Trials and Tribulations Ice Stars

Previously on Ice Stars...

Since we last saw our ice stars, loads has been going on.

Adriano went home to Italy for the summer.

Izzy started training with Team GB.

Yeah, it's really tough.

Has everybody got everything?

-Who's got...?

-You haven't forgotten your brain?

Alexia has left Nottingham to train at a new rink.

Rais' younger brother Aren has made it into the England hockey team.

That's better. That's much better.

Josh and Kloe have carried on competing around the world.

That's the harder one done.

They clapped like crazy, so...

And remember captain Emily?

She led the Icicles to win gold at the British Championships.

And said...

This could be my last time skating with the girls.

Well, she was right.

She's now left the team.

Welcome to a new season

and a whole lot of new drama with our ice stars.

We meet the newest member of the Ice Stars gang

when Freddie joins Charlie for an important late-night trial.

Fingers crossed that I'll make it through.

-ALL:

-One, two, three, Icicles!

Let's go.

Coach Esther brings in a choreographer to the stars.

Mix it.

And will Jellie be able to get over their shaky start

at the opening of a pop-up rink?

After last year's success,

synchro coach Esther is hoping for big things from her girls.

Hi, girls!

-ALL:

-Hi.

So, today is the start of our new season.

We've got a new team. We've got lots to do.

Work as hard as you can and I'll be really proud of you.

OK, girls. Let's go.

-ALL:

-One, two, three, Icicles!

Aimie and Sam are now

some of the more experienced Icicles in the team.

It's a new season.

-Let's go!

-Let go.

We don't know what's going to happen.

We're choreographing a new routine.

-Thank you.

-Welcome.

-Can't wait to start the routine.

-I know, so excited.

-Me too.

Now that Emily's gone, the girls are going to have to work super-hard.

So excited to see you.

I really want the girls to do well, this season,

even better than last year, but they have to up their game.

So Esther has invited a very special guest along

to give the girls the best chance of beating this year's competition.

He's Mark Naylor,

and he choreographs some of the world's top ice shows.

We have Mark Naylor coming.

He's a worldwide... fantastic choreographer.

If I can just get an overview of where we're at.

-Yeah.

-So, maybe a walk-through from the beginning.

-Yeah, yeah.

OK, girls. Go on, then. Jackets off for me, please.

It's interesting when I'm being brought

into this environment, because the number itself has been set,

so it's a great skeletal structure of the routine,

but what I'm adding is the beginning,

some flavour flave in the middle, and then wrap it up at the end.

So it's all about the elbows staying together.

Duu...cah.

Mix it.

OK, bounce when you're doing this. Bounce.

Mark is a really unique person

and he can just think of something on the spot - it's amazing.

He's really crazy.

There's, like, a million arms and heads and legs everywhere.

The girls do well, but the team's still not complete.

Since the end of last season, we had girls leave for different reasons.

There are five reserves, called alternates,

all desperate to become full-on Icicles.

Trouble is, there's only one spot.

The Icicles is probably one of the biggest junior teams in the country,

and it's really hard to get into the team.

You just have to train really, really hard and you have to work,

like, all the time just to try and get into the routine.

It will be up to Esther to figure out which of the five alternates

will blend into the team most smoothly.

They're all young and all very new to the team,

so it's a fight on their shoulders.

I'm really pleased with your efforts today.

-I'm sure Mark will agree with me.

-Absolutely.

You're definitely moving in the right direction.

Keep on trying to improve and challenge yourself.

It can be a fight to get to the top, and no-one knows that better

than ten-year-old ice hockey player Charlie.

It's really full-on.

Last season, he played so well

that he was moved up to train with players two years older than him.

I just scored. Whoo!

This season, Charlie's back on the ice...

-Stay where you are.

-Everybody mooch to the left.

Everybody mooch to the right.

..with best mate Freddie.

We're just like bandits.

We literally just mess around with each other.

Whee! Whee!

And the beginning of the season can only mean one thing.

Ice hockey trials.

Charlie and Freddie are aiming high, trying out for the conference team.

Come on, Charlie. Let's go. Quick, quick, quick, quick.

Conference teams are made up of the best players from the area,

and they get to compete internationally.

Let's go, let's go.

Charlie and Freddie play for Nottingham,

and they want to play for England.

The way to get selected

is to be spotted playing for a conference team.

So Charlie and Freddie are getting prepared for the try-outs.

When you're shooting, what do you have to do?

You have to get your head up nice and early.

Look for the pass and the shot all the time, OK?

You're doing a great job right now, OK? Keep focused, OK?

Keep working hard, guys. Well done.

After a tough session on the ice,

the boys sit down to talk tactics for the try-outs.

-CHARLIE SLURPS

-Oh.

FREDDIE GIGGLES

-Are you doing Conference this week?

-Yeah.

I think we'll make it through.

Yo and me, Artie, Henry and Archie

will make it through this year.

You've got your height and your level, and your angle.

All I need to do is my angle and my slapshot.

-Don't I?

-Snapshots?

-Yeah.

And saucer passes is what we need to do.

I know why it's called a saucer pass.

Do you get it? Saucer, flying saucer.

It goes like that.

You don't get it?

It's where the puck goes like that, like a flying saucer.

Flying saucer, got the word saucer in it.

And a saucer pass, got the word saucer in it.

-Do you get it now?

-No.

Oooh!

Hm. Not sure I get it either.

Nothing has let up since the last time we saw the ice dance couple

Josh and Ellie, better known as Jellie.

Last season, the golden duo came top in their first competition at

a new level, taking home six trophies.

They went on to smash it at the gala.

But will they ever stop bickering?

Josh is really annoying,

but I think you get used to it.

She can just be frickin' weird.

No, funny. I'm funny.

I am funny.

Josh, no, no!

It's winter and pop-up rinks are appearing all over the place.

Jellie's Ice Stars fame has spread and they've been asked to headline

at an opening of a rink in Sunderland.

Right, can you go and do for me two six,

a nice fast circle around the middle? Off you go.

Josh and Ellie are skating at an exhibition tomorrow in

Sunderland, so this is our last practice together.

Point your toes, Ellie.

The ice rink in Sunderland is a lot smaller than our ice pad here.

It's about a third of the size.

You're moving too fast at the start.

You haven't got the space to be pushing full speed.

We're practising it in between the blue lines.

We're just trying to modify the pattern to make sure it's

going to fit on the smaller-sized rink.

So Jellie have to fit their routine into this tiny space,

which is only a third of the size they normally use.

You're going for that blue line.

You don't really cross that one ever, do you?

But you do cross that one doing the lift, so...

Every time Josh and Ellie cross the blue lines,

they're skating off the rink.

Oh, don't push, don't push.

OK. You literally were probably...

..in the audience on the lift just then.

The lift is concerning me.

Yeah, cos her feet feel like they're going to swing out.

Once she's on your shoulder, you can curve.

You can't curve while you're lifting her, because then she starts

to swing off the side of your shoulder.

Turn across there.

And then cross and lift.

Up. Quick. Up.

The worst thing that can happen is coming off the ice

and hitting the barrier.

I'm a little bit concerned, because I'm not able to travel with them

to Sunderland tomorrow, so they're going to be doing it by themselves.

With or without their coach, on a tiny little rink,

for Josh and Ellie, the show must go on.

It's almost 11 o'clock at night at the ice centre and players

from all over the area are gathering for the Conference try-outs.

In a minute, I'm going to be going on for Conference trials,

which is a set of trials so you can play for your region

and go abroad.

I did it last year,

but I didn't make it,

which is really, really...

My plan tonight is just smash it.

And Charlie is not the only one desperate to get onto the team.

There is some tough competition.

The Conference trials are for some of the best people.

They only take the best players. There's AMAZING people.

It's going to be hard for the people to pick who to choose to go through,

cos we're all, like, really good,

but there's too many people for a team.

We start at about 56.

The first cuts are quite easy, cos we are looking at

just skating ability.

It becomes very difficult when a lot of them are much of the same.

Charlie and best mate Freddie kit up, ready to take on their rivals.

-CHARLIE MUMBLES

-It's over there.

The Conference trials start at 11 and end at one in the morning,

but most of the time, people are, like, really hyped up.

