Brigitte Nielsen for Dancing On Ice 2011

ITV bosses have reportedly signed Brigitte Nielsen for their new series of Dancing On Ice 2011.

The Danish actress is best known for her appearances in the 1985 films Red Sonja and Rocky IV and for her marriage to Sylvester Stallone. She appeared in Celebrity Big Brother, alongside Stallone’s mother Jackie in 2005.

An insider told The Sun: “She was great fun on CBB.”

Kerry Katona wants to win Dancing on Ice

Reality TV star Kerry Katona is determined to be a serious contender for next year's Dancing on Ice crown, says a report.

The former I'm A Celebrity star is reportedly working on her skating and dancing skills during her spare time.

Sources close to the reality star told a Sunday newspaper that Katona desperately wants to become the next celebrity ice dance champion.

An insider told the Daily Star Sunday that Kerry's new look haircut was part of her plan to win the show.

The source said: "Kerry knows that how she looks on the ice is really important.

"She's taking the whole thing very seriously."

They added: "She's already started practising her skating and will make sure she looks her best by the time the show starts next year.

"She's hoping that the public will fall in love with her all over again just like when she won I'm A Celeb."

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Michelle Kwan skates to Remember When

courtesy of Amane318 - youtube

Holiday on Ice new spectactular show - Energia

I'm going to see this in Cardiff in February. Can't wait!

Simpson and Miller ready to debut

Sep 19, 2010
Article by Elvin Walker
Photo © Jay Adeff

Britney Simpson and Nathan Miller Britney Simpson and Nathan Miller won silver in the Junior division at the 2010 AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

At first glance, Britney Simpson and Nathan Miller seem like ordinary kids from next door who can be seen in any living room across the nation. Simpson, 14, just began her freshman year at Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs, Col., and Miller, 22, works as a cook at a local eatery in the same town. It isn't until they step on the ice, skates laced tight, that each kid's gifts are exposed. As the 2010 U.S. Nationals Junior silver medalists in pairs figure skating, Simpson and Miller are anything but ordinary.

Their partnership, even in its infancy, was winning medal- they are the 2009 U.S. National pewter medalists- and has started to take off in the last calendar year. A fourth place finish at the Junior Grand Prix event in Lake Placid last fall led to another assignment in Germany. The duo earned their first international medal in Germany- a bronze, and suddenly found themselves heading to the Junior Grand Prix Final.

"After Germany when we realized that we had made the Final, I thought to myself, 'Wow, I can't believe Nathan and I did this,'" Simpson recalled. "It was such a great feeling knowing that we did such a great job."

The young upstarts finished in sixth place at the Final, and headed to the U.S. Championships as one of the favorites to win the junior title. In Spokane, Wash., at those championships, Simpson and Miller headed into the freeskate in a virtual tie with leaders Felicia Zhang and Taylor Toth. However, costly errors on jump landings relegated them to the silver medal position.

As silver medalists, Simpson and Miller were named to the Junior Worlds team, and headed to The Hague, Netherlands, with an opportunity to complete their 2009-10 campaign on a high. Their fifth place finish was the highest of the American contingent, and their season's best score and international ranking put them into consideration for Grand Prix assignments later this fall.

"Last year was such a great year for us in terms of gaining competitive experience," Simpson offered. "It was fun to travel around the world to compete- we competed in the United States, Germany, Japan, and The Netherlands. It was a very successful season, and because of that, I think that it helps us in our preparations for our upcoming season."

Simpson and Miller teamed up in 2008 after the U.S. Championships. Miller had just ended his "on again off again partnership" with Claire Davis, with whom he won the 2005 U.S. Novice title, and was searching for a new partner who could compete with him on the junior level. Simpson was a budding singles skater who had competed on the juvenile level in that same season, but despite the lack of experience, was the match for which Miller was searching.

"I think that Britney and I have a really good brother and sister type of relationship, and we get along great," Miller said of why they are a good match. "We bicker here and there, but who doesn't? We have a nice respect for each other, and we both have a passion for pairs skating, so that helps us a lot."

