ABC has decided it wants to give celebrities a chance to dance on ice.
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The currently untitled reality competition series would pair celebrity participants with ice skating professionals over the course of six weeks, according to Variety, which added it would most likely air in the winter between Dancing with the Stars' fall and spring seasons.
"We're not there to do an imitation of Dancing With the Stars. That show has too strong a flavor. The whole look and the feel of (Ice Dancing) will be very different," BBC programming executive Jane Tranter told Variety.
"We're tackling this one with probably more of a theatrical flourish... We're thinking ice and fire and ice sculptures and just a real theatrical flair to it."
Celebrity participants and a filming location will be announced closer to the show's pre-production period near the end of summer, Tranter told Variety, adding it will also has a shorter programming season than Dancing with the Stars.
"We need to work out what ice dancing does to your body that is different from what training for ballroom dancing does," Tranter told Variety.
"It's a more dangerous sport -- it's an Olympic sport -- and so we need to start off with a shorter run while we work out how we can properly train people and what standards we can get people to."
ABC reportedly began developing the series last October and it is based on Strictly Ice Dancing, which premiered on BBC in the U.K. in 2004.
The series is also similar to Fox's Skating with Celebrities, which aired in Winter 2006 and followed B-list celebrity contestants as they skated with professional partners.
The competition was won by actress Kristy Swanson and partner Lloyd Eisler -- who subsequently caused some off-the-ice drama when his then-pregnant wife Marcia O'Brien blamed an affair between the two for breaking up their marriage.
In November 2007, the couple made headlines once again when Swanson was arrested for allegedly assaulting O'Brien. The charges were later dropped.
Swanson and Eisler wed in February 2009.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio
