Monday, January 14, 2008

The return of Dancing On Ice, but don't expect me to be nice

"Dancing On Ice" is a British celebrity reality-talent show now entering its third series. Basically it's a rip-off of "Strictly Come Dancing" only swapping the dancefloor for the ice rink.

It's been moved to Sunday nights, but otherwise it's same old, same old. On the plus side, we like the glittery and glamorous outfits - there's not enough of this kind of thing on telly these days. But on the minus side, the presentation is humourless, Mr Nasty judge Jason thinks he's Craig Revel Horwood, and the female celebs spend more time being lifted in the air than 'dancing on ice'. Add to that some 'what do you take us for?' editing, showing every tumble and fall in training, only for the celebs to miraculously perform without a slip once they get on the ice.

Torvill and Dean are still around to add some credibility and a weekly routine, but the producers need to focus more on the professionals, in the way that "Strictly Come Dancing" does. I still feel as if I don't know anything about the professional skaters.

This year brings a mixed bag of 'celeb' contestants (term being used very loosely in some cases). There is always one with an unfair advantage and this year's would appear to be Chris "Justin from Hollyoaks" Fountain, who already plays ice hockey. Former Pop Idol runner-up Gareth Gates, and ex-Hear'say (Popstars) member Suzanne Shaw are also in the line-up.

Week one didn't bring too much in the way of skating expertise, which was reflected in the judges' marks. This week's bottom two were Samantha Mumba and her partner Pavel, and Sarah Greene and her partner Fred. After the skate-off, Sarah and Fred were the first couple to leave the show.

Now Fred is rather lovely, we remember him from last year and would have liked to see him partnered with a decent skater which would have meant him sticking around for a few more weeks. He's the Anton Du Beke of "DOI" (only better looking) so give him a good partner next time round!

Sarah and Fred are the first to skate off this year's series. Awww, bye bye Fred, we'll miss you :-)

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