BBC Documentary Ice Stars Airing again UK

Yes, I wondered if people use a proxy that they might be able to watch?

Part way through part 2 and I have to break off to exclaim about how awful the lack of partners is for girls in this sport! Western society's attitude to masculinity has a lot to answer for!

Finished the episode and I very much enjoyed it again!

Josh's story was very interesting and the scene at the physio and seeing how 'different' his feet are even at 15 shows what sacrifices and what a bashing to their bodies they have to take. It was lovely to hear how close he and Kloe are and how they support each other.

I really liked Maddy too; she reminds me of some girls I teach at school. Her relationship with her mum was hilarious. And her 'epiphany' was quite moving actually. "It's not emo emotional; it's post-hardcore" made me laugh a lot. So like one girl I teach who is very into music and a top grade student too.

And, again, I am so sad for Chloe (and the other older partner-less girls) and hope that there is some joy by the end of the series.

TheGrandSophy said:

Part way through part 2 and I have to break off to exclaim about how awful the lack of partners is for girls in this sport! Western society's attitude to masculinity has a lot to answer for!

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I know! Even though "Dancing On Ice" has brought the sport to a wider audience, they have still not managed to dispell the belief that skating is for girls and gays.

Like, I know it first hand. It is because of that attitude that I would never talk about skating to, well, anybody in real life. And that is why I am glad that this forum is here!

Getting back to "Ice Stars", and Chloe is young, so she still has a chance of finding a partner. But it is the other two girls that I feel sorry for. With being older, they will have even less of a chance of finding a partner.

I don't know how much these older girls are going to be featured in the rest of the series. They may have been brought in just to introduce Chloe to Ice Partner Search. But I really hope they are featured, because one of them in particular has a very interesting story...

CaroLiza_fan

Sorry, I forgot to post a reminder earlier (you can blame my new Team Cyprus Fan Fest for distracting me!)

The third episode of "Ice Stars" is due to start on the CBBC Channel in 5 minutes.

Details on how to receive CBBC are in this post.

Sorry again

CaroLiza_fan

I've just noticed that the show is repeated on CBBC at 9am on Saturday mornings. Episode one has been and gone but it's going from episode 2 this coming Saturday morning. I've set it to series record now - just thought that it might be helpful info for anyone who can't get it on the iplayer but can on a current showing. Looking forward to seeing it and it makes a big difference to know I can come in at episode 2 rather than episode 4 if I was to start viewing from next week!

Josh & Ellie are so cute and seem to have such a great relationship. I'd watch a whole series about just them!

Hoping for less hockey next week...

I just found the first two full episodes on youtube. Just thought I would mention it incase it helps anyone ☺

The name of the you tube account that posted them is Ice stars

Thank you

EDIT: I watched both episodes, the show is really engrossing ^^

I have really falling in love with the BBC since a few years. In my opinion, they are one of the best sports broadcasters in EU, especially the catch up service is amazing and their phenomenal live streaming. If I can´t go to events myself, I can be sure the BBC has a stream for it, just wonderful.

I will check the show on the IPlayer when I arrive at NY, thanks a lot for this thread.

Firstly, apologies for only putting this up nearly a week after it was broadcast. But, although I got it watched on the day it was broadcast, I didn’t have a chance to write the review because of working on my Team Cyprus Fan Fest; replying to a number of long PM’s; watching the Riga Cup; watching the Paul Hunter Classic snooker; and watching the British round of MotoGP.

uhh said:

Josh & Ellie are so cute and seem to have such a great relationship. I'd watch a whole series about just them!

Hoping for less hockey next week...

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Agree full-heartedly on both points!

Yeah, the ice hockey did take over episode 3. But, there were 2 other strands, and they were interesting.


Episode 3 - The Sin Bin

As with episode 1, episode 3 dealt with Synchro, Ice Hockey and Ice Dance. However, the focus was on different people and different teams to the first episode.

