Skating with Celebrities
Encyclopedia
Skating with Celebrities is a celebrity
reality television
show that began airing on the Fox network on January 18, 2006. The show also aired in Australia
on Network Ten
in early 2006 and in New Zealand in October 2008. The show was the U.S. version of Dancing on Ice
, which also aired in the U.K. during the same time period. Skating with Celebrities was met with far less success than the UK original and lasted only one season. The show was at the center of a controversy involving allegations that one of the competing couples, Lloyd Eisler
and Kristy Swanson
were involved in an extramarital affair http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/skating-with-celebrities-kristy-swanson-lloyd-eisler-pair-up-off-ice-3960.php. The duo defeated the team of television personality Jillian Barberie
and U.S. pairs champion John Zimmerman to win the show's first, and only, championship. On March 2, 2006 production was cancelled and it was announced that the show would not return for a second season.
Dancing with the Stars (U.S. TV series) Fox started airing its own celebrity competition revolving around skating instead of dancing.
The show paired six champion figure skaters with six celebrities who have various degrees of skating experience: Deborah Gibson
, a novice; Dave Coulier
played ice hockey in Canada; Kristy Swanson
had taken lessons as a child; Jillian Barberie
trained as a competitive figure skater into her teens. Each team was composed of one man and one woman and they had to perform a new routine during each episode. As part of their new routines, each celebrity had to demonstrate a specific figure skating skill.
Each pair received scores for technical merit and artistic impression from a trio of judges. The scores were added together to create a cumulative score. No teams were eliminated in the first episode.
and figure skating Olympic figure skating Gold Medalist Scott Hamilton
and judged by Olympic Gold Medalist (figure skating) Dorothy Hamill
, skating coach John Nicks
, and journalist Mark Lund
.
The six celebrities in the show were Olympic Gold Medalist (decathlon) Bruce Jenner
, television personality Jillian Barberie
, comedian Dave Coulier
, actress/singer/songwriter Deborah Gibson, actor Todd Bridges
, and actress Kristy Swanson
.
The six professional skaters who paired with the stars were five-time U.S. pairs champion Tai Babilonia, three-time U.S. pairs champion John Zimmerman, Olympic Silver Medalist (figure skating) Nancy Kerrigan
, four-time World champion Kurt Browning
, three-time U.S. pairs champion Jenni Meno
, and Olympic Bronze Medalist (figure skating) Lloyd Eisler
.
The teams received assistance in their practice sessions from a trio of champion skaters who had subsequently done work as choreographers: Five-time U.S. national ice dance champion and Emmy Award-winning choreographer Michael Seibert, U.S. and world figure skating champion and director/choreographer Randy Gardner
(Tai Babilonia's longtime skating partner), and three-time U.S. ice dance champion Renée Roca
.
Lloyd Eisler and Kristy Swanson ran into their first complication as a team: Swanson, as a left-hander, spun in the opposite direction from Eisler. Choreographer Renée Roca told Eisler that they would simply have to choreograph the routine to take advantage of the difference rather than have each try to adapt to the other's spinning. The awkwardness of this decision showed as their shaky routine landed them in last place.
Todd Bridges and Jenni Meno skated to music from "Wild Wild West." During their practice video, Meno had a very hard time with dancing, and video from practice sessions showed awkward and unrhythmic movements from her. However, during the performance, she pulled off the dance moves quite well and on the beat.
This was the only episode where Jillian Barberie and John Zimmerman had the highest score alone. They tied with Eisler and Swanson in episode 4.
Scores (Nicks/Hamill/Lund/Total)
with Gibson singing the female vocal part. Judge John Nicks was particularly dismayed with Dave Coulier's seeming lack of grace during their disco routine—among other things, Coulier had a hard time stopping and making quick turns because he had filed off the toe picks from his skates—leading to a rhetorical question: "Where is your feminine side?" Coulier answered, "In my other pants."
Jillian Barberie pulled a groin muscle during rehearsal, the first of many injuries she would suffer during the competition. Todd Sand taught Todd Bridges to lift Jenni Meno above his head, which he did to open their routine. Bridges fell during the routine, however, costing them points and leading to their elimination.
Eisler and Swanson rebounded from last place in the first episode to receive the highest score in this episode.
