Sunday night saw the return of Dancing on Ice for its 16th series. As half of the new celebrities took their first steps on the ice, one of the highlights of the opening show was the striking group routine of the professional skaters, the unsung heroes of the series.
The role of professionals in the show should not be underestimated. In addition to creating these fun group numbers, they are also tasked with teaching their partners how to skate. On Strictly Come Dancing, professionals work with celebrities for several weeks before the first show; In Dancing on Ice, the first performance is the result of months of hard work.
Despite this, the pros remain underrated and overlooked players on the show; This is evident in the first episode of the series.
Three new pros, Vanessa James, Simon Senecal and Amani Fancy, made their debut on the show on Sunday, and Annette Dytrt will make her debut next week. While it was great to see new talent on the ice, we learned nothing about the starters during the show other than their nationality; their introduction was in the form of a few lines on the celebrities’ VT.
In contrast, a program with exactly the same format uses the first show as an opportunity to properly introduce its new professionals, often showcasing them in a group number and allowing the audience to get to know them from the very beginning.
Strictly speaking the pros are now perhaps as beloved as the show itself. This, of course, applies to long-serving professionals such as Anton du Beke, who is currently a judge on the programme, and Oti Mabuse, who has forged her own TV career and is currently on the Dancing on Ice panel. But this also applies to new dancers such as Vito Coppola, Jowita Przystał and Nikita Kuzmin, who have joined the show in the last three years but are already making a big impact.
Many of the professionals have as large or even larger followings on social media as celebrities, and many enjoy the popularity of touring their own shows across the country throughout the year. This might not be a completely fair comparison, as dancing is a different beast than ice skating, but the point is that their success is due to the fact that it has made them the absolute stars of the show.
We definitely watch for the celebrities involved, but we stay for the blooming partnerships, even the juicy romance rumors give viewers reasons to tune in week after week, regardless of whether there’s any truth in them. Dancing on Ice works the same way, but how do you expect to support your favorite couple if you don’t even know half of the partnership?
Dancing on Ice has always had a revolving door of professionals, partly because most of them are not permanently based in the UK, but in the early days of the show there was a core group that fans of the show loved; these include Matt Evers, Maria Filippov, Frankie Poultney and Dan Whiston, the last of whom currently serves as the series’ Associate Creative Director. But the professional cast now changes greatly each year, and the show doesn’t seem to have any particular desire to invest in professionals, even audience favorites.
If there’s one pro synonymous with Dancing on Ice, it’s Matt. The American skater has appeared in every series since the show began in 2006, and among her many partners was Ian ‘H’ Watkins, with whom she formed her first same-sex partnership (even before Strictly’s Nicola Adams and Katya Jones).
It was confirmed in October that Matt would be leaving the show, with its final series due in 2023. But this was announced with little fanfare and the show saw fit to bid farewell to a 17-year pro with a single tweet from his account wishing him nothing but the best.
To make matters worse, pro Alex Murphy won the show with partner Joe Swash in 2020 but was dropped from the line-up just a few months later as the heartbroken reigning champion revealed his contract had not been renewed for the next series.
Everyone feels very interchangeable on Dancing on Ice, which creates a rather uncomfortable atmosphere that is the exact opposite of the ‘family’ atmosphere introduced on Strictly.
The show can still make changes, and with four new pros this year, there’s no better time to make them.
Let’s thank the long-time pros: Mark Hanretty, Sylvain Longchambon and Vicky Ogden have been on the show since a four-year hiatus in 2014. DJ Adele Roberts will be Mark’s tenth celebrity partner, marking more than a decade of commitment to the franchise.
Dancing On Ice Producers: Let the audience get to know the new members of the group! Give them the opportunity to talk during post-skating chats, praise them for their hard work, and showcase their personalities off the rink; this will only make partnerships more popular.
With viewing figures rapidly decreasing, the future of the series is undoubtedly in question, and if it wants to survive, it needs to invest more in the people who make the series what it is. While celebrities are the stars, the heart of any show like Dancing on Ice are the professionals, and the show would benefit greatly from realizing this.
Dancing on Ice It airs on ITV1 and airs on ITVX.
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