Nicholas Mark Slater (born 6 April 1958) is a former ice dancer and TV and theatrical performer.

Personal life

Slater's parents, Joan Dewhirst Slater and John Slater, competed together in ice dancing, winning silver at the

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

and 1953 World Championships. They were also World Professional champions. They retired to coach at Liverpool Rink then Manchester Ice Palace and finally Altrincham Ice Rink. Slater attended Parr Lane County Primary School and

North Cestrian Grammar School North Cestrian School, formerly North Cestrian Grammar School, is a free school in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England, for pupils aged between 11 and 16. North Cestrian is part of the Hamblin Educational Trust. History The school was o ...

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

. He is married to Christiane and has a son, Benjamin Edward 'Tiger', born in February 2008.

Career

Competitive career

With partner Kathryn Winter, he won the 1976 World Junior Championships. When that partnership ended, he teamed up with

Karen Barber Karen Barber (born 21 June 1961 in Manchester) is a British ice dancer. She is the 1983 European bronze medalist and competed at two Olympics with partner Nicky Slater. Skating career Barber won the silver medal at the 1977 World Junior Cham ...

. They won the bronze medal at the 1983 European Championships. They represented Great Britain at the 1980 Winter Olympics, placing 12th, and at the 1984 Winter Olympics, where they placed 6th. They were British ice dance champions in 1985.

Post-competitive career

Slater has produced ice events, his first being Sport Aid at the NEC in 1986 in aid of the

Band Aid Trust Band Aid were a charity supergroup featuring mainly British and Irish musicians and recording artists. It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for anti-famine efforts in Ethiopia by releasing the song "Do They Know I ...

. He conceived and produced skate-along a national skating fundraiser for

Cystic Fibrosis Trust The Cystic Fibrosis Trust (stylised as Cystic Fibros''is''), is a UK-based national charity founded in 1964, dealing with all aspects of cystic fibrosis (CF). It funds research to treat and cure CF and aims to ensure appropriate clinical care and ...

launched on

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...

and ran ice gala tours in the UK to benefit cystic fibrosis research and as independent productions. He was Marketing and Communications Director of The Shaftesbury Society for five years, during which time he gained a Masters in Marketing from Bristol Business School at The University of the West of England. After this, he endeavoured to develop ice rinks in the UK for five years. He has produced ice spectaculars in the US as CEO and Creative Producer with his company Adventure On Ice working in partnership with

Robin Cousins Robin Cousins, MBE (born 17 August 1957) is a British former competitive figure skater who was BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1980. He was the 1980 Olympic champion, the 1980 European champion, a three-time World medalist (1978–19 ...

and Disson Furst and Partners. Together the partnership produced: *Improv-Ice for USA Networks (3) *The Starskates Series (8) for NBC *Skaters Tribute to shows for ESPN (2) In 2005, he produced and starred in The Finding a Wife Tour a UK theatre show. In 2008, he created and starred in ''Ice Times'' and toured UK theatres skating with Louise Owen and Charlotte Aitken. Slater has also contributed to Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association's City Ice Skate events. Since 2006, he has focused on developing himself as a singer-songwriter and music producer.

Television

Since his retirement from competitive skating, Slater has worked as an 'in vision' expert and commentator on ice skating for both

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, and as a commentator on Star, HDTV and on

British Eurosport Eurosport 1 is a French television sports network channel which is a division of Eurosport and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Discovery took a 20% minority interest share in December 2012, and became majority shareholder in the Eurospo ...

where he has also anchored a number of shows. He has been the "surprise" on an episode of '' Surprise Surprise''. Slater appeared as a judge on the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

spin-off show ''Strictly Ice Dancing'' in 2004. This was a one-off episode which aired on Boxing Day. In 2006, he joined the

celebrity skating show ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series presented by Phillip Schofield alongside Holly Willoughby from 2006 to 2011, who then returned in 2018, and Christine Bleakley from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their profe ...

'' as a judge, a role in which he continued for five years. In October 2010, it was announced that Slater would not return as a judge for the sixth series in 2011. During his time on ''Dancing on Ice'', Slater also worked on '' Dancing on Ice: The Tour''. During the final series of ''Dancing on Ice'' in early 2014, judge

was absent for weeks six and seven of the show due to him commentating at the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Slater stepped in as judge on the show, whilst

was acting as head judge. He had previously judged the World Professional Figure Skating Championship for ABC and ''Strictly Ice Dancing'' for the BBC.

Singer-songwriter, writer, entertainer

From his earliest days, Slater was involved in music through his parents' ice dancing background. From his earliest recollections, he was helping his father edit music on their Ferrograph 'Reel to Reel' tape machine for ice dance performances. Drawing on that upbringing (and over ten years of development and study across areas of songwriting, singing, instruments and music production), he composes and performs his own music.

End of commentary career

On 23 March 2022, Slater and Simon Reed were acting as the commentators of the international feed of the

2022 World Figure Skating Championships The 2022 World Figure Skating Championships were held in Montpellier, France from March 21–27, 2022. Figure skaters competed for the title of world champion in men's singles, women's singles, pairs, and ice dance. The competition was used to d ...

. After the event concluded, a hot mic recorded them referring to two-time World Champion and three-time Olympic medalist

Meagan Duhamel Meagan Duhamel (born December 8, 1985) is a Canadian pair skater. With partner Eric Radford, she is a two-time world champion (2015, 2016), a 2018 Olympic gold medallist in the team event, a 2014 Olympic silver medallist in the team event, a 20 ...

as the "bitch from Canada", while laughing. The clip went viral, leading the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

(who were employing Duhamel to do Canadian commentary) to demand a response from the

International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, Net ...

(ISU). The ISU released a statement on social media on 24 March 2022, in which they said they were "shocked by the language used" and that there "is no place for harassing and abusive language or remarks and behavior in sport and our society." Slater and Reed were suspended by the ISU and their service provider, neither will cover any future ISU figure skating event, and an internal investigation will follow. The ISU also apologised to Duhamel.

Competitive highlights

With Barber

With Winter

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Slater, Nicholas English male ice dancers Figure skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of Great Britain British sports broadcasters Figure skating commentators Living people 1958 births Sportspeople from Liverpool People educated at North Cestrian Grammar School European Figure Skating Championships medalists World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists