Stars pair with professional skaters for new Fox series

More info: ON TV
What: "Skating With the Celebrities"

When: Premieres 9 p.m. Wednesday, after the second night of "American Idol"; then airs at 8 p.m. Mondays

Where: Fox

For most sane humans, figure-skating is enjoyed at a distance.

It's fun when viewed from an arena seat or a Barcalounger, less fun on the ice. But now "Skating With Celebrities" has six non-skaters try; they're semi-celebrities, paired with skating champions.

That's a little like other reality shows, with a big difference. "We all know how to walk; we all know how to sing," says Lloyd Eisler, a pairs champ. "Skating is different."

Some people jumped into it quickly. "I thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to learn a skill that every little girl fantasizes," singer Deborah Gibson says.

Others hesitated. Kristy Swanson, an actress, says she called her brother, who was a boyhood skater. "He said, 'If I were a celebrity, that's what I would do.'"

They soon learned the world is not a fair and equal place:

# The celebrities had wide-ranging experience. Jillian Barberie, who is Canadian, was a serious skater until age 15; Todd Bridges had virtually no experience.

# Two pros, Eisler and John Zimmerman, were pair stars, capable of elaborate lifts. They could carry a performance, literally.

That added up to a giant advantage for the team of Barberie and Zimmerman, two long-haired blondes. "John and Jillian are like Ken and Barbie," Gibson says.

Others had it harder. "Todd (Bridges) and Jenni (Meno) were so mismatched," Gibson says.

Gibson was with Kurt Browning, Swanson with Eisler, Dave Coulier (a hockey player) with Nancy Kerrigan. Bruce Jenner linked with Tai Babilonia, forming -- at 56 and 46 -- the oldest duo.

"I really wasn't sure," Babilonia says. "I had a talk with my fiance, (comedian) David Brenner. He said, 'Tai, just do it.'"

Soon, she was rehearsing for four weeks with Jenner and was then judged by her former coach, John Nicks.

Babilonia was just 8 when she was paired with 10-year-old Randy Gardner.

Visually, she offered an exotic beauty, a mixture of Filipino, African and Hopi roots. She swirled glamorously on the ice and they were among the favorites at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid.

They were already warming up there when Gardner fell with a re-activation of his groin injury; they had to drop out. "In a split second, it all crumbled," she says.

She fell further, at one point attempting suicide.

That's far in the past, she says. Now she has a son, a romance, a jewelry line (Little Winged Creations) and a book with Gardner ("Forever Two as One"). She wasn't obsessed with the TV competition, she says, but Jenner was.

"He was like a puppy with a new toy," she said. "And his training ethic is much different than mine. For repetitions, it wasn't three or four times, it was 15 or 20."

Jenner, who broke the Olympic decathlon record in 1976, practiced on days she rested; he urged some lifts and throws, which she rejected. "It was too dangerous," she says.

Gibson had different complications: Browning, who had to stay in Canada to prepare some other shows; she had some American singing gigs and commuted furiously between countries.

When they could link, they tried to do it all at once. "We were on the ice for seven hours in a day," Gibson says. "Your body can only absorb so much.'"

Browning is a solo star; but the other pro men were pairs skaters, ready to do the heavy lifting.

"John Zimmerman can lift you up on Sunset Boulevard and hold you with one arm," Gibson says.

"There were a lot of things we couldn't do," Babilonia says of her partner. "We had more of a ballroom style."

Modern duos often have muscular men and tiny women. "All the guys are power guys," Eisler says.

He would reportedly toss skating partner Isabelle Brasseur almost 12 feet above the ice. He didn't do that with Swanson, but they worked out some impressive lifts.

"She's competitive; she's athletic. She has a real no-holds-barred attitude."