Since the Junior World Championships, Simpson and Miller have been working to become a more complete pair, focusing on the subtleties of skating, which they hope will place them in good stead for their debut as senior level competitors.

"By the time we got to Junior Worlds, we knew what we needed to do to prepare ourselves mentally to compete," Simpson explained with maturity far beyond her years. "Going into this season, knowing that we will be competing against World and Olympics medalists, it's huge. However, I know that I need to focus on what I need to do, and then once I have done that, I can look back and realize the gravity of the moment."

"We are really focusing our efforts on our presentation this season," Miller asserted. "Kathy Johnson comes out and does a lot of modern dance with us to help us with our programs. Some of what she has been doing has made the light bulb click on over our heads to where we can be more in tune with each other on the ice. We definitely have a better chemistry on the ice, but we also understand that there is a business side to skating, and we need to get out there are get our job done."

In July, Simpson and Miller competed in the senior pairs division and won both portions of the Liberty Summer Competition in Aston, Penn., their first full competition of the season. Two weeks later, they finished in second place among American teams at the Indy Pairs Challenge in Indianapolis, Ind. In both competitions, the U.S. Junior silver medalists scored more than their personal best from last season, and appear to be poised to make a strong debut.

"We have been training to learn how to overlook the small mistakes that we make in training, so that when we compete, we know how to deal with them," Simpson stated. "Of course we analyze them with our coaching team after we finish our run-through so that we can know what we need to do to make that element successful in the next run-through."

Both skaters are excited to earn their first Grand Prix invitation this season- to the Cup of Russia- and are hoping that they are fortunate enough to sneak in for a second international before the U.S. Championships in January.

"I've been dreaming about being on TV and representing the USA since I was little," Miller said passionately. "As soon as I learned we got an invitation (to compete in Russia), I was excited. We don't have a lot of expectations about placement, we just want to be solid."

"There is a possibility of us getting another international competition," he continued. "There is a spot open at Skate America and the possibility of an assignment in Austria (Ice Challenge). Both competitions are very close to the Cup of Russia, but we are thrilled to be in this position as first year seniors, and would certainly do our best to be competitive at any opportunity offered to us."

For their senior debut season, Simpson and Miller have elected to stick with their memorable Moonlight Sonata freeskate from last season, but have struggled somewhat with creating a new short program.

"We originally selected music from Requiem for a Dream, and we skated it at a competition here in Colorado," Miller explained. "The judges didn't really like the program, and thought that it was pretty dark for us. So, before we went to Liberty, we had to get a whole new short program together. We picked music from The Pink Panther, and it is a really fun program. Britney and I are able to let our personalities out in this program since it's so playful and mature at the same time. The feedback we received at Liberty and Indianapolis was really good, and our component marks were quite better than last season for us. As long as we play around with it and have fun, I feel like it will be a great program for us."

Program selection issue behind them, Simpson and Miller are continuing to work with coach and choreographer Dalilah Sappenfield and her son, Laureano Ibarra. In addition, the duo has worked with Zuzana (Swed) Parchem on choreography.

"Of course Dalilah is our head coach, just the same as last season," confirmed Simpson. "She has a great formula for working with us that I believe really supports our skating. Laureano is our secondary coach, and he does all of the same things that Dalilah does with us, and we work with both each day. We also work with Damon Allen, who is our jump coach, and with Becky Bradley on our pairs spins."

Simpson and Miller have modest goals this season- to make a strong debut and to start the building blocks of creating a successful senior pairs team.

"We know that this is the senior level, and there are people on this level who have so much more experience than we do," Simpson said honestly. "I'm just going to go to Cup of Russia wanting to do my best, and not really caring about the outcome of our placement."

Miller agreed. "I just want to make a strong debut this season. We're very lucky to be where we are so early in our careers, and I just want to go out there and show everyone how hard we have worked since last season. I want them to see the big changes in our skating from last season until now."

Simpson started skating almost by accident, and chose to give up another sport in lieu of her true passion.

"I was on my way to a swim lesson when I was about five," she remembered. "We had to pass an ice rink on the way to the pool, and I saw all of these girls skating around wearing pretty dresses with sequins and spinning and jumping. I thought that it looked cool, so I asked to try it instead of swimming."

