a kid and I think music is one of the best things that are available in life. I wish I could do more music and incorporate it into my acting … along with my ice skating and everything else! |
© Sharon Bate, 2007.
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