We started off with Synchro, although in a perverse twist, we didn’t actually see any synchronised skating during the episode! Instead we were focussing in on the story of one of the members of the beginners squad.

Kaira is 8 years old, and is one of 3 skating siblings. She has a sister, called Ashlei, who has just started skating, and a brother, Jack, who plays ice hockey. Their Mum, Gillian, was into skating, and would go skating with the children. But she died last autumn. So their Dad, Tony, has decided to secretly take skating lessons.

Kaira is training to do her Gold Award. And Tony’s aim is to be able to skate well enough so that he can surprise her by going out onto the ice and presenting the certificate to her himself.

Later in the programme, we saw a bit of one of Tony’s lessons. It was extremely interesting to see how the coaches work with an adult. As somebody who doesn’t skate but who would secretly love to learn, I was always scared that coaches would be condescending when teaching adults. But, this was not the case.

I just wish they had shown more of Tony’s lessons. Maybe they will in a later episode.

Next, we turn to Ice Dance, and it is the welcome return of Josh and Ellie!!!

Ellie talks about the fact that she is from Derby, and because of the early starts, it is not practical to live at home and travel back and forth to Nottingham. So, she now stays with her Nan, who lives nearer the rink. Or, as Ellie put it, she “camps” at her Nan’s house. It is so amusing the way the programme has been edited together, because they then show Ellie sitting on the sofa with a blanket wrapped round her legs, and because the blanket is so big, you can just imagine it being used as a tent!

Don’t worry tiffoc, she made a point of saying that she misses you and her Dad!

Although she is undoubtedly adorable, you do get a sense of how determined Ellie is to be successful as an Ice Dancer. And I for one would love to see that determination pay off!

Anyway, they are building up towards a competition in Bracknell. However, there are a few problems. Firstly, their normal coach, Sophie, won’t be able to go, but one of the other coaches, Woody, will stand in.

More worryingly, though, they are having problems with their lifts. It is the age old problem for skaters around this age: there not being much of a height difference, and Josh not being strong enough to lift Ellie as well as he used to.

So, to try to build up their strength, Sophie takes them to a boxing club. She explains to Richard, the boxing coach, what the problem is, and he gets them to show him the moves so that he can work out where to go from there. I had to laugh when Josh said in one of his pieces to camera “I don’t want to be too muscley. I need to be strong, but I don’t want my muscles to look big…”!!! As I say, you can’t help but like them!

Next thing we know, Josh is in boxing gloves and Richard has a pair of focus mitts on. And we see Josh doing some training. And he is actually very good (much better than I am!) Richard even says that “When he channels his energy into something, he does give 100%.” He goes on to say that “He’s not a particularly strong kid at the minute, which is what I intend to change. We’ll make him strong. A few sessions at this and he’ll be a different kid. I know he will”.

Let’s hope he doesn’t turn out too different (only stronger), because we like him just the way he is!

The final strand, and the one that ultimately took over this episode, was Ice Hockey. Previously we saw a 9 year old player trying out for the U-12 team. This time, the focus was on the U-16 team.

But before that, we were given a run through of the different age level teams in Nottingham. And the names were so funny! The youngest are the Squirts. The U-12 team are the Tigers. The U-16 team are the Cougars. And finally, the main team are the Panthers.

So, this week, we were watching a bunch of Cougars. [Insert your own joke here!]

Well, we were actually focussing in on 2 of the Cougars, Liam and Rais. Now, if you had been watching the programme when it was first broadcast on CBBC, Liam and Rais were in the CBBC studio with Karim Zeroual and Hacker The Dog.

Some wee fella from London (amusingly called “Reice”) phoned in to ask them when they started skating and who their heroes were (although, the poor fella got nervous, and messed up the questions. But, we got the gist of what he wanted to know). Liam said he started when he was 9, and started watching a Panthers game, and stuck with it. Karim asked if “Panther” was a famous ice hockey placer, and Liam said “No, it’s a team”. Rais said he started playing when he was 5, but his first time on the ice was when he was 3. He started playing ice hockey after doing the Skate UK badges in Nottingham, and came up through the ranks. And he also looked up to the Panthers, as they were the team he watched growing up.

Even from this brief introduction, I took an instant dislike to Liam. It was obvious that he didn’t want to be there. He seemed to have an attitude about him. And this became even more apparent during the programme.

Rais, on the other hand, seemed a happy chappy. He was the first one introduced to us, and we were told that he is a goal scorer, and also plays for the Midlands and also the England U-16 teams. He told us about how often he trains, and then dropped in that he is 6ft 4in tall and has size THIRTEEN feet!!!!

Liam is a defender. He told us that he started getting into ice hockey when he was 7 or 8. Now, I was surprised that in this brief introduction he even admitted that the reason he likes it is the adrenaline, the going fast and “the hitting side of it, you know the bodying each other and stuff”!

It gets worse: Liam then added “Some guys have said ‘Oh, I think you need to calm down a bit’, but I’m ‘No, no, no. Cause that keeps me going’!”

The narrator told us that professional Ice Hockey players can earn up to £10,000,000 a year!!! No wonder they want to turn pro! The coach, Paul, was telling us that they start their training sessions at 21:00, and they are still there at 00:30! And that is on a school night. And that shows how dedicated they are.

I like the way Paul is when he is talking to camera, but I don’t like the way he talks to the players. Maybe this is the way all team coaches are no matter what the game is, but I felt he was being very aggressive. And I couldn’t help thinking that this would make the players aggressive too.

When we return to the ice hockey after a brief excursion away (about a minute!), we see the 2 guys at their homes. Liam is with his Dad, Mark (who seems like a really nice, laid-back guy), and even he freely says that Liam needs to keep his discipline. And from the bits that Liam does to camera, we get even more of a sense of how aggressive he is. Rais is also with his Dad, who is a Personal Trainer. So, we see how they train together. And they seem to have a really good relationship.

Anyway, they have a match against a neighbouring team, Sutton Sting, for a place in the play-offs. And we saw the team talk in the changing rooms, and then highlights of the match. Suffice to say, Liam became very acquainted with the sin bin.

We saw the team talk during the final interval, and coach Paul was going mad! Thankfully, we broke away for a bit of light relief with Josh and Ellie! They were out ten-pin bowling with a couple of other skaters around the same age, Tom and Claire. And it was boys against girls. And it was hilarious! Best part of the episode!

Finally, we returned to the ice hockey for the rest of the match. And it went from bad to worse for Liam. He got sent off for lashing out at the referee escorting him to the sin bin. After the match, we saw an interaction between Liam and hid Dad. Mark was saying how disappointed he was, and that Liam needs to curb his temper. And I was thinking “You’re not wrong there!”

I won’t give away how the match finished. But, that’s what the programme finished with.

Next time: Josh B is in Luxembourg, and slices his finger on his blade (OUUUUUCH!!!!!) And we carry on the Synchro and Ice Hockey stories that were in this episode, meeting Rais’ brother Aren.

Back in the CBBC studio, and it was time to play the CBBC version of “Just A Minute”, which they call “Ooh You Don’t Say!” The players had to talk about Ice Stars for as long as they could without pausing, hesitating or using 3 particular words.

First up was Rais, and the words he wasn’t allowed to say were “Hockey”, “Stars” and “Skate”. Once the clock started, the first thing he said was “Our show is about skating”. Karim wasn’t sure what to do, but he let him continue. Rais then talked about where the programme was set, and then said “Torvill and Dean skate…” and instantly realised his mistake. So, his time was 11 seconds.

What was really entertaining was that Rais was “talking with his hands”. He was really getting into it!

Next up was a caller, a wee fella from Grimsby called Louis. Hacker asked why he liked Ice Stars, and Louis said he wanted to try ice hockey. The words he wasn’t allowed to say were “Ice”, “Dance” and “Speed”. He started off by talking extremely generally, and I was thinking “Oh, this is going to be very good!” But then he said “ice”. So, his time was 12 seconds.

And I don’t know what happened after that as that is where my recording ended! SO, I don’t know if Liam played as well. But, given how bored he looked sitting in the corner, I doubt if he did.


Finally, a piece of housekeeping. I have decided to put all the video links into the comment where I gave the details of how to receive the CBBC Channel:

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sh...-on-Aug-11th&p=1204131&viewfull=1#post1204131

Hopefully this will make it easier to find them

CaroLiza_fan

I watched ep. 3 and enjoyed it again. The story of Kaira and her Dad was very touching. Josh and Ellie were as charming as ever and it will be interesting to see Josh's development of strength.

However, most of my comments are going to be about the hockey storyline. Rais was an easy boy to like- easy going, dedicated and pleasant. However, I am now going to mount a defence of Liam! Now, admittedly I did not watch the pre and post-episode extras and so I can't judge what he was like on there. Even then, I will posit a suggestion that, whilst CBBC is technically for 8-15 year olds, most of the older end would not admit to watching it if they did, thinking it was too kiddish! So I wouldn't be surprised if a teen boy like Liam would seem a bit bored and truculent because he's thinking of his image! They grow out of it.

Nevertheless, during the programme I do think, CL_fan, that you are judging him a bit harshly. I think he came across as very open and honest and not at all truculent in the interview to camera parts. I also think that a lot of teenagers, especially boys, do enter some sports like rugby, American football, wrestling, martial arts and ice hockey because of the physicality and the chance to work off some aggression in safe confines. As the Coach in Remember The Titans says to a character who says he joined the team for a chance to hit people: "A self-aware man, I like that."

I also regard Liam as showing a number of excellent qualities, that channelled in the right direction will be an asset to him and his team- loyalty to his team mates; a non-glory seeking mentality that means he is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good; a dedication and focus that means he isn't out there partying but puts practice first 'at this stage of my life' and a willingness to see when he is wrong. On the last point, I thought it was very commendable that he did not blame the ref wholly, like a lot of teens would, but recognised his own fault- "it wasn't the ref's fault". All in all, I recognised this boy from my years of teaching and I hope, with the right guidance, he will be a great success as a player and a man. My one agreement was that the filming played up the tough talking, shouting coach and I do hope that this was just a filming decision for maximum drama and that he does guide these boys with clear advice. Boys like Liam need to be given the tools to channel their energy and control their tempers, not just told to do it. I am hoping that this will play out in a future episode and we will see him being helped and succeeding, by his Coach or perhaps his Dad. Still, whilst he is not an angel, I certainly think he has many good qualities and much promise and I wouldn't write him off.

TheGrandSophy said:

I watched ep. 3 and enjoyed it again. The story of Kaira and her Dad was very touching. Josh and Ellie were as charming as ever and it will be interesting to see Josh's development of strength.

However, most of my comments are going to be about the hockey storyline. Rais was an easy boy to like- easy going, dedicated and pleasant. However, I am now going to mount a defence of Liam! Now, admittedly I did not watch the pre and post-episode extras and so I can't judge what he was like on there. Even then, I will posit a suggestion that, whilst CBBC is technically for 8-15 year olds, most of the older end would not admit to watching it if they did, thinking it was too kiddish! So I wouldn't be surprised if a teen boy like Liam would seem a bit bored and truculent because he's thinking of his image! They grow out of it.

Nevertheless, during the programme I do think, CL_fan, that you are judging him a bit harshly. I think he came across as very open and honest and not at all truculent in the interview to camera parts. I also think that a lot of teenagers, especially boys, do enter some sports like rugby, American football, wrestling, martial arts and ice hockey because of the physicality and the chance to work off some aggression in safe confines. As the Coach in Remember The Titans says to a character who says he joined the team for a chance to hit people: "A self-aware man, I like that."