Simpson's family relocated to Colorado Springs from Golden, Colo., some eighty miles away in order to skate with Miller, and has settled in comfortably in her adopted hometown. After being home schooled through the Colorado Connections Academy last year, Simpson is enjoying being able to attend school like most other high school students.

In her precious few moments away from the rink and school, Simpson enjoys volunteer work, but also takes time to relax.

"I like to go to my mom's school and help out," said the three-time volunteer service award winner. "I also like to sit out by the pool when the weather is right."

Simpson's mother, Sallie, works with children who have special needs, and teaches them how to play sports, apply for jobs, and a host of other skills. Additionally, she sports quite the athletic resume having competed in swimming, and played soccer and basketball in college.

"Mom thought I would be a swimmer because I am really a good swimmer even now," shared the freshman. "Even though I chose skating, she has supported me through everything, and doesn't push me. Instead she lets me push myself, and if I wanted to quit skating today, she would support that decision."

Simpson has a second mother, Dianne Blumenchien, who is an administrator at a school in Colorado, and is very supportive of Simpson's skating as well.

She has aspirations of becoming a physician after her skating career comes to a close, and thinks that it could be interesting to remain involved in athletics in some form.

"I am very interested in medicine, and I am very interested in becoming a nutritionist as well," Simpson shared. "It would be really exciting to combine my athletic background with my professional career one day. It could be really fun to work for the United States Olympic Committee or something."

Like many budding skaters, Miller began skating at a birthday party- in his case, a sister's- at the age of five.

"I started out playing hockey, and one of my teammate's sisters was a figure skater, and I decided to give it a shot," Miller recounted. "I thought that figure skating was a bit harder, and there were more girls in figure skating, so I picked it over hockey."

Originally from Oklahoma City, Okla., Miller relocated to Colorado Springs to train with Sappenfield when he was fourteen.

"My family moved with me to Colorado Springs, but when I turned eighteen, they moved back to Oklahoma City," he explained. "I got an apartment, got a job, and they have been helping me with expenses since they left."

Miller started out as a singles skater, and then shifted into pairs and dance before settling on pairs as his specialty.

"When I moved to Colorado, I was skating all three disciplines," Miller said with a twinge of exhaustion in his voice. "When I won the U.S. novice pairs title in 2005, I also finished 12th in novice dance. After we got home from the competition (Sappenfield) told me that I needed to choose one and commit to it, so I have been skating pairs exclusively since then."

The youngest of Jim and Lavina Millers' five children, Miller has four sisters- Cynthia, Denice, Vickie, and Stacy. Both of his parents work as nurses.

Miller lives in an apartment with Daniyel Cohen and Chris Knierim, both of whom are pairs skaters, but the battles among roommates don't just stay on the competition ice.

"We're actually in this big fantasy football league battle right now," he said rather sheepishly. "We all play video games, football, and work out all the time. We definitely rag on each other about skating, but it's done out of love. I've been really good friends with both of them for a long time, so it works out really well."

Apart from skating, Miller's passion lies somewhere between the kitchen and the concert arena.

"This year in order to maintain a more normal life, I have been trying to get to a lot more concerts," Miller explained. "I work as a cook-server-bartender at a restaurant in The Springs, and I have a really big passion for cooking. I think after my skating career is over, I would love to open my own restaurant. I would love to be on the show Top Chef one day."

Simpson and Miller are scheduled to make their international debut this season at the Cup of Russia in late November.

Fleming, Hamill, Hamilton, Boitano, Kwan to Serve as Storytellers in RISE

Fleming, Hamill, Hamilton, Boitano, Kwan to Serve as Storytellers in U.S. Figure Skating Cinematic Feature RISE as Part of One-Night-Only Fathom Event

- Feb. 17, 2011, event to celebrate American figure skating and commemorate 50th anniversary of 1961 World Team tragedy -

Scott Hamilton, Dorothy Hamill, Brian Boitano, Michelle Kwan and Peggy Fleming will lend their voices and perspectives to RISE. (Photo by Leslie Barbaro Photography)

(9/16/10) - U.S. Figure Skating announced today that figure skating luminaries Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, Scott Hamilton, Brian Boitano and Michelle Kwan will serve as storytellers in the cinematic feature RISE. Premiering Feb. 17, 2011, as part of a one-night-only special event in movie theaters nationwide, RISE will celebrate American figure skating while commemorating the 50th anniversary of 1961 U.S. World Team tragedy.