Even though it is really late, we're not really that tired,

because we're just trying to impress the head coach.

-OK, guys, how are we all doing?

-PLAYERS:

-Good!

-Stand up.

Good. OK, so we're going to play little games.

What I want you to do is work as hard as you can, yeah?

And play as a team.

Keep your eye out for Charlie, number 35, and Freddie, who's 24.

Playing up against Freddie is like you against a million people.

He literally banged into me.

I don't know how, but he's just got such strong feet.

It's really hard getting into Conference, because there's lots

of good players.

The level is very good.

A lot of these guys play with each other week in, week out,

and against each other. It's a case of standing out.

BUZZER

Very bad, we're losing 2-0 now.

We're 2-0 down.

Oh, no, no, no...

This competition is really good.

It's really important to us.

-Where's where you need to go?

-We need to go to the boards.

You need to go to the boards nice and low, he's going to come

around and make that pass, so the winger can get out faster.

OK?

While the head coach is watching you,

what you're trying to do is just pay attention to the game and

try and think that it's a normal game.

Charlie is doing well. He's got the right attitude, we think.

He seems coachable, which is obviously a good thing.

Not giving anything away.

BUZZER

That just went good and bad.

The bad bit is we lost 2-1.

The good bit is I played my hardest.

Yeah, I think. Fingers crossed.

Every finger crossed.

Toes crossed.

Fingers and toes crossed that I'll make it through.

Jellie are off to Sunderland.

They're making the 150-mile journey for the opening of a pop-up rink...

Hello, chicken nugget!

..where they are the star guests.

Oh!

Cows.

-There's a cow.

-SHE LAUGHS

I'm going to do Josh's hair.

I don't pick on him. I just like to do his hair.

He doesn't like it, though, do you?

-No, because you pull my hair when you're doing it.

-No, I don't!

Josh, look at the camera.

'You're like pulling it and, then when it's in,'

-it still feels like you're pulling it.

-Beauty is pain.

THEY LAUGH

Don't take it out!

Wakey-wakey, Josh, you're in Sunderland.

With such an important performance tonight, Jellie wastes no time

heading to the rink to see if there is enough space for their lifts.

That's tiny. Look, they've cut off half the ice.

-It's tiny.

-It's...tight. What are we going to do?

Just don't push out with much and, for the lift,

make sure, like, to come right down here so we can go up that way.

OK.

When I first saw the rink,

it was smaller than I expected and I didn't think it was going to work.

We were allowed to go in and practice.

The ice on the rank was really weird. It was all bumpy.

So skate round as you would.

When you come out, hold your hands, skate round as you would for

-competition. Do your cantilever.

-Now?

Yeah, now, so you are working out how you're going to come on.

Skate round, cantilever, present, wave. Work all that out.

With coach Sophie unable to make it,

looks like Josh's mum is trying to take her place.

You went right... Go right there and then quickly further down.

Get her into position quicker, and then do it. Go on, then.

There's not enough room.

Well, you need to do it differently, then.

What other lift can you do?

Um, not sure if Jellie are liking their stand-in coaches.

What about your rotational? You don't need as much room for that.

Yeah, we need a lot more speed, though.

Build up your speed and get into it. Come on.

Chop chop.

I think they're struggling to get a lift in,

because it's a smaller rink, so

they're just trying to run through the lifts that they know to see

which one they can get in that's going to fit.

Can we do it, Ellie? Can we do it?

-Can't do it.

-What lift can you do?

I know, what about your handstand lift?

-Oh, yeah.

-Yeah. We can do that one.

It's nice and impressive and it's an easy one to do.

All these instructions don't seem to be helping.

If they're going to manage this routine,

they just need to be left to work it out for themselves

and remember everything they've been taught.

Josh is worried about how long the lift should have been,

but I felt like I couldn't hold it any longer,

otherwise I would have fallen off his shoulder.

On the lift, don't, like, drop me down, put me down properly.

You're supposed to help me down.

And that's why I fell over, because you just dropped me down.

I know, but cos this time my arm was in your skirt,

-so I couldn't pull it out.

-OK.

Anything else?

No.

OK. Should we go?

The size of the rink has really shaken our ice stars.