I also regard Liam as showing a number of excellent qualities, that channelled in the right direction will be an asset to him and his team- loyalty to his team mates; a non-glory seeking mentality that means he is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good; a dedication and focus that means he isn't out there partying but puts practice first 'at this stage of my life' and a willingness to see when he is wrong. On the last point, I thought it was very commendable that he did not blame the ref wholly, like a lot of teens would, but recognised his own fault- "it wasn't the ref's fault". All in all, I recognised this boy from my years of teaching and I hope, with the right guidance, he will be a great success as a player and a man. My one agreement was that the filming played up the tough talking, shouting coach and I do hope that this was just a filming decision for maximum drama and that he does guide these boys with clear advice. Boys like Liam need to be given the tools to channel their energy and control their tempers, not just told to do it. I am hoping that this will play out in a future episode and we will see him being helped and succeeding, by his Coach or perhaps his Dad. Still, whilst he is not an angel, I certainly think he has many good qualities and much promise and I wouldn't write him off.

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This is what I love about this forum. That if a member criticises somebody, then there is another member who will stand up and defend them.

And you make some very good points in your argument.

When I was a teenage boy, I was quite quiet and timid. And, to be honest, I am even more so now! So, I cannot really relate to boys like Liam.

But, you are right in saying that it is a good sign that Liam is attempting to channel his aggressiveness into competitiveness on the rink, rather than getting into trouble in "real life".

Although we only saw a bit of him, his father seems to be the sort of person that could guide him well. And I hope that you are right that those coaching scenes were edited to make it more dramatic. Because, from the pieces Paul did to camera, he does seem to be the sort of coach that would be approachable, and would be willing to help his players out with problems off the ice.

While it is undoubtedly true that some boys get involved with contact sports because of the aggression, I would like to add that it is not universally the case. I have not been in a sports team, so I don't know how the dynamic there works. But, I took up a martial art when I was 10. For me, it wasn't about channelling aggression, but more about building my confidence.

I have to be honest, from the way Liam described the incident with the referee, I think I might have reacted the same way. I would have wanted to leave at my own speed too. I wouldn't have liked to have been hurried along. But, at the same time, as a member of a sports team, I wouldn't have wanted to risk letting my team-mates down. Especially with the position they were in in that match.

As a teacher, you will know that there are two sides to every story. I realise it isn't within the remit of the programme, but it would have been interesting to hear the referee's version of events, to see how he saw it. Oh, and to see if there was any discrepencies between the stories.

I am not at all interested in Ice Hockey, but having this conversation with you has got me interested in seeing more of Liam. Because it would be interesting to see how he develops over a period of time. Although, I suspect that the filming period may not have been long enough to see much of a difference.

Hopefully it will turn out that you are right, and I was being a bit too harsh.

CaroLiza_fan

Just a wee reminder that the fourth episode of "Ice Stars" will start on the CBBC Channel at 17:00 BST, i.e. 1h 30m from now.

Details on how to receive CBBC (along with links to videos of the previous episodes) are in this post.

As usual, I will record it and watch it later.

CaroLiza_fan

Arrrrghhhhhhh!!!!!

Just went to check the taping went alright, and discovered that Josh B and Kloe were in the CBBC Studio with Karim and Hacker this week.

After missing the end of Liam and Rais in the studio last week, I was planning on changing the timer to tape a few minutes more. But I forgot to do it. So, now I've missed the end of Josh B and Kloe!!!



But, I've done it now.

Anyway, if you want to watch the episode itself, here is the BBC iPlayer link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0699cmd/ice-stars-4-a-special-surprise

CaroLiza_fan

Josh B and Kloe (whose hair is now blonde) were in the CBBC Studio with Karim and Hacker. And they were both loving it!

16:00: Josh B and Kloe arrive into the CBBC Studio, and Karim asks them what is coming up in today's episode. And Kloe gives a brief explanation.

16:30: Josh B and Kloe play a game called "Answer Or Dancer". Basically, Karim is asking them questions sent in by the viewers, but if Hacker shouts "Dancer", they have to dance at the same time!

