There's been plenty of discussion on who is the best celebrity skater but what about the professionals? I'd say Matt Evers is an excellent skater who has made Bonnie look good. He is really strong and agile. I thought Olga who partnered John was also excellent and I think Kristina combines very well with Stefan

What I also wanted to know is whether any of the pros compete in Olympics and Championships or are they all from ice shows

In comparison to Strictly Come Dancing, the professional skating stars have all but been ignored in the main show. I haven't watched any of the companion shows, but certainly this has been a weakness of the shows on Saturday night. Come on , give them some real recognition!

I hate that the pros are hardly talked about. I don't give a stuff about the celebs in SCD because the pros are so ace! lol!!!

I thought Marika was cool. And I like Kristina. We've not realy seen enough of them. I love David & Pam's and Gaynor & Dan's partnerships though.

I think Dan's rather nice

It would be interesting to know more about the pros, I'm not even sure which discipline most of them competed in. It would be good to see clips of their competitive performances, or maybe get them to do demostration skates like in SCD.

i think all the pro's seem really nice matt is a brill skater and i really like kristina (think its her voice its so cute lol) pam seems really brave aswel that twice shes been in hospital, but i think they are all really good

I think it's a shame that DoI isn't paying much attention to the professional dancers (apart from Torvill and Dean of course! ) If it wasn't for them, the celebrities wouldn't be able to dance like they are doing - Bonnie probably wouldn't stand much of a chance without Matt, so I really think they need more recognision.
Maybe its because its the 1st series though - I think they were like this with SCD in the 1st series too, until the whole Brendan/Natasha/Camilla situation happened and of course Bruce F. saying that Anton du Beke looked like him! lol

This is exactly what we've been saying on The Blue Room site.

The show is concentrating too much on the celebrities when the professionals have had interestng and vaired careers.

Daniel has been performing in top rated ice dancing shows, most notably and recently, in 'Hot Ice' in Blackpool.

Matt is more interested in acting and presenting and has done loads of non skating work.

Pam (with her regular ice dancer partner Jonathan doubling for Robbie) was the skater in the Robbie Williams' video of She's the One.

Come on Dancing on Ice - the celebrities are nothing without the professional skaters, showcase them a little more.

I think Matt and Olga are very good

I loved last week when one of the judges made a comment to Sean about him not being able to imagine what Marika could do. And she gave a knowing look!!!

I think it would be cool to have some of the pros who have gone out perform in the results show, like on SCD near the end.

that would be good

i would like to see them again

Olga was my favourite. It's such a shame she's gone. I hope she gets to come back next year if they repeat the series.

Me three

I've not been watching the second set of 'defrosted' . I gather John took Olga to the exit interview with him, did Sean or Kelly take their partners?

I think that the dancing on ice pros dont get much press shall we say as the strictly come dancing pros do I think both pairs of pros deserve to be noticed as it is not just about the celbs which take part

This is exactly why I started the Todd Appreciation thread - everyone has strong views on Kelly - love her or hate her? But the professional who has partnered her and took her so far in the competition is barely mentioned. I think it is all wrong. Kelly was no favourite of mine but I do admire Todd for the great job he did in the competition.

It was nice of her to take the time to post on this forum

I hope she's back as well

I'd love that - let the professionals show what they can really do.

Would ITV do it though? It might show up the celebrities too much. I've been watching some of T&D's old routines (courtesy the 'Online Bolero' thread) together with the Olympics and they remind me what 'real' ice dancing is.

The celebrities are doing very well for a group that has so little skating experience, but IMO they're nowhere near the Olympic finalists nor the professionals.

hello

this has been a very nice thread to read. my competition history is listed on my site.

after finishing my sports career , i joined the imperial ice stars , and have been performing for the last 5 years of my life in , probably , the most renowned ice company (approx 250 competition medals between the group). i hve performed a few tours here in the UK.

for myself , i was delighted to take part in the tv show , it was so much fun and very differant from anything i had done before. and i can promise you , that it was not hard to teach john , just great fun.

again , thank you for the nice comments.


Olga S

Hi!!

Will all the couples be back for the final?? I hope so! I miss John and Sean!

I think Matt Evers is brilliant and also Kristina... and Daniel... and Pam... Ohhh there's just too many that I think are great!... but to be fair, they're all absolutely incredible... None have really done anything wrong at all!

I thought Olga was great with John as well... I still can't belive they're gone! They're the two who looked most like a professional skating couple.

I agree that these skaters don't get enough credit for what they're doing. It must be hard enough to dance with professional partners or on their own, without having to teach another person how to skate!

Hello - the professionals start skating in childhood, and at an early age devote hours every day to their training.

Are you seriously comparing their performances to a group of celebs most of whom pulled on a pair of skates between 4 and 5 months ago.

It would be nice to see an exhibition from the professionals each week, but the difference between DOI and SCD is that partnerships participated in SCD - e.g. Darren Bennet & Lilia, Anton and Erin, Ian and Camilla etc.

That's true. It doesn't have to be our pros though, could be any professional couple. I guess we do get T&D!

Here is some info about the skaters I know of, I don't know
much about the Russians and Americans, Although I remember Matt Evers skating pairs at Skate Canada one of the Grand Priz events in skating.


Todd Sand - originally skated for Denmark as a singles skater finishing 19th - 22nd in europeans/worlds before starting pair skating. As a pairs skater he won the Bronze medal at 1991 World Championships with Natasha Kuchiki before meeting his partner and wife Jenni Meno at 1992 Olympics where he and Natasha finished in 6th place. In 1993 Jenni and Todd finished 5th in their first world championships and they competed at the highest level gaining two more World Championship medals (silver and Bronze) amongst others. They turned professional after teh 1998 season and have appeared in many ice shows and professional competitions. Todd's wife Jenni has been competing in the American version of the show Skating with Celebrites, where she wa s partnered with Todd Bridges ( Willis from diff'rent Strokes)

Kristina Cousins competed internationally in ice dance representing Canada. She is married to Steven Cousins 8 time British Mens Champion

Marika Humphries has a website with her husband and partner Vitaliy Baranov http://www.icedance.co.uk/index.htm

She was the skater unlucky enough to miss out on a place at the Olympic Games in 1994 when Torvill and Dean decided to return to eligible competition.

Pam O'Connor was competing up until earlier this season she has been British Champion and has competed at European and World Championships as well as many other international competitions.

http://www.icedancers.co.uk/

Doug Webster is a renowned choreographer and skater at the ICe Theatre of New York which is about developing skating artistically as a form of dance.

What I actually meant was that although the celebrities are doing amazingly well in the circumstances, after watching the professionals skate in the last week, DOI seems a bit flat to me. T&D excepted

It appears I was being too circumspect about it.

I totally agree it was only this week that they were in the ice box with Stephen on Defrosted..