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CBC Fall Preview: Kurt Browning talks Season 2 of Battle of the Blades
| Source: |
National Post |
| Date: |
May 27, 2010 |
| Author: |
Katherine Laidlaw |
Battle of the Blades, CBC's smash reality TV hit that reached 1.7
million views last year, will return for a second season on
Sept. 26. The show, which is moving from Maple Leaf Gardens to a
studio by the Toronto waterfront, will be hosted by Ron MacLean and
Kurt Browning, and starts off the season with a behind-the-scenes
special that delves into the hockey players' training and
characters. Skaters Shae-Lynn Bourne and Jamie Sale will be returning,
and former Montreal Canadien and Toronto Maple Leaf Russ Courtnall is
the first ex-NHL-er to be trotted out as one of the willing
subjects. Here, Browning talks about last season's cast hook-ups (or
not), Canadiana and changes to the upcoming season.
Upcoming changes: "The format stays the same. Eight guys, eight
girls, eight teams. The very first show will be about the
journey. We're going to meet everybody. We're still playing around
with the idea of whether or not they'll be kicked off the first week,
or if you'll get two chances to skate. There'll be more backstage
exposure to the players and the process and the relationships on the
ice.
Last year's surprising success: "I was surprised at the extent
of the success. Nobody wanted to talk about, oh those hockey players,
they look so funny trying to figure skate. No. It's not about
that. They ask me about, why isn't Tie Domi wearing figure skates? And
didn't you think when Stephane lifted Marie twice, that that should
have counted for more? Was Katarina taking it seriously, or was she
just there to make us laugh or for herself? They're so passionate
about it. Not just, 'it's so funny watching Tie Domi figure skate.'
They were engaged."
On cast dynamics, and husbands and wives: 'There was a dynamic
where one of the wives thought something was going on and confronted
the girl. We didn't have access to it, we didn't even know it
happened. She told me well after the show was over that the wife had
come up and said "are you and…' and the she said 'no!' Well, my
wife's a dancer and I'm a figure skater and we hold hands with people
all the time and kiss on the stage, and we're used to that. These
people aren't. So when the wife's sitting there seeing her husband get
so into this music and everybody reacting around, she gets sort of
defensive. There was a sincere jealousy going on."
On why Canadians are enamoured with the show: 'I think it has a
lot to do with how much we care for our hockey players. Has a lot to
do with how much we really as a country eat, live and breathe this
sport called hockey. And then there's the natural humour of, the fact
that everybody growing up, figure skaters are on the ice and hockey
players are hanging over the boards waiting for 4 o'clock so they can
step on and kick the figure skaters off. And then they're like 'look,
you made holes in the ice' and figure skaters are like 'hockey players
make ruts.' There's always been this sister-brother-rivalry."
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