Skating With the Stars chock-a-block with casualties (spoiler alert)

ABC's skating competition lost a contestant Monday long before the show's weekly elimination when Disney star Brandon Mychal Smith was taken to hospital by ambulance. 

Brandon reportedly was having breathing problems on the set. The program aired footage of the 21-year-old on a stretcher looking like he was going to throw up. His agent told E! Online yesterday afternoon that his condition was either a virus or food poisoning and he was resting at home, unable to skate on Monday's show.

He wasn't the only casualty. Brooke Castile, who skates with Olympic skier Jonny Moseley, gashed  her finger to the bone after Jonny accidentally skated over her hand after a stumble during rehearsal. But unlike Brandon and his partner Keauna McLaughlin, Brooke and Jonny were able to skate, and ended up at the top of the scoreboard on Monday with 51 points out of 60.

Soap star Rebecca Budig also made a trip to hospital after twisting her wrist during a fall in rehearsal and ignored a doctor's advice to rest, skating with partner Fred Palascak on Monday and racking up a second-place 50 points.

Brandon and Keauna led the pack in scores after last Monday's show but had to settle for 39 points out of 60 after they were judged on a tape of their last complete rehearsal.

Judge Dick Button said he couldn't really judge properly without seeing "the performance level, the wow level."

Johnny Weir went even further, saying Brandon should have skated despite being ill.

"First of all, I hope Brandon's okay and back with us next week because he is ... one of my favourites. Having said that, he wasn't here today and something that you learn from your first steps on the ice or your first time on a stage is that if you are required to perform you perform," Johnny said.

"The doctors said he couldn't, but I've been told not to as well. We've all been there so no matter what, I really wanted to see him perform in front of the audience, I wanted to see him have the nerves and be on the television like everyone else had to deal with, so my scores are going to reflect the fact that he couldn't be here and he wasn't here," he said.

"And I just want to add, Johnny, that puke does not look good on the ice," said host Vernon Kay.

"Been there, Vernon, been there," retorted Johnny.

Weir's remarks seem a bit harsh to me, considering Brandon is not a professional athlete. In fact, he'd never even ice skated before the show, but what do I know?

The celebrity sent home on Monday for having the lowest score and vote total was Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil along with partner Jennifer Wester.

No surprise there. The couple of times I saw him skate I thought he was terrible, Laurie Ann Gibson's babbling about his "musicality" notwithstanding.

Vince had the lowest judges' scores Monday along with "real housewife" Bethenny Frankel and her partner Ethan Burgess, 36 out of 60.

(The photo of Brandon and Keauna in an earlier show is by Adam Taylor for ABC.)

 

Comments

[Sens-ible Bill]

A BIG fan of Battle of the Blades (and hockey and figure skating, at times) but NOT a fan of Dancing With The Stars, I just had to check out the first episode of Skating With The Stars.
I was not impressed. To say the least.
For one thing, my first thought was that the main skating area must be their warm-up area. When I realized that was the "main stage," I immediately knew we wouldn't be seeing any speed or genuine tricks, which usually require and go best with a certain amount of speed.
(I like Johnny Weir. Compare his scintillating performance on BotB's expansive rink and his unfortunately confined performance on SWTS's postage-stamp of a rink, and you can see why SWTS is such a farce.)
The celebrities proved a tawdry bunch. I mean I loved Sean Young in Blade Runner but that was how many decades, and pounds ago? And the only athlete of any real accomplishment was such a narcissistic skier that even his over-the-top brashness could not camouflage his lack of skill on ice.
The figure skaters were a mostly anonymous lot.
And after the graceful beauty of the women on Battle of the Blades, these female skaters, in my humble opinion, looked downright slutty. (In fact if the best of Battle of the Blades could be seen as ballet on ice, then Skating With The Stars is burlesque on ice.)
Anyway, in terms of even faux figure skating, the whole thing turned out to be incredibly bad. So bad, I could not watch another episode, and haven't.
Now my reference to pounds earlier was not a shot at Young. Most of us put on weight as we age. But her current fulsome figure, to use a euphemism, had me wondering about potential problems with lifts.
Sure enough the cartwheel lift looked like it was being done in super slow motion.
Imagine my surprise when I later saw promo ads for this series that showed this lift, and other moves and tricks from the show, cranked up to slightly surreal speeds. It was like every clip from the show was given a shot of steroids AND speed.
That merely confirmed that this series is far too fake --- far more artificial than the ice they skate on --- for me to waste my time on.
But I maaaay just read about it on this blog. (grin)

[Ang]

I didn't watch it last week, and don't intend to next week. I'm just not enjoying it at all. Maybe if they had used more familar pro-skaters, I would be interested in seeing it, to see them.

[Debra Yeo]

Bill and Ang, everything you're saying rings true. I had not paid any attention to the promo ads, but it's funny that they cranked up the speed.
Only thing, Bill, is that I can't promise I'll blog it on Monday. My approach has been to only watch it if I have some time on my hands and nothing else to do. If not for the fact that I read online about Brandon being taken to hospital I might have ignored it last Monday.
If this show gets renewed for another season, I will be shocked beyond belief.