First question was "What is your biggest achievement so far". Kloe said "Probably winning the British Championships". Karim was impressed, and Hacker shouted "Dancer!" So the two of them went round to the front, and did some pretty impressive dancing! To which I was thinking "yep, they've done this together before!"

And it went on like that, with Hacker shouting "Dancer!" after every single question! And poor Josh B and Kloe were running back and forward like headless chickens!

Oh, and as an added bonus, at the very end of this clip, you see a map zooming in on Northern Ireland, and you hear a few notes of my favourite Wonder Villains song, "Ferrari"!

17:00: Like with the Ice Hockey players last week, the bit directly before the programme consisted of the skaters answering a question from a caller. So, Mihir from Northampton asked them “How does it feel to dance on the ice?” Josh B said “It is quite tiring” and Kloe said “Yes, it’s really tiring but…” then she paused and Josh B jumped in with “It’s exhilarating” and at the same time Kloe said “It’s amazing. You need to try it”, which prompted Josh B to say “Everybody needs to try it!”

They are so on the same wavelength that it was freaky! The way they were talking over each other, and saying the same things. Not to mention the way they were looking at each other. I’m definitely shipping them!

17:30: After the show was over, Kloe played “Ooh You Don’t Say!”. Again, she had to talk about the programme, and the 3 words she wasn’t allowed to say were “Nottingham”, “Skate” and “Blade”. So, she started off with the tactic of saying the same basic sentence over and over again, but changing it slightly each time. “Ice Stars is amazing. Ice Stars is a really good show.” It was working great, but then she deviated from her plan, and “skate” slipped in: “If you watch Ice Stars, you can see me and my friends skate…”

Oh, you should have seen the reactions of her and Josh B after she made the mistake. Laughing, slapping the table, high-fiving. It was priceless!

Unfortunately, Kloe was talking really fast, so although she seemed to be doing well, she only managed 8 seconds.

I can tell you something. With the way she was slipping the words “Ice Stars” into every sentence, she could be an advertising executive’s dream!

Anyway, next up was a girl called Isabelle from Bromsgrove. Now, I thought her game was a lot harder, as the 3 banned words were “Ice”, “Dance” and “Rink”. And, unsurprisingly, the word “ice” caught her out pretty much straight away. “This TV show follows the lives of young teenagers who skate on ice…” It’s a pity, because it sounded like it was going to be an interesting story she told! But, she only lasted 6 seconds.

That was where my recording stopped. But, I have since found out that all I really missed was Hacker asking Kloe how she felt, and her saying “I wish I done better”, and then “I tried your best”, to which Josh said “She tried her best”. Then came the introduction to the next programme.

18:00: Quickfire questions! Too many to go through, but suffice to say, for most of them Josh B and Kloe were saying exactly the same things at exactly the same time!

Then the left the studio, and the next programme started.

CaroLiza_fan

Episode 4 - A Special Surprise

For me, this was the most interesting episode of the series so far. Because we got to see behind the scenes of a figure skating competition!!!

As the trend has continued for the fourth episode, I think it is now safe to say that it is the format of the programme to have three strands running through each episode. And this time, it was Singles Skating, Synchro and Ice Hockey.

The main thread this week was Singles skating, and the preparations Josh B and Kloe were making for the Coupe de Printemps. Sorry, I meant “the competition in Luxembourg”!

Firstly we got to know a bit more about Kloe. Do you remember when I passed this comment when reviewing Episode 2:

CaroLiza_fan said:

We were also introduced to a friend of Josh B’s, a Ladies Singles skater called Kloe. (So, that’s the third girl with the same name in one episode. Thank goodness this one spells her name differently!) She is also coached by Gurgen, and Josh B says that having trained together for years, they drive each other on. I have no idea where Kloe is from, but she has a beautiful accent!

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Well, it turns out that she is Hungarian. And I am really kicking myself that I did not work that one out before! Like, Gurgen was based in Hungary for a long number of years when he was coaching Júlia Sebestyén, so it is hardly surprising that some other Hungarian skaters wanted to work with him.