The five legendary skaters, who gathered May 25 and 26 in New York City, will share personal insights and experiences while giving voice to RISE by linking the interwoven stories of some of the biggest names and moments in the history of figure skating to those skaters on the 1961 U.S. World Team who lost their lives in the crash of Sabena Airlines Flight 548 on its way to the World Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

"We are honored to have these legends of the sport give their time to tell this important story," said David Raith, executive director of U.S. Figure Skating. "There wasn't a moment's hesitation among them when we approached this group about participating in the project. Their willingness to give their time and share their personal insights speaks to the kind of people they are and their desire to help remember those who paved the way for them in the sport of figure skating."

RISE, commissioned by U.S. Figure Skating, will also feature 2010 Olympic champion Evan Lysacek and his legendary coach, Frank Carroll, among others, as the centerpiece of the one-night-only Fathom event. The event, which includes a red-carpet extravaganza, uniquely choreographed figure skating performances, interviews with American figure skating legends and the premiere of RISE, will be presented live across NCM Fathom's exclusive Digital Broadcast Network (DBN) in more than 500 movie theaters nationwide.

Produced and directed by 16-time Emmy Award winners Lookalike Productions, RISE will take audiences on a powerful and uplifting journey through some of the biggest moments in the history of the sport. With the stories of the 1961 World Team at its center, RISE illustrates how the unfulfilled dreams of those who lost their lives on Flight 548 would be shared - and forever realized - by the generations of skaters that have followed.

Many of the dreams that have been fulfilled since that tragic day in 1961 were made possible through support from the U.S. Figure Skating Memorial Fund. The fund, established Feb. 23, 1961, as a living memorial to those that lost their lives in the crash, has supported thousands of skaters at every level, including Olympic champions, with contributions totaling in the millions.

Proceeds from RISE will be used to further the mission of the Memorial Fund, which awards approximately $300,000 annually in grants and scholarships to skaters, recognizing performance both on and off the ice.

More details about RISE and the premiere can be found on the website www.rise1961.com, which launched earlier this week. You can also follow RISE on Facebook and Twitter.

Pair move to Flintshire for its training facilities

Published date: 15 September 2010 | Published by: Helen Davies

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AN ICE-SKATING duo are on their way to becoming the next Torvill and Dean.

Josh Whidborne and Charlotte Aiken are the British Junior Ice Dance Champions and have moved to Deeside from the south of England to train at its Olympic size ice rink.

Coached by former British and world professional ice dance champion Joan Slater MBE, Josh and Charlotte are now training to compete in an international figure skating competition later this month.

Josh, who moved to Deeside from Oxford, told the Leader: “There’s only a few Olympic-sized ice rinks in the whole country but most are really busy.”

Charlotte, 18, added: “We wanted better coaching and facilities. Deeside is better for training because it’s not that busy so we can get more done.”

The pair train at the Flintshire Council-owned leisure centre five or six days a week.

Josh, 21, has been ice-skating for more than a decade and plans to make a career out of the sport.

“I started skating 11 years ago,” he said. “I tried football and rugby as well and was on teams for them when I was younger but I couldn’t keep doing it all.

“I decided to put all my eggs in one basket with the skating.”

Choosing ice-skating over traditional male sports has not always been easy for Josh.

“I’ve had a lot of stick for it over the years,” he said. “A lot of mates ask if I wear tutu and tights.

“My mum said I used to be hyperactive when I was younger so she liked being able to shut me in the rink and watch me skate it off.”

Charlotte, who grew up in Guildford, started ice-skating when she was four.

She told the Leader: “It’s a really hard sport. I like it because it’s got the creative side of the dance but also the athletic side so it’s really interesting.”

The duo, who are currently working on a dance to a West Side Story medley, are now sharing a house together in Shotton.