Scores (Nicks/Hamill/Lund/Total)
wig—as a response to John Nicks' criticism about Coulier's lack of grace that ended in the rhetorical cry, "Where is your feminine side?" The pair's appearance in the routine was very similar to costuming for a routine Lloyd Eisler used to do with his professional partner, Isabelle Brasseur
, called "Patricia The Stripper".
Randy Gardner taught Bruce Jenner how to support Tai Babilonia in a rudimentary death spiral
, a move that garnered them the highest scores of the night.
This was the only episode where neither Barberie/Zimmerman nor Eisler/Swanson finished in first place. John Zimmerman fell going into the last move in his and Barberie's routine, costing them first place.
Eisler and Swanson had two major mistakes that nearly cost them the competition—Swanson tripped during their synchronized footwork segment and fell to the ice, and Eisler smacked her chin against the ice as they went into a combination lift/spin done very close to the ice's surface. Swanson's chin was cut when it hit the ice, prompting judge Dorothy Hamill to ask, "Are you O.K.? That looked like it hurt."
Deborah Gibson had trouble doing the lunge due to an injury, and Kurt Browning had trouble trying to incorporate more traditional pairs elements (particularly lifts) into their routine due to the two of them being so close in size. The difficulties were too much for the team to overcome, and they were eliminated.
Scores (Nicks/Hamill/Lund/Total)
Eisler and Swanson and Barberie and Zimmerman tied for first place with the highest scores in the series up to that point. This would be the last time Barberie and Zimmerman would have the high score in the competition.
Both Jillian Barberie and Bruce Jenner had to be rushed to the hospital during practice for this round; Jillian Barberie suffered a strained rib cartilage during practice when John Zimmerman hoisted her into a two-armed "detroiter" lift, and Bruce Jenner got his toe pick caught on the ice while practicing spins and fell face-first, resulting in a cut above the eye requiring 16 stitches to close.
Bruce Jenner was supporting Tai Babilonia in a pairs glide move in an otherwise uneventful routine when Babilonia realized they were about to run into the "kiss and cry
" dais. She quickly stepped up onto the dais and was able to get back onto the ice smoothly, but the misstep cost them points and landed them in third place.
Dave Coulier admitted during practice that he was afraid of falling and getting injured and thus had difficulty learning the required jump. The pair eventually did a single waltz jump at the start of their routine before they went into their skating in order to fit the required element in, and it cost them the competition as their low scores led to their elimination.
Scores (Nicks/Hamill/Lund/Total)
Barberie and Zimmerman were criticized for cribbing elements from past routines and for not adding more complex elements (such as the death spiral that both of the other teams had done), and their scores were knocked down accordingly. Meanwhile, Bruce Jenner was criticized for letting Tai Babilonia do all the artistic tricks while he merely supported her from move to move. The team's scores were knocked down accordingly as well.
Jenner and Babilonia and Barberie and Zimmerman participated in the final skate-off; the judges selected Barberie and Zimmerman to move on, and Jenner and Babilonia were eliminated.
Scores (Nicks/Hamill/Lund/Total)
Barberie and Zimmerman had a major slip-up coming out of a complex above-shoulder lift (Zimmerman lost his grip on Barberie as he was supporting her in a forward-roll dismount and she landed on her bottom rather than on her feet; they recovered just in time to avoid hitting the sideboard); though they recovered to skate the rest of the routine nearly flawlessly, their artistic scores were marked down significantly, putting them into second place at the end of the first part of the finals. Despite this, they still received the highest score they had ever received in the competition.
John Nicks made a point to praise Lloyd Eisler for "finally learning to extend your leg" during a pairs glide element in the
routine. Eisler responded good-naturedly that it had only taken "one year of retirement" for him to figure out how to do it.
Scores (Nicks/Hamill/Lund/Subtotal)
Before their final competitive programs, each team skated an encore of their favorite routines from the series. Lloyd Eisler managed to lift Kristy Swanson into a one-handed "detroiter" lift-spin as part of a near-flawless final routine that gave them a score of 59 out of a possible 60 points, the highest score in the competition.
Jillian Barberie attempted a single-axel jump but fell on the landing, effectively ending their chances to take the lead. The judges praised the effort and gave them high technical marks, but not enough to overtake Eisler and Swanson's lead. Barberie later said in a joint appearance with Mark Lund that she'd successfully landed 22 axels during practice, most of them in a row as they practiced their final routine, so her fall during the routine itself surprised and disappointed her.
During their victory lap, as Eisler went to lift Swanson overhead, John Zimmerman (who was still on the ice being interviewed by Scott Hamilton) had to duck out of the way to avoid being hit by Swanson's skates. Both teams laughed about the close scrape afterward.
Scores (Nicks/Hamill/Lund/Subtotal)
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
show that began airing on the Fox network on January 18, 2006. The show also aired in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
in early 2006 and in New Zealand in October 2008. The show was the U.S. version of Dancing on Ice
Dancing on Ice
Dancing on Ice is a British television show co-hosted by Christine Bleakley and Philip Schofield, in which celebrities and their professional partners figure skate in front of a panel of judges. The format, devised by LWT and Granada Television, has been a prime-time hit in eight different...
, which also aired in the U.K. during the same time period. Skating with Celebrities was met with far less success than the UK original and lasted only one season. The show was at the center of a controversy involving allegations that one of the competing couples, Lloyd Eisler
Lloyd Eisler
Lloyd Edgar Eisler, MSM is a Canadian pair skater. With partner Isabelle Brasseur, he is the 1992 and 1994 Olympic bronze medalist and the 1993 World Champion.-Career:...
and Kristy Swanson
Kristy Swanson
Kristen Nöel "Kristy" Swanson is an American actress best known for playing Buffy in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she also played Catherine "Cathy" Dollanganger in the movie version of the V.C...
were involved in an extramarital affair http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/skating-with-celebrities-kristy-swanson-lloyd-eisler-pair-up-off-ice-3960.php. The duo defeated the team of television personality Jillian Barberie
Jillian Barberie
Jillian Reynolds , best known by her former name Jillian Barberie, is a Canadian actress, television hostess, and sportscaster...
and U.S. pairs champion John Zimmerman to win the show's first, and only, championship. On March 2, 2006 production was cancelled and it was announced that the show would not return for a second season.
Synopsis
Following the success of ABC'sAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
Dancing with the Stars (U.S. TV series) Fox started airing its own celebrity competition revolving around skating instead of dancing.
The show paired six champion figure skaters with six celebrities who have various degrees of skating experience: Deborah Gibson
Deborah Gibson
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Gibson is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. In 1987 she was pronounced the youngest artist to write, produce, and perform a No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, with her song "Foolish Beat" and she remains the youngest female to write, record, and...
, a novice; Dave Coulier
Dave Coulier
David Alan "Dave" Coulier is an American stand-up comedian, impressionist, television and voice actor, and television host. He is well-known for his role as Joey Gladstone on the ABC sitcom Full House, which ran from 1987 to 1995....
played ice hockey in Canada; Kristy Swanson
Kristy Swanson
Kristen Nöel "Kristy" Swanson is an American actress best known for playing Buffy in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she also played Catherine "Cathy" Dollanganger in the movie version of the V.C...
had taken lessons as a child; Jillian Barberie
Jillian Barberie
Jillian Reynolds , best known by her former name Jillian Barberie, is a Canadian actress, television hostess, and sportscaster...
trained as a competitive figure skater into her teens. Each team was composed of one man and one woman and they had to perform a new routine during each episode. As part of their new routines, each celebrity had to demonstrate a specific figure skating skill.
Each pair received scores for technical merit and artistic impression from a trio of judges. The scores were added together to create a cumulative score. No teams were eliminated in the first episode.
Cast
The show was hosted by Olympic swimming Gold Medalist Summer SandersSummer Sanders
Summer Elisabeth Sanders is a sports commentator and reporter, TV show host, actress and retired Olympic gold medalist in swimming.- School and swimming :...
and figure skating Olympic figure skating Gold Medalist Scott Hamilton
Scott Hamilton (figure skater)
Scott Scovell Hamilton is an American figure skater and Olympic gold medalist. He won four consecutive U.S. championships , four consecutive World Championships and a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics....
and judged by Olympic Gold Medalist (figure skating) Dorothy Hamill
Dorothy Hamill
Dorothy Stuart Hamill is an American figure skater. She is the 1976 Olympic champion in Ladies' Singles and 1976 World Champion.-Early life:...
