Team GB figure skater Lilah Fear reveals ‘Heated Rivalry’-style dating scene at 2026 Winter Olympics – exclusive

As the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson celebrated their tenth year together as a figure skating duo. Packing their bags, they set their sights on Milan and landed in the Italian city for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. 

Competing in the rink at the Unipol Forum in Assago, the 26-year-old ice princess and her 31-year-old partner thrilled fans with an ode to the Spice Girls and enjoyed taking the Olympic ice for the second cycle in a row. 

While the athletes placed seventh, for the British-American-Canadian native and Scottish-born Lewis, the fun was only just beginning when HELLO! spoke to the pair on Valentine’s Day. Now that the hard graft was over, they were ready to spend some time getting to know the Olympic Village, post-competition, and in particular, their fellow villagers…

The ultimate side-quest for gold-standard romance 

With Lewis, whose husband Joshua Walsh has been cheering the duo on from the sidelines, by her side as the perfect wingman, Lilah revealed she was interested in breaking the ice with some fellow Olympians. 

“I would love for Cupid to strike me today, because there’s definitely – not gonna lie – a lot of cute guys that are on top of the game from different countries,” Lilah told us. She continued: “So, it’s really fun to just walk around, but obviously I was focused on the event, and now I’m looking, I’m open to it.” 

The Connecticut-born Team GB skater revealed: “I think there’s definitely a lot of connections that are made over the week. I haven’t seen any new ones yet, but it’s cute when there are two people who are both Olympians and dating, and then they get to experience the Olympics together as a couple. I think that’s really fun to watch, and then the fact that it’s Valentine’s Day adds to that!” 

Having experienced the Games before in 2022, when the pair competed in Beijing, albeit during the immediate aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, Lilah revealed what was different about the Italian village. 

“I just knew it would be more social at these Games, but I think the first two days, my battery was just depleted by the end of the day, because of the amount of interaction.  Everywhere you go, you bump into someone you know, or somebody you don’t, and then in the dining hall, you’re sitting with hundreds of people, and then you’re performing, and then it’s media. 

“So it’s a lot of interaction. I’m a social butterfly, so I can’t imagine how an introvert would be grappling with that, but I think it was just really interesting to note, ‘Okay, this is energising and fun, but also we need to find those quiet moments here and there’.”

The emotional rollercoaster

Aside from locker-room romances and finding international connections amid the glare of the medal podium, the other burning question on everyone’s lips is, of course, what’s life really like behind the barriers of the infamous Olympic Village? Lilah and Lewis exclusively let us in on some secrets.

“It just felt like this amazing social experience, meeting so many inspiring athletes, trading pins, doing all the fun activations with friends. 
And then, of course, the skating! Skating on Olympic ice and just feeling like that countdown was on,” Lilah explained what the pair were feeling when they first arrived at the official Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Village in the Porta Romana district. 

Lewis chimed in and revealed: “It feels like you’re at camp is how I would describe it. It’s really like a boarding school, like university halls. The part that I’m dreading is going home and having to pay for something and cook, and not just have everything there. Life is very easy in the village, everything is within walking distance. It’s like its own little bubble.” 

Lilah excitedly added: “There’s also a lot of fun perks. There’s a booth where you can take a selfie, and it prints it on the bottle and you write your name. Lewis got his hair cut. We were really focused before competing, but we’re now here for the first time, and we’re just trying to soak it all in and do all the fun things.” 

She reflected on their time on the ice after placing seventh overall and said of their performances: “Two of them we were super happy with. One of them we were not happy with, and we’ll take that ratio leaving. 
We’re here for another week and we’re still Olympians at the Olympics, no matter what happened. We want to enjoy this because we’ll kick ourselves looking back if we don’t!”

Pop culture’s obsession with ice skating

Between the internet’s deep love for shows like Heated Rivalry, Finding Her Edge, and Netflix’s new docu-series Glitter and Gold, and BookTok’s stanning of Layne Fargo’s The Favourites, it is fair to say we are all infatuated with love-on-the-ice and the world it is rooted in. But why? 

Lewis revealed what he thought could be the reason for the sudden boom in figure skating’s popularity and said: “It’s hard to say, actually. I’m not even sure myself, but trends always come back, and people want figure skating now, which is really cool. I’m happy that people have an interest because it is a small sport in the UK, and it’s nice to feel like your sport’s recognised and taken seriously.” 

Lilah added: “With skating and this world, there’s the movies, there’s the shows, and the books, there’s a fantasy around it because it’s such a whimsical thing. You associate it with wintertime, and it just has this aura about it. It really does feel like a dream to do it. So, I think that if more people can have access to that dream, then it will be amazing!” 

However, with such massive interest in their sport and the people behind it suddenly arriving at their doorstep, how does it make the duo feel? 

“It’s so great just to have more people know about the sport and get invested in the people behind the athletes,” Lilah said. Referencing the new behind-the-scenes Netflix show, she explained: “We know these people as humans that were starring in the show, and their dogs and where they like to go for brunch, and what they like to read. 

“I think that when you’re supporting someone on the world stage, you just see this perfect product and it’s a performance, but who’s the person that goes through the blood, sweat and tears? That’s who you support on and off the ice. I think it’s really great for sport.” 

A decade of Lilah and Lewis 

While trends come and go, one thing that has stuck around for both athletes is their unbreakable bond with one another. Joining forces in 2016, they have been skating as a team for ten years and train together six days a week at the Ice Academy of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. 

Balancing a marriage and a normal life amongst an intense working relationship that has blossomed into a close-knit friendship is difficult to navigate. However, Lilah and Lewis have nailed their routine and even established a “no texting on Sundays” rule to make sure they have clear, workable boundaries. 

“It’s been such a beautiful ten years. When we look back to the first day where we did our tryout, how awkward that was, we didn’t really know each other, but we’re trying to pursue this dream and see if we’re a right fit for each other,” Lilah smiled as she shared their story. 

The skater continued: “There was this six-year age gap, so that was something to navigate and then when we moved to Montreal a couple years in, that’s where I think our bond started to really solidify because we didn’t know anyone else. We were moving away from home for the first time to do something that we believed in, but it was not guaranteed, and we had to rely on one another.

“We spend six days a week together, over ten hours a day, and so we just really were ourselves with each other, and I think that what we love about each other is just who we are and what we accept and adore. We’re best friends now and that’s a testament to this journey we’ve been on.” 

Lewis revealed how they managed to strike a healthy balance so that figure skating doesn’t consume them in an unhealthy way: “We both have our life outside of it, so it feels like we’re leaving the office. We don’t train together on a Sunday, so that’s our day of almost no contact.
It’s very unique, but I think the bond that we’ve created together allows us to also foster other relationships very well and know what works well for a relationship too.” 

The pair are hanging around the Olympic Village for the week until the official closing ceremony takes place on 22 February, following which they will be gearing up to compete at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Prague.