''Torvill and Dean's Dancing on Ice'' was an Australian

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

series which was based on the original

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

version, ''

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 pr ...

''. The series premiered on the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television ne ...

on Tuesday, 11 July 2006 at , and involved celebrities

ice dancing Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976 ...

on a specially constructed

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

located in Sydney's north-west suburbs. The series ran for one season before being cancelled, and the winner of the competition was model

Jake Wall Jake may refer to: Name * Jake (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Katrin Jäke (born c. 1975), German swimmer * Jake (gamer), American ''Overwatch'' player and coach Animals * Jake (rescue dog), ...

. The series reportedly cost several million dollars to produce and received above-average ratings.

Format

The couples competed against each other for a prize at the end of the series. The ten celebrities were teamed up with ten professional ice skaters and received special training from champion ice dancing duo

Jayne Torvill Jayne Torvill, OBE (born 7 October 1957) is a British professional ice dancer and former competitor. With Christopher Dean, she won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics and a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics, becoming one of th ...

and

Christopher Dean Christopher Colin Dean, OBE (born 27 July 1958) is a British ice dancer who won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics with his skating partner Jayne Torvill. They also won a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics. Early life Dean grew up ...

themselves. Home viewers voted for their favourite couples and the couple with the fewest votes were voted off the show each week until a winner was decided. The show was run in a similar format to the Seven Network's rival dancing show ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series ''Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...

'' which had been a major hit for the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australi ...

over the previous three years. During training almost every contestant suffered an injury of some sort, the most serious of which being Michael Slater severing a

tendon A tendon or sinew is a tough, high-tensile-strength band of dense fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. It is able to transmit the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system without sacrificing its ability ...

in his hand after it was accidentally skated over by his partner. Giaan Rooney dislocated her ankle just before the second episode of the series, and was forced to withdraw from the competition. Annalise Braakensiek twisted her ankle during the broadcast of the first episode, and was forced to withdraw as well.Dancing on Ice
Channel nine The show was hosted by celebrity gardener and backyard designer

Jamie Durie Jamie Paul Durie OAM (born 3 June 1970) is an Australian horticulturalist and landscape designer, furniture designer, television host, television producer, and author of eleven books on landscape architecture, garden design and lifestyle. He is ...

and former ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'' weather presenter

Sami Lukis Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...

. It was based on the

ITV show ''

'', which also featured Torvill and Dean, and is also roughly similar to an earlier Nine program '' Skating on Thin Ice'', also hosted by Durie, in 2005. Kristina, Pam and Matt were also skating partners for the celebrities in the original UK version. UK judges

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 Cha ...

and Jason Gardiner, were joined by

Alisa Camplin Alisa Peta Camplin, (born 10 November 1974) is an Australian aerial skier who won gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics, the second ever winter Olympic gold medal for Australia. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Camplin finished third to receive a bron ...

, Belinda Noonan, and international ice dancing judge, Mark Storton, on the judging panel. The judges only made opinions; it was up to the home viewers to make decisions.

Celebrities and their partners

Scoring chart

:''Red numbers'' indicate the lowest score of the week :Green numbers indicate the highest score of the week : indicates that the couple were in the skate off : indicates that the couple were eliminated : indicates that the couple withdrew from the competition : indicates that the couple won : indicates that the couple came in second place

Average chart

This table only counts for dances scored on a traditional 30-point scale.

Live show details

Week 1 (11 July)

Week 2 (18 July)

Judges' votes to save * Noonan: Michael & Anya * Storton: Michael & Anya * Camplin: Trisha & Alexandre * Gardiner: Michael & Anya * Barber: Trisha & Alexandre

Week 3 (25 July)

*During the skate off, Dermott decided that his bicep injury made him unable to face another performance, effectively leading to him being eliminated and sparing the judges from a vote.

Week 4 (1 August)

Judges' votes to save * Noonan: Jackie & Pavel * Storton: Jackie & Pavel * Camplin: Michael & Anya * Gardiner: Michael & Anya * Barber: Michael & Anya

Week 5 (8 August)

Judges' votes to save * Noonan: * Storton: * Camplin: * Gardiner: * Barber:

Week 6 (15 August)

Judges' votes to save * Noonan: Lara and Matt * Storton: Lara and Matt * Camplin: Lara and Matt * Gardiner: Lara and Matt * Barber: Lara and Matt

Week 7 (22 August)

Judges' votes to save * Noonan: Jake & Maria * Storton: Jake & Maria * Camplin: Lara & Matt * Gardiner: Lara & Matt * Barber: Jake & Maria

Week 8 (29 August)

Ratings

The ratings for the show during the eight-week season were high in its timeslot with the series premiere being 1.61 million viewers, over the course of the rest of the season viewership was between 1.2 and 1.1 million viewers, with 1.42 million watching the grand final. Despite strong viewership figures, the show was axed due to high production costs and mostly negative reviews from critics.

Plans of a reunion special

During the series, the Nine Network planned a live reunion special, also hosted by Durie and Lukis. It would feature all ten celebrities talking about their experiences during the series, and answering questions from a live studio audience. The main highlight would be Torvill and Dean themselves making a very special guest appearance in the studio towards the end, when they would congratulate the contestants, hosts and judges, and of course, the real winners of the series, which were the home viewers, for their votes. Following the cancellation of the show, the reunion special was also cancelled.

References

External links

Official Torvill and Dean's Dancing on Ice Website
* {{Dancing on Ice around the world Nine Network original programming Figure skating on television 2000s Australian reality television series Television shows set in New South Wales 2006 Australian television series debuts 2006 Australian television series endings Figure skating in Australia Australian television series based on British television series