, skating coach John Nicks
John Nicks
John Allen Wisden Nicks is a British figure skating coach and former pair skater. His pairs partner was his sister Jennifer Nicks, and together they were the 1953 World Champions...
, and journalist Mark Lund
Mark Lund
Mark Ashton Lund is a writer, publisher, and television analyst who covers figure skating. He is also a film producer.He is the author of Frozen Assets , and was formerly the publisher of International Figure Skating Magazine from its inception in 1993 until 2004, when his company, Ashton...
.
The six celebrities in the show were Olympic Gold Medalist (decathlon) Bruce Jenner
Bruce Jenner
William Bruce Jenner is a former U.S. track and field athlete, motivational speaker, socialite and television personality. He won the gold medal for decathlon in the Montreal 1976 Summer Olympics....
, television personality Jillian Barberie
Jillian Barberie
Jillian Reynolds , best known by her former name Jillian Barberie, is a Canadian actress, television hostess, and sportscaster...
, comedian Dave Coulier
Dave Coulier
David Alan "Dave" Coulier is an American stand-up comedian, impressionist, television and voice actor, and television host. He is well-known for his role as Joey Gladstone on the ABC sitcom Full House, which ran from 1987 to 1995....
, actress/singer/songwriter Deborah Gibson, actor Todd Bridges
Todd Bridges
Todd Anthony Bridges is an American actor. He is best known for his childhood role as Willis Jackson on the NBC/ABC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, and for his recurring role as Monk on the UPN/CW sitcom Everybody Hates Chris...
, and actress Kristy Swanson
Kristy Swanson
Kristen Nöel "Kristy" Swanson is an American actress best known for playing Buffy in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she also played Catherine "Cathy" Dollanganger in the movie version of the V.C...
.
The six professional skaters who paired with the stars were five-time U.S. pairs champion Tai Babilonia, three-time U.S. pairs champion John Zimmerman, Olympic Silver Medalist (figure skating) Nancy Kerrigan
Nancy Kerrigan
Nancy Ann Kerrigan is a two-time American Olympic figure skating medalist and 1993 U.S. champion.-Early life and skating career:...
, four-time World champion Kurt Browning
Kurt Browning
Kurt Browning, CM is a Canadian figure skater, choreographer and commentator. He is a four-time World Champion and four-time Canadian national champion.-Life and career:...
, three-time U.S. pairs champion Jenni Meno
Jenni Meno
Jenni Meno is an American pair skater. She first partnered with Scott Wendland and won two medals at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. She began skating with her future husband Todd Sand in April 1992...
, and Olympic Bronze Medalist (figure skating) Lloyd Eisler
Lloyd Eisler
Lloyd Edgar Eisler, MSM is a Canadian pair skater. With partner Isabelle Brasseur, he is the 1992 and 1994 Olympic bronze medalist and the 1993 World Champion.-Career:...
.
The teams received assistance in their practice sessions from a trio of champion skaters who had subsequently done work as choreographers: Five-time U.S. national ice dance champion and Emmy Award-winning choreographer Michael Seibert, U.S. and world figure skating champion and director/choreographer Randy Gardner
Randy Gardner (figure skater)
Randy Gardner is an American pair skater. With partner Tai Babilonia, he was the 1979 World Champion and the 1976-1980 U.S. national champion.-Career:...
(Tai Babilonia's longtime skating partner), and three-time U.S. ice dance champion Renée Roca
Renee Roca
Renée Roca is an American ice dancer and choreographer. She is a three-time U.S. national champion with different partners. Competing with partner Donald Adair, she is the 1986 U.S. national champion. She later teamed up with Russian skater Gorsha Sur, with whom she is the 1993 and 1995 U.S...
.
Episode 1
The Featured Skill was Spins. In this episode, teams skated to music from the movies. During rehearsal, Dave Coulier, a hockey player, was frustrated at the fact that he kept tripping in his figure skates, so he filed off the toe picks to make them more like hockey skates.Lloyd Eisler and Kristy Swanson ran into their first complication as a team: Swanson, as a left-hander, spun in the opposite direction from Eisler. Choreographer Renée Roca told Eisler that they would simply have to choreograph the routine to take advantage of the difference rather than have each try to adapt to the other's spinning. The awkwardness of this decision showed as their shaky routine landed them in last place.
Todd Bridges and Jenni Meno skated to music from "Wild Wild West." During their practice video, Meno had a very hard time with dancing, and video from practice sessions showed awkward and unrhythmic movements from her. However, during the performance, she pulled off the dance moves quite well and on the beat.
This was the only episode where Jillian Barberie and John Zimmerman had the highest score alone. They tied with Eisler and Swanson in episode 4.
Scores (Nicks/Hamill/Lund/Total)
| Pair | Technical | Artistic | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barberie-Zimmerman | 8.4/8.4/9.0/25.8 | 8.7/8.3/9.0/26.0 | 51.8 |
| Coulier-Kerrigan | 8.2/8.3/7.9/24.4 | 8.5/8.3/8.1/24.9 | 49.3 |
| Jenner-Babilonia | 8.0/8.1/8.2/24.3 | 8.1/8.3/8.1/24.5 | 48.8 |
| Gibson-Browning | 7.8/8.0/8.0/23.8 | 8.0/8.2/8.0/24.2 | 48.0 |
| Bridges-Meno | 7.7/7.9/7.8/23.3 | 8.0/8.3/8.1/24.4 | 47.7 |
| Swanson-Eisler | 7.9/7.9/8.0/23.8 | 7.9/7.9/7.9/23.7 | 47.5 |
Episode 2
The Featured Skill was Synchronized Footwork. The teams skated to 70s music. Kurt Browning and Deborah Gibson skated to a version of "You're The One That I Want" from the movie GreaseGrease (film)
Grease is a 1978 American musical film directed by Randal Kleiser and based on Warren Casey's and Jim Jacobs's 1971 musical of the same name about two lovers in a 1950s high school. The film stars John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, and Jeff Conaway...
with Gibson singing the female vocal part. Judge John Nicks was particularly dismayed with Dave Coulier's seeming lack of grace during their disco routine—among other things, Coulier had a hard time stopping and making quick turns because he had filed off the toe picks from his skates—leading to a rhetorical question: "Where is your feminine side?" Coulier answered, "In my other pants."
Jillian Barberie pulled a groin muscle during rehearsal, the first of many injuries she would suffer during the competition. Todd Sand taught Todd Bridges to lift Jenni Meno above his head, which he did to open their routine. Bridges fell during the routine, however, costing them points and leading to their elimination.
Eisler and Swanson rebounded from last place in the first episode to receive the highest score in this episode.
Scores (Nicks/Hamill/Lund/Total)
| Pair | Technical | Artistic | Overall | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barberie-Zimmerman | 8.4/8.6/8.2/25.2 | 8.5/8.4/8.3/25.2 | 50.4 | 102.2 |
| Swanson-Eisler | 8.5/8.4/8.3/25.2 | 8.6/8.5/8.4/25.5 | 50.7 | 98.2 |
| Jenner-Babilonia | 7.9/8.3/8.1/24.3 | 8.1/8.4/8.2/24.7 | 49.0 | 97.8 |
| Coulier-Kerrigan | 7.9/8.0/7.8/23.7 | 7.9/8.0/7.8/23.7 | 47.4 | 96.7 |
| Gibson-Browning | 7.8/8.2/8.0/24.0 | 7.9/8.3/8.1/24.3 | 48.3 | 96.3 |
| Bridges-Meno (eliminated) | 7.9/7.9/7.9/23.7 | 8.1/8.1/8.0/24.2 | 47.9 | 95.6 |
Episode 3
Featured Skill: Unassisted Single-Legged Lunge. The teams skated to Motown music. Dave Coulier and Nancy Kerrigan did their routine in drag—her in a man's suit and mustache, him in a padded suit shaped like a female figure skater's costume and a bouffantBouffant
A bouffant is a type of hairstyle characterized by hair piled high on the head and hanging down on the sides.-History:The bouffant was a mainstream hairstyle in the mid-to-late 18th century in western Europe. It was thought to be created for Marie Antoinette, as she had relatively thin hair and...
wig—as a response to John Nicks' criticism about Coulier's lack of grace that ended in the rhetorical cry, "Where is your feminine side?" The pair's appearance in the routine was very similar to costuming for a routine Lloyd Eisler used to do with his professional partner, Isabelle Brasseur
Isabelle Brasseur
Isabelle Brasseur, MSM is a pair skater from Canada.She started skating with Lloyd Eisler in 1987. They won five Canadian pairs championships, the 1993 World Figure Skating Championships, and they won bronze medals at the 1992 Winter Olympics and the 1994 Winter Olympics...