“We’ve made a few friends from skating in the area. I like it up here,” said Charlotte.

Asked if he thinks they could be the next Torvill and Dean, Josh is optimistic:
“We’ve been working really hard and it’s been going really well so hopefully we will be.”

Charlotte and Josh are now training for the Sheffield Junior Prix at the end of September. They will also be looking to retain their title at the British championship in November. If successful, they will then compete in the Junior World Figure Skating Championships in South Korea next spring.

Johnny Weir skates to Jordin Sparks

courtesy of FSOWebmaster - youtube

John and Sinead Kerr skating at Euros 2009 gala

Courtesy of Surietto - youtube

Brian Moore for Dancing On Ice?

Source: Bang Showbiz

Former rugby player Brian Moore has commenced training to star in 'Dancing On Ice' next year.

The sportsman-turned-commentator is said to have started practicing for ITV's ice skating reality TV series - which will return to screens in January - as show bosses line up the most diverse celebrities to take part in the show yet.

A source told The Sun newspaper: "Producers want as many different famous faces to take part in the show as possible."

Former Steps singer Faye Tozer is also said to be in training for the show, as is wine critic Jilly Goolden. Other stars who producers are keen to take part in the show are said to include former pop star Vanilla Ice - best known for his 1990 hit 'Ice Ice Baby' - professional dancer Matthew Cutler and Iraq war veteran Johnson Beharry, who was awarded the Victoria Cross.

It has also previously been reported that Robbie Williams' friend, TV presenter Jonathan Wilkes, and Kerry Katona have been in practicing for the show.

Although some celebrities have already started learning how to skate, ITV says it is still making decisions as to who to include.

The source added: "We haven't confirmed the line up at this early stage."

The format of the 'Dancing On Ice' - which will enter its sixth series next year - will see it undergo a major revamp and the programme will also be recorded at a different studio in Surrey.

Dancing On Ice set for major revamp in bid to boost the ratings

DANCING On Ice is set for a multi-million-pound makeover next year with bosses going all out to sex up the show.

The sixth series will be moved to a huge custom-made ice rink in Buckinghamshire to make it even more spectacular and get a big crowd in for the shows.

Two "bigger and bolder" new ice rinks - a training rink and a studio rink - will be built at Pinewood movie studio, according to an ITV source.

And bosses are lining up an all-star cast, including Coronation Street's Samia Smith, 28, ex-Strictly professional Matt Cutler, 36, and reality star Kerry Katona, 30.

ITV declined to comment on the format changes, with a spokeswoman saying it was "too early to give precise details".

The last series of Dancing On Ice regularly pulled in more than eight million viewers, with nearly nine million tuning in for March's final, when Hayley Tammadon, 33, walked away with the winner's crown.

Tuktamysheva ready to make an impact

Russia's Elizaveta Tuktamysheva performs to Asturias at the 2010 Russian National Championships.

She doesn't like to be called a wunderkind, but Elizaveta ("Lisa") Tuktamysheva is for sure a skating prodigy. As a tiny 11-year-old, she competed at the Russian National Figure Skating Championships in 2008 (senior level), and achieved the highest technical score of the field in the free skating.

In 2009, Tuktamysheva won the silver and in 2010 she took the bronze medal at senior Nationals, but still was too young to even compete at the international junior level. Her only international appearance dates back to the Coupe de Nice in the fall of 2007 where she easily dominated the Novice event. Finally, the now 13-year-old will hit the Junior Grand Prix this season, and a lot of skating fans are waiting impatiently to see this talented girl compete.

It all started not so long ago in Glazov, a city in the Russian province of Udmurtia, about 1100 kilometers east of Moscow. At age four-and-a half, little Lisa was lured into figure skating by other girls that she had met during a summer vacation camp. The daughter of a school teacher took up the sport and felt at home on the ice right away.

Tuktamysheva soon started to attend some national competitions. Four years ago, she went to Belgorod and famous coach Alexei Mishin noticed the girl. "But at that time her technique was so incomplete and she jumped in such a strange way that I was consulting with my wife and we decided not to invite her in our group," Mishin recalled. "Three years ago I saw her again and I observed her unique ability to jump high. Then we decided to take her into our group."

