It’s all change on Dancing On Ice for 2012 with two new judges (Louie Spence and Katarina Witt) alongside Robin Cousins and a new co-host (Christine Bleakley) partnering Phillip Schofield. Are they a breath of fresh air, or simply a case of “best we could do at short notice” as filming drew ever nearer?
At Last, An Ice Panel Of Professionals
First, the judges. As a double Olympic gold medallist and six-time World Champion, German figure skater Katarina Witt has far more credibility than Emma Bunton, who knew precisely nothing about either choreography or skating and made no useful comments whatsoever. As with Alesha Dixon on Strictly Come Dancing, she seemed to be there for decorative purposes.
Will Robin’s nose be put ever so slightly out of joint to have such an illustrious co-judge? Hopefully Katarina will not simply agree with everything he says and be forthcoming with her own opinions. As English is not her first language she does pause occasionally to try to find the right words, but fortunately her accent isn’t thick enough to require subtitles.
Surely Nobody Could Boo Louie Spence?
Louie Spence, however, has very large shoes to fill with the departure of Jason Gardiner. Best known for his TV series set at London’s Pineapple Dance Studios, Louie is also a choreographer, and certainly nobody could accuse him of being shy and retiring. But Jason also played the panto villain of the panel, guaranteed to get at least one hiss from the audience per show for voicing some killer put-downs. Will Louie be forced to turn into Mr Nasty if the ratings start to slip?
And finally, fresh from her less than successful stint on ITV’s Daybreak, Christine Bleakley steps into Holly Willoughby’s stilettos. As the job requires little more than the ability to read off an auto-cue and wear a succession of fabulous frocks she’s certainly more than qualified, although she does look like she could do with a decent meal. Whether she can build a rapport with the judges and not just tut if somebody is given a low score remains to be seen.
Of all three of the new faces, Katarina shows the most promise – knowledgeable, attractive, and with luck, she might just wipe that slightly smug, king-of-the-jungle look off Robin’s face. If Louie can be constructive and tone down the camp he should fit in nicely. Christine? You can just hear the ITV executives going “well, we’ve got to do something with her, we’re paying her all this money” and voila! up pops the Dancing On Ice vacancy. How difficult is it to be Barbie to Phillip’s Ken?
Dancing On Ice airs Sundays, 6.30pm, ITV1.
Arlene Kelly - Born and raised in a small prairie town, by the time I graduated high school I decided I’d had enough of Manitoba winters and headed ...
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