Kloe and her Mum are living in England, while the rest of her family (Dad, sister, grandparents) are back in Hungary. It was so cute the way Kloe explained what it was like when she first arrived in England:

“School was definitely hard because of my English and ’cause I didn’t know anyone there. At first I remember not talking for about, I think, 3 months or something. But then, I think one day I just thought, ‘you know what, I’m just going to try it’, and everyone understood what I was trying to say so, since then, I talk” [bursts into laughter]

And from what I can see, she hasn’t stopped talking once since!!!

Anyway, after a quick re-cap of what happened in episode 2, we see the team travelling to the competition. There is Gurgen, and 4 skaters: Josh B and Kloe, who have just moved up to Junior level; and Alexia and Becky, who are still at Advanced Novice level.

Alexia made an interesting point that those that were arguing about Emily Chan sitting on her own at the first Junior GP this season might like to take on board. She said:

“I think we all would agree with each other that, when going with parents, you’re almost kinda mollycoddled, so it’s better than… It’s better when you’re on your own because you don’t have somebody fussing over you and you’re allowed to just concentrate and get in the zone”. Kloe: “Yeah”

Josh B and Becky are both very quiet. But Kloe and Alexia are always having fun. And it got very interesting when Alexia told the story about how her and Kloe did not get on at first, and how they were always arguing, and that it got quite vicious. (Well, I suppose it was not easy for Alexia when this foreign skater arrived to skate in the same category as her). And then they had to share a room at a competition in Budapest in 2013. And they have been good friends ever since!

Girls, eh?!

They also showed a very poignant piece where Gurgen was talking to camera about how the parents pay for absolutely everything, and that is why he wants the kids to do well.

The second strand, which was only visited once during the programme, was about Kaira the Synchro Skater whose Dad had been secretly learning to skate so that he could present her with her Gold Award certificate himself.

Well, she did the test, and passed, but wasn’t told. Then, during her normal class, the coach took all the girls in the team to a corner of the rink for a talk, while Tony came onto the ice. Next thing she says (extremely patronisingly, I might add!) “Kaira, what’s your Dad doing on the ice?” to which Kaira looks around all confused and grunts “uh?” Then she says “I don’t know”. This is where it gets really cringeworthy. The coach shouted out “DAD CAN SKATE! I didn’t know he could skate!”

Anyway, the wee girl was thoroughly confused with everything was going on, and when her Dad came over, the first thing she could say was “Whose skates are those?” So cute! Anyway, he gave her the certificate and explained what he had been up to. She was all embarrassed, it took a bit of persuading to get her to go for a skate around the rink with him. But, when she did, he kept having to tell her to slow down! It was so funny!

The third strand was also returning to a story started in the previous episode. We were back with Ice Hockey player Rais, except this time he was joined by his brother, Aren.

During the introduction, they show Rais wandering around the kitchen, and you get a real perspective of just how tall he is! You didn’t really get that when he was on the ice with his team-mates in the previous episode. Back then, we were told that he wears size 13 skates, and he comments here that you can’t get skates that size in Britain.

With 2 brothers involved in the same sport, it is not surprising that although they each want the other to do well, they want to be better! They each showed us their medals and trophies, etc. Then, we saw them practicing in the back yard, and Rais told us a story about the neighbours not always being happy.

To be honest, there wasn’t really any point to this strand. It just seemed to be a time-filler to break up the figure skating story.

When we did return, it was at the venue getting ready for the SP. Two other skaters were pointed out to us. The first was Adrien from France who, although we weren’t told this, actually won the competition. But, I want to focus on the other one. Here is what the narrator said about him:

“One of the competitors, Michel from Denmark, has taken to the ice before him. He is older, bigger, and more experienced.”

This is where skating fans start to notice mistakes in the programme. For a start, if you look at the results, there isn’t anybody from Denmark competing in Junior Men! However, there is a Michel from Holland, and he finished last! And from the clip they showed of him, it is definitely the same guy, as he is wearing the same costume as in a video on YouTube from the NRW Trophy a few months earlier. Except, that was his Free Skate costume!