, called "Patricia The Stripper".
Randy Gardner taught Bruce Jenner how to support Tai Babilonia in a rudimentary death spiral
Death spiral (figure skating)
Death spiral is an element of pair skating performed with the man in a pivot position, one toe anchored in the ice. Holding his hand, the woman circles her partner on a deep edge with her body almost parallel to the ice. It is a required element in pair skating....
, a move that garnered them the highest scores of the night.
This was the only episode where neither Barberie/Zimmerman nor Eisler/Swanson finished in first place. John Zimmerman fell going into the last move in his and Barberie's routine, costing them first place.
Eisler and Swanson had two major mistakes that nearly cost them the competition—Swanson tripped during their synchronized footwork segment and fell to the ice, and Eisler smacked her chin against the ice as they went into a combination lift/spin done very close to the ice's surface. Swanson's chin was cut when it hit the ice, prompting judge Dorothy Hamill to ask, "Are you O.K.? That looked like it hurt."
Deborah Gibson had trouble doing the lunge due to an injury, and Kurt Browning had trouble trying to incorporate more traditional pairs elements (particularly lifts) into their routine due to the two of them being so close in size. The difficulties were too much for the team to overcome, and they were eliminated.
Scores (Nicks/Hamill/Lund/Total)
| Pair | Technical | Artistic | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jenner-Babilonia | 8.2/8.2/8.5/24.9 | 8.5/8.3/8.4/25.2 | 50.1 |
| Barberie-Zimmerman | 8.3/8.4/8.4/25.1 | 8.2/8.2/8.3/24.7 | 49.8 |
| Coulier-Kerrigan | 8.0/8.2/8.2/24.4 | 8.4/8.4/8.5/25.3 | 49.7 |
| Swanson-Eisler | 7.9/8.2/8.3/24.4 | 8.2/8.1/8.4/24.7 | 49.1 |
| Gibson-Browning (eliminated) | 7.9/8.1/7.9/23.9 | 7.9/8.1/8.0/24.0 | 47.9 |
Episode 4
The Featured Skill was Side-by-side Jumps. The teams skated to Top 40 pop music.Eisler and Swanson and Barberie and Zimmerman tied for first place with the highest scores in the series up to that point. This would be the last time Barberie and Zimmerman would have the high score in the competition.
Both Jillian Barberie and Bruce Jenner had to be rushed to the hospital during practice for this round; Jillian Barberie suffered a strained rib cartilage during practice when John Zimmerman hoisted her into a two-armed "detroiter" lift, and Bruce Jenner got his toe pick caught on the ice while practicing spins and fell face-first, resulting in a cut above the eye requiring 16 stitches to close.
Bruce Jenner was supporting Tai Babilonia in a pairs glide move in an otherwise uneventful routine when Babilonia realized they were about to run into the "kiss and cry
Kiss and cry
The kiss and cry is the area in an ice rink where figure skaters wait for their marks to be announced after their performances during a figure skating competition. The skaters and coaches often kiss to celebrate after a good performance, or cry after a poor one...
" dais. She quickly stepped up onto the dais and was able to get back onto the ice smoothly, but the misstep cost them points and landed them in third place.
Dave Coulier admitted during practice that he was afraid of falling and getting injured and thus had difficulty learning the required jump. The pair eventually did a single waltz jump at the start of their routine before they went into their skating in order to fit the required element in, and it cost them the competition as their low scores led to their elimination.
Scores (Nicks/Hamill/Lund/Total)
| Pair | Technical | Artistic | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swanson-Eisler | 9.3/9.3/9.1/27.7 | 9.5/9.4/9.3/28.2 | 55.9 |
| Barberie-Zimmerman | 8.9/9.5/9.2/27.6 | 9.4/9.5/9.4/28.3 | 55.9 |
| Jenner-Babilonia | 9.0/9.2/9.0/27.2 | 9.0/9.3/9.2/27.5 | 54.7 |
| Coulier-Kerrigan (eliminated) | 8.5/9.1/8.8/26.4 | 8.4/9.1/8.8/26.3 | 52.7 |
Episode 5
The Featured Skill was the One-Footed Edge Glide. The teams skated to music selected by the judges for each individual team. The lowest two scoring teams would compete for a spot in the finals in a skate-off. Eisler and Swanson skated a slow, romantic routine that included a one-armed death spiral; the judges gave them the highest scores yet in the series and first place heading into the finals.Barberie and Zimmerman were criticized for cribbing elements from past routines and for not adding more complex elements (such as the death spiral that both of the other teams had done), and their scores were knocked down accordingly. Meanwhile, Bruce Jenner was criticized for letting Tai Babilonia do all the artistic tricks while he merely supported her from move to move. The team's scores were knocked down accordingly as well.
Jenner and Babilonia and Barberie and Zimmerman participated in the final skate-off; the judges selected Barberie and Zimmerman to move on, and Jenner and Babilonia were eliminated.
Scores (Nicks/Hamill/Lund/Total)
| Pair | Technical | Artistic | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swanson-Eisler | 9.5/9.5/9.8/28.8 | 9.8/9.6/9.8/29.2 | 58.0 |
| Barberie-Zimmerman | 9.1/9.3/9.2/27.6 | 9.3/9.3/9.2/27.8 | 55.4 |
| Jenner-Babilonia (eliminated in skate-off) | 8.9/9.2/9.0/27.1 | 9.0/9.2/9.1/27.3 | 54.4 |
Episode 6 Finals, Part 1
The Featured Skills were the Multi-jump sequence, Spin with 4 revolutions, Above-shoulder lift. The teams skated to music of their own choice. The four eliminated teams returned to skate several exhibitions as time-fillers between the two competitive routines.Barberie and Zimmerman had a major slip-up coming out of a complex above-shoulder lift (Zimmerman lost his grip on Barberie as he was supporting her in a forward-roll dismount and she landed on her bottom rather than on her feet; they recovered just in time to avoid hitting the sideboard); though they recovered to skate the rest of the routine nearly flawlessly, their artistic scores were marked down significantly, putting them into second place at the end of the first part of the finals. Despite this, they still received the highest score they had ever received in the competition.
John Nicks made a point to praise Lloyd Eisler for "finally learning to extend your leg" during a pairs glide element in the
routine. Eisler responded good-naturedly that it had only taken "one year of retirement" for him to figure out how to do it.
Scores (Nicks/Hamill/Lund/Subtotal)
| Pair | Technical | Artistic | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swanson-Eisler (leader) | 9.7/9.8/9.7/29.2 | 9.8/9.9/9.8/29.5 | 58.7 |
| Barberie-Zimmerman | 9.7/9.8/9.6/29.1 | 9.6/9.8/9.8/29.2 | 58.3 |
Episode 7 Finals, Part 2
The episode featured Free Skates with no required technical elements. The teams skated to music of their own choice.Before their final competitive programs, each team skated an encore of their favorite routines from the series. Lloyd Eisler managed to lift Kristy Swanson into a one-handed "detroiter" lift-spin as part of a near-flawless final routine that gave them a score of 59 out of a possible 60 points, the highest score in the competition.
Jillian Barberie attempted a single-axel jump but fell on the landing, effectively ending their chances to take the lead. The judges praised the effort and gave them high technical marks, but not enough to overtake Eisler and Swanson's lead. Barberie later said in a joint appearance with Mark Lund that she'd successfully landed 22 axels during practice, most of them in a row as they practiced their final routine, so her fall during the routine itself surprised and disappointed her.
During their victory lap, as Eisler went to lift Swanson overhead, John Zimmerman (who was still on the ice being interviewed by Scott Hamilton) had to duck out of the way to avoid being hit by Swanson's skates. Both teams laughed about the close scrape afterward.
Scores (Nicks/Hamill/Lund/Subtotal)
| Pair | Technical | Artistic | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swanson-Eisler (winner) | 9.8/9.9/9.8/29.5 | 9.8/9.9/9.8/29.5 | 117.7 |
| Barberie-Zimmerman | 9.8/9.8/9.7/29.3 | 9.9/9.8/9.8/29.5 | 117.1 |