Nevermind, it was Josh B! Although they could pass for brothers from a distance.
So I was able to catch today's episode, New Beginnings, and to my surprise it was all figure skating. I didn't see any of the last 2 seasons, so all I had to go on was CaroLiza_fan's wonderful reviews. I really enjoyed it!
So now I must apologise to CaroLiza_fan for stealing his thunder, because I really wanted to do a review of it.
It started off by explaining that Josh and Ellie, aka Jellie had broken up last year, and it had been some months since and Josh was now skating with another partner. But then, there was a surprise visitor at the rink... Ellie!
It turns out Ellie had felt like the hours at the rink were too much for her, and she wanted to spend more time at home and with her friends at school. So she moved back home for a while. But while she was away, she realised how much she missed skating, and missed her friends at the rink. She said she saw her friends at the rink online, hanging out together, and she felt like she was sitting at home doing nothing. So she came back and the coach at the rink was very happy to see her. Also because Josh had already got a new partner, she decided to try skating singles "this season" (last season? IDK).
Then, since Ellie had been away, she met up with Ella, who had also switched to singles! It turns out Adriano had gone home, for what reason I don't think they said, and instead of waiting for a new partner Ella decided to go solo. The two of them talked about it being easier in singles in some ways, because you do what you want to do and you don't have to worry about what your partner wants to do. But to me, it seemed like Ellie did miss skating with Josh.
Then we went back to Ella, who had been invited to do a gala at the opening of the Sunderland ice rink (this is where I curse myself for looking away, because the campaign posters for making Sunderland City of Culture were up on the boards and I could have worked out the date from there
). Ella was excited for the opportunity but both her and her coach were worried because the gala was only 3 weeks away! Ella only had a week to learn the choreography, which sounds very demanding
and she was struggling with a sit spin, which she kept, well, sitting down on. Her coach even told her not to focus too much on the arm movements, and if she had trouble remembering, to just improvise.
Of course, then they went off and introduced some familiar faces: Josh B and Kloe! And this segment was very exciting from the start, because they had been informed that they had a very special guest coming to the rink in a few hours. I will keep mum for now, to increase suspense. They both immediately got to work, overseen by Gurgen. Kloe was practicing spins and seemed to be going well. However, Josh B was having some trouble landing his triples, all pops and falls. Then Gurgen said, he knew about the guest, and they all had to work hard, but he was not happy with their skating quality. Now the way this was edited, it sounded like he was talking about Josh's jumps, but I thought about it and given the emphasis he put on skating quality I think he meant both of their actual skating. So both of them were unsettled.
Now they cut away
again, back to Ellie for a breather from all the tension. Some time had passed (?) and it was Josh's birthday, and they were going to spend it together doing... some kind of cross between dirt track racing and go karting??
It was the first time Ellie had seen Josh in a while, although they had talked while Ellie was away, but Ellie was still a bit nervous. However, when she got there it was only awkward for a few minutes and soon they were having lots of fun. Ellie's go-kart got stuck in the mud at one point
and some got into her hair, but it was all in good fun. Sadly I had to duck out at that moment tough, so I didn't see how this segment ended.
Then we came back to Josh B and Kloe. Now the visitor had arrived... and it was Prince Harry! :eeking: At first all seemed to be well. He came rinkside, started chatting with the hockey players and young children at one end of the rink. At the other, everything was going well for Josh B, and he was landing all his jumps beautifully. Kloe was showing off her best I-spins, and you could see other skaters showing off their moves. But soon I was shaking my fist in anger. Prince Harry spared them nary a glance :dev2: They waved to him, but he never came over to watch them or speak to them. And then he was whisked away and neither of Josh B or Kloe were even able to take a picture of him, let alone with him. And sadly that is how the segment ended.
Now we finally returned to Ella, who was getting ready for the gala for the opening of the Sunderland rink. She was very worried that she might forget her program, because she usually had a few more weeks to practice it. In the gala practice, she was struggling to remember her choreography. Her coach explained that without her there, Ella couldn't remember where she was supposed to be. To make things more difficult, the rink was much smaller. But once she got off the ice, she got a skype call from Ellie! It was really lovely to see the skaters encouraging each other. Ellie reminded Ella that the rink was smaller, so she shouldn't push off as strongly, and then it was time for Ella's performance.
Now here is where I got angry again, because the cameraman was not following her at all! Doing a spin? Let's zoom in on her hands! Setting up the spirals she had been practicing over and over? Let's look at the audience instead! Oh, and let's not follow her around the rink AT ALL. :curse:
That aside, from what I could see she did very well! :hap57: The audience loved her and she said everyone she saw was smiling. She seemed to be adjusting very well to performing by herself.
It was such a pleasant surprise! I had seen documentaries on CBBC before, covering children's school and club football competitions and I lost interest very quickly. But this was very well put together. In the preview for next episode, we do seem to be moving on to hockey and synchro. But right at the end they teased us with a peek at a new girl at the rink... from Russia!
Gurgen seemed astonished by her ability in the clip, saying he didn't realise how young she was at first, which is intriguing! I am very excited for next week.
On that note, today's episode is being showed again twice tomorrow, and again on Sunday! I hope that means interest in the programme has picked up.
(Apart from "Blue Peter", I haven't watched the CBBC Channel since the last series of "Ice Stars" ended. But if it is still like it was last year, the start time of the studio stuff really varies! 
)
Also do I spot Graham Newberry in the preview?
