Birthday wishes flooded in for Holly Willoughby after the star turned 44 years old on Monday.

The Celebrity Bear Hunt host took on her presenting duties on Sunday night for Dancing On Ice ahead of her special day.

Among the famous pals to wish Holly a happy birthday was Canadian singer and TV host Nicole Appleton. 

Sharing an array of snaps of her and ‘best friend’ Holly, Nicole, 50, wrote: ‘Happy birthday my precious girl!! I love you to bits!! XXX.’

Nicole shared a snap of her and Holly with their other celebrity friends, including Spice Girl Emma Bunton and Loose Women star Christine Lampard. 

English journalist Kate Thornton, 52, also wished her pal a happy birthday as she shared a selfie and wrote: ‘Happy birthday @hollywilloughy. Hope today’s as special as you are [heart].’ 

Birthday wishes flooded in on Instagram for Holly Willoughby as the star turned 44 years old on Monday

Among the famous pals to wish Holly a happy birthday was Canadian singer and TV host Nicole Appleton

Holly also received birthday wishes from actor Tamzin Outhwaite who said: ‘Happy birthday beautiful girl. We all love you to pieces.’

Meanwhile make-up artist Patsy O’Neill shared a throwback to filming Celebrity Bear Hunt as she said: ‘Happy birthday @hollywilloughby. Another magical year around the sun.

‘Looking forward to more muddy adventures with you.’

‘Love you @hollywilloughby,’ talent agent Shiarra Bell said.

It comes after it was revealed Holly has reportedly earned the equivalent of £40,000 for every minute that she appeared on Netflix’s Celebrity Bear Hunt. 

She has only appeared on the new show for a total of 24 minutes across the seven hours of the show, surprising viewers with how little she appeared on screen. 

According to The Sun, Holly was paid a total of £1million for her appearance on the show as she joined survival expert, Bear Grylls.

A TV insider told the publication: ‘Viewers will be surprised just how little she features in the final version of the programme given all the attention there’s been surrounding the show. 

Nicole shared a snap of her and Holly with their other celebrity friends, including Spice Girl Emma Bunton and Loose Women star Christine Lampard

Meanwhile make-up artist Patsy O’Neill shared a throwback to filming Celebrity Bear Hunt as she said: ‘Happy birthday @hollywilloughby. Another magical year around the sun’

English journalist Kate Thornton, 52, also wished her pal a happy birthday as she shared a selfie and wrote: ‘Happy birthday @hollywilloughy. Hope today’s as special as you are [heart]’

Holly also received birthday wishes from actor Tamzin Outhwaite who said: ‘Happy birthday beautiful girl. We all love you to pieces’

‘Love you @hollywilloughby,’ talent agent Shiarra Bell said

‘Holly is a huge talent and very popular with viewers, plus she has decades of experience of presenting big TV shows, particularly live TV which requires a level of excellence few presenters have.

‘But in the final edit of Celebrity Bear Hunt she plays second fiddle to leading man Bear, and even gets less screen time than the dozen celebrities who are competing.’

Holly may be getting paid a eye-watering amounts but she is considerable less airtime than the celebrities on the show as she appears for an average of three minutes per episode. 

MailOnline contacted representatives for Holly Willoughby and Netflix for comment at the time.  

Holly recently admitted she was ‘totally out of her comfort zone’ and ‘scared’ ahead of the show’s launch.

In Friday’s episode of The Graham Norton Show, the presenter spoke about her challenging new TV hosting gig, set in a Costa Rican jungle which launched this week, more than a year after she announced her departure from her safe This Morning gig.

Holly, who commanded attention in an all-black ensemble, explained adventurer Bear Grylls, 50, even got her involved in some challenges throughout filming of the programme which sees him chase 12 celebrity contestants across the wild terrain.

Speaking about her time on the new show, the former This Morning host said: ‘It is so nice to be doing something new and exciting and being on a proper adventure. 

Holly has considerable less airtime than the celebrities on the show as she appears for an average of three minutes per episode

The presenter has only appeared on the new show for a total of 24 minutes across the seven hours of the show

‘Working with Bear Grylls has taken me totally out of my comfort zone. 

‘The magic of Bear is that he is really convincing and inspirational and even got me to do stuff and I am the scaredest person ever.’ 

As Bear puts them through their paces, those who fail to impress will face the dreaded ‘Bear Hunt’ – a brutal game of cat and mouse where they’ll be hunted down by Bear himself and, if captured, face elimination from the show.

Filming of the show was so intense that Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, 59, nearly died during a freak raft accident where he was dragged underwater for several heart-stopping moments after getting entangled in a bungee rope before being pulled to safety. 

The drama continued as Lottie Moss, 27, broke down in tears while opening up on her failed rehab stint for substance abuse and depression that ‘didn’t work’.

In emotional scenes, the former OnlyFans model couldn’t keep it together as she candidly told her co-stars that her 2022 stay ‘didn’t work’ and she was about to go into rehab again before starting the show.