Incidentally, everything else about Michel was right. He is a LOT bigger! (As a lot of people commented on here when he was skating at the Riga Cup last week…!)

A big deal was made of the fact that Josh B was doing “a triple jump, whereas his rivals are only doing doubles”. Thankfully, when Gurgen was talking, he used the proper terminology – it was lutzes they were talking about.

So, Josh B took to the ice for his SP. And the infuriating thing is that the BBC did not show it properly!!! They edited it down, and put their own music over it!!!

I won’t spoil what happened for those that want to watch. But if you can’t watch it, you might get an idea from the SP Protocols…

As a segway between Josh B’s and Kloe’s competitions, they have him talking about her, and he says “I think that if Kloe wasn’t here and if Kloe hadn’t moved here from Hungary, then I don’t really perhaps know what I would have done. So, I’m really glad that Kloe is, and obviously she’s my best friend as well, so makes it even better”.

Anyway, enough of that. Time for Kloe’s SP. She didn’t do well the previous year (19th in SP; 18th in FS; 19th overall. All out of 25), and so her aim this year is to do better.

Again, I won’t spoil what happened for those that want to watch. But if you can’t watch it, you might get an idea from the SP Protocols…

But, what I will say is that the top half of her costume was beautiful. It’s just a pity she had that awful skirt!

After the SP’s, they had an interesting bit where Kloe was talking about the different approaches skaters take to getting their results. I was surprised to hear that some don’t bother waiting around to get them. I thought that was a requirement. But, maybe things are different in non-televised competitions.

To provide a break between the days, we returned to the Ice Hockey. And there was a shoot-out between the brothers. And that was all that really happened!

Back to Luxembourg, and this time it was the Advanced Novice girls. This was VERY brief, jumping back and forth between the 2 girls. Becky said that they don’t mind who comes higher, and just want each other to do well.

To find out how they did, look up the Entries/Results page. (See, I can be brief too! )

Back to Kloe for her Free Skate. And she is wearing a lovely red dress. Not too sure about the sleeves, though! Again, it was very brief, but we saw a nice Bielmann.

To find out what else she did, see the FS Protocols

Finally back to Josh B. And, oh boys but he had a noticeable costume! In fact, that is probably why I remembered him from the Volvo Cup! Although his FS highlights were longer than the others, they were still pretty brief.

So, to find out what all he did, see the FS Protocols

Of course, all the results from the Coupe de Printemps can be found in the Entries/Results page

All in all, I was very impressed with the attitudes of all four of the skaters throughout their time in Luxembourg. And with the way Gurgen was with them as well. He knew just the right times to push them, and also the right times to be supportive.

Next time: I’m going to quote the Narrator for the first bit because I don’t really understand what is going on! “The Ice Dance girls go to the disco in search of new partners”. Eh?!

Also, we meet another speed skater called Izzy, and it’s Kloe’s birthday!

Looking forward to it!

CaroLiza_fan

Just a wee reminder that the fifth episode of "Ice Stars" will start on the CBBC Channel at 17:00 BST, i.e. 1h 10m from now.

However, for the past couple of weeks, people from "Ice Stars" have been appearing in the CBBC studio on Tuesday afternoons. And that is due to start sometime within the next 10 minutes.

So, you might want to keep an eye out just in case there are more in the studio this week.


Details on how to receive CBBC (along with links to videos of the previous episodes) are in this post.

As usual, I will record it and watch it later.

CaroLiza_fan

Just wanted to apologise for not posting a review of episode 5 yet. The simple reason is that I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, and am unlikely to do so over the weekend either.

But, hopefully I'll get it all done before episode 6 is shown.

By the way, the repeat of episode 4 is coming on the CBBC Channel in 5 minutes.

Details on how to receive CBBC (along with links to videos of the first 5 episodes) are in this post.

Sorry again

CaroLiza_fan