However, Tuktamysheva didn't move to St. Petersburg. Instead, the young skater stayed in Glazov with her original coach Svetlana Veretennikova and started to travel on a regular basis to St. Petersburg. Mishin consulted Veretennikova, and a fruitful teamwork began. "When I saw Lisa in Belgorod, I suggested her coach Svetlana Veretennikova to work together with Lisa. She accepted this suggestion readily," said Mishin.

"I'm now one to one-and-a-half weeks each month in St. Petersburg," Tuktamysheva explained. "It is a 27-hour trip by train from Glazov to St. Petersburg. It was hard in the beginning, but now I'm used to it and I'm relaxing on the train." The skater is attending private classes as she cannot combine her training schedule with regular school. "My mom is a teacher for algebra and geometrics, and she is my class teacher, and this is helping me a lot," the athlete smiled. "All teachers know that I'm traveling a lot, and if I'm not prepared, it's because I just came back and they give me a break."

Tuktamysheva's dad was a skier in his youth and now is now coaching soccer. Her younger sister Evgenia (6) has taken up skating as well. "At first our dad didn't want another figure skater in the family, but my sister wanted to skate so badly that he gave in and now she's on the ice with me," Tuktamysheva noted.

Tuktamysheva pointed out that there is no favorite element for her in skating. "Every day it is different, it depends on the consistency," the athlete commented. "It can happen that there is one element that I do all the time and then suddenly on the ice it is like I don't know how to do it. There is no element I don't like either. It happens that an element isn't working at all and then suddenly I can do it easily. In general, I like to jump. I also like just skating and spinning, but with them time doesn't pass as quickly. When I'm jumping, I'm constantly in motion and I don't notice how fast the time passes." Figure skating fascinates her for its elegance and the combination of artistry and technical difficulty.

The skater she looks up most to three-time Olympic medalist Evgeni Plushenko. "He is a great skater. Very artistic and very developed as a skater. I am glad that I can train together with such a master as he is," Tuktamysheva said. "When he is on the ice, you feel right away that he is the king of the ice." She also likes Yu-Na Kim and Mao Asada for their elegant and effortless-looking jumps. "They are not my idols, though," Tuktamysheva stressed. "I don't want to compare myself to others, I want to be myself and I don't want to be like anyone else."

The girl seems quiet, almost shy, but she has strong character and willpower. "She can be cheerful, bored or sad, but I'm evaluating her character from a different point of view," explained Mishin. "Her character is very suitable for figure skating. She is hard-working, she is persistent and she belongs to the rare category of athletes that exactly fulfill the instructions of their coach. That is her remarkable asset," he added.

Tuktamysheva proved her coach right by mastering the triple Axel. "I did it for the first time this year," she offered. "This jump didn't come easy to me and I didn't really think I'd ever do it, but then suddenly it worked and I jumped." She landed easy looking triple Axels in practice at the end of the past season and now is preparing to get the jump ready for competition. The 13-year-old took part in training camps in Estonia, Italy, and Germany over the summer. "We only changed one program this season, the short program. I'm skating to a mixture of Indian and Oriental music. We kept the Spanish free program Asturias," the skater noted. Her choreographer was again Georgi Kovtun, a famous Russian ballet choreographer.

Tuktamysheva named the jumps as her strength. She has a full arsenal of triples and also triple-triple combinations. "Spins and footwork were my weakness, but now I'm not lagging behind my competitors anymore and I don't have any big weaknesses," she said. Coach Mishin believes that her youth is her biggest disadvantage right now. "She cannot yet compete at the senior level. Right now she has such a technical arsenal, such a quality of her skating, such a plasticity and such a... I'd say artistic vision of each move that she can compete even now with the best female skaters of the world," he pointed out.

Mishin felt that his student has progressed a lot in the past three years under the tutelage of her coaches and choreographers. "By working with top choreographers such as Tatiana Rodionova, Edvald Smirnov, Georgi Kovtun, she developed a high musicality and expressiveness. Right now she is able to create any image on the ice, from Michael Jackson to Giselle," Mishin underlined proudly.

Tuktamysheva is scheduled to compete at the Junior Grand Prix events in Romania and Germany this fall. "My goal is to make the podium in both events to qualify for the (Junior) Final, and I want to make the podium at Russian Junior Nationals so I can go to Junior Worlds," she said.

People are already talking about her as skating's next wunderkind, but this is something Tuktamysheva doesn't like to hear. "Well, I don't regard myself as a wunderkind. I just have very good coaches who are doing everything to bring me to the highest performance level," she noted. "By the way, we have a few other girls (in Russia), and I'm not really better than they are."

The season, however, will show which one of the young Russian girls will head the wave.

Some of my favourite skaters

Here are some of the skaters I love to watch skate (in no particular order)

1. Michelle Kwan
2. Torvill and Dean
3. Steven Cousins
4. Michael Turner (I first saw him skate in Holiday on Ice in Cardiff Feb 2010, phenomenal)
5. Johnny Weir(I only just discovered this amazing skater)

Jonathan Wilkes and Johnson Beharry are tipped to take part in this year's Dancing On Ice.

According to The Sun, Victoria Cross hero Beharry has been practising with the show's ice dance trainers.

The Lance Corporal, who twice rescued comrades while under fire in Iraq, has apparently been approached to "broaden the appeal" of the reality show.

"Johnson would be an exciting addition and bring a new dimension to the refreshed show," said a source. "The fact he is already highly regarded by the public helps. He is a very determined character.

"He's training despite being in pain from his injuries. If he copes well then he is a cert to appear in the final 12 in January."

TV presenter and actor Wilkes, 31, is also apparently trying out for the show.

Dancing On Ice will return for a sixth series in the New Year on ITV1.

Johnny Weir skates to Bad Romance

Another amazing performance!!!

Kerry Katona gets skates on for Dancing on Ice

Kerry Katona has been spotted practicing for hit show Dancing on Ice.

30 August 2010 07:52 GMT

Get your skates on: Kerry Katona set for Dancing on Ice Pic: Jonathon Hordle / Rex Features

Kerry Katona may have been dropped as the face of Iceland, but the troubled star looks set to take part in another ice cool venture – Dancing on Ice.

The Sun reports that Kerry was pictured looking rather shaky on the practice rink this weekend.

It is believed the 29 year old is being lined up to be one of the main stars of the show when it hits our screens in January 2011 (scary thought).

The past few months have marked a dramatic turn around in the once troubled star’s fortunes and it’s hoped that being a part of the hit family show could really cement her place back in the hearts of the British public.

Not sure outspoken judge Jason Gardiner will be too happy to see Kerry with her skates on.

According to The Sun, he vowed to quit if controversial Kerry ever joined the show, saying she was ‘pond life’.

Johnny Weir skating to Poker Face

An amazing performance. What talent. I love it!!!!

Impressive performance to great music by Evgeni Plushenko

'Dancing On Ice' venue changes confirmed

Thursday, September 2 2010, 16:57 BST
By Alex Fletcher, Reality TV Editor

Details about the new series of Dancing On Ice have been revealed to Digital Spy.

Earlier today, a tabloid report claimed that Jason Gardiner and Emma Bunton will be back for the new series as judges and that the ITV1 reality show will be changing venues.

It has been confirmed that the ice dancing series will be filmed in a new arena, but a show source has claimed that no decision has been made yet over this year's judging panel.

"We've not confirmed that all the judges are back. Once we're ready to confirm the lineup we will do," said the insider.

Dancing On Ice will return for a sixth series in the New Year and for the first time will be filmed in HD at Shepperton Studios, where two new ice rinks - training and studio - are being built. The programme was previously filmed in Elstree, but producers decided to move it elsewhere due to a lack of availability of soundstages.

The source told DS: "It feels right that with the move to HD, and the changes we're making to the show format, that Dancing On Ice has a brand new home for series six.

"Shepperton is a fantastic environment to work in and we're looking forward to adding our own touch of sparkle to their legacy of Hollywood glamour!"

Meanwhile, Torvill & Dean have been confirmed to return as the mentors for the training celebrity novices and their pro partners.

AZU - For you