Let's hope the performance goes better than their rehearsal.

Fresh from learning a new routine, long-standing Icicle team-mates

Sam, Sophie, Amy and Afton catch up at the centre's hang out.

So what are you going to have?

This year, I'm looking to forward to, like, when we first get on to

the ice and everyone just stops and watches us.

-That's the best feeling.

-It is.

You're on the ice, waiting for the music to start.

-Yeah.

-And it's like the deep breath that you take in.

-Yeah. And you feel...

-And everyone is watching.

So, are you guys excited about the new routines, dresses, make-up?

Yeah, I am really excited, actually. I like learning new stuff.

I love doing all the make-up, you know, like,

when we get all the new make-up

and we all put it on for this first time.

We're trying it out like, "Oh, like this?" Or, "Oh, like that?"

To make it as an Icicle, you don't just have to get your make-up right,

you have to be an awesome skater too.

After the synchro session with Mark,

Esther calls the five hopefuls to the ballet studio.

There is only one spot and they are all fighting for that place.

So, we all know there is one definite place

for all of you guys, yeah? OK?

But there's possible other places,

but there's one place that is empty with one of your guys' names on it.

OK? So you need to fight for that place

like it's your dream and passion to be in that team.

Over the past few weeks, our five hopefuls have been desperate

to try and impress Esther.

To be, like, an Icicle in Britain is, like, a big thing.

I'd really like to train quite hard

to try and make it into the team.

You all have different strengths and weaknesses, OK?

But the most important thing for us to decide is who fits in best

with the girls and who blends in, OK?

So, you need to make sure you're giving that 150% and you need

to make sure you're giving it everything on every session,

cos we're constantly watching you.

OK, girls?

Good. Let's go.

Every Icicle has been through the same process.

Being selected can be about the right timing as well as talent.

For Charlie and Freddie, when it comes to the Conference team,

not being selected just isn't an option.

The boys recently had a trial for the Midlands Conference Team,

and it was tougher than they'd hoped.

It was really tough getting through those trials,

especially when you had... there were better players than you.

-Howdy doody, Charles.

-Howdy doody doo.

I think about...

80, 90 kids tried to get into Conference.

And today, they'll find out if they've made it.

If either of the boys are selected, it will be a major achievement.

They'll be launched onto the international circuit.

Everybody in, guys! Go down on one knee.

I got some great news, guys.

We've got six guys that made Conference.

OK, if I call your name,

can you please stand up, OK? Ben.

Ethan.

Henry.

Justin.

Freddie.

Charlie.

You six players all made the Conference team this year,

under-11s.

THEY BANG STICKS

At first, it was like,

"Are you talking about someone else or are you talking about me?"

We didn't really believe it at first,

but that we realised we both got on the team.

I feel really good that I got on to Conference team.

The most important thing now,

the hard work's going to start out now for you guys, so you have to get

yourself in really good shape, keep on working hard for the coaches.

Well done, guys. Fantastic job.

So, six players from Nottingham are heading off to the Conference team.

Well done, boys.

After a disastrous rehearsal on the ice...

..Jellie have hit the funfair to de-stress before their celebrity

appearance at the pop-up rink.

With their bumpy practice behind them, now it's show time.

There's a massive buzz around the rink and Jellie are being

treated like the ice stars they are.

There we go.

First up, a radio interview.

It's the station that lives and loves.

We're here with Josh and Ellie. Good afternoon.

-BOTH:

-Good afternoon.

The first group's going on in a minute and we're going to be

going on in 10, 15 minutes, so...

Jellie are going to have to put the disastrous rehearsals behind them

and give all their fans a night to remember.

Please welcome onto the ice,

from BBC, Josh and Ellie.

Give it up!

MUSIC STARTS

# I walked across

# An empty land

# I knew the pathway like the back of my hand

# I felt the earth

# Beneath my feet

# Sat by the river and it made me complete

# Oh, simple thing

# Where have you gone?

# I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

# I came across a fallen tree

# I felt the branches of it looking at me

# Is this the place we used to love?

# Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?

# Oh, simple thing

# Where have you gone?

# I'm getting old and I need something to rely on

# And if you have a minute

# Why don't we go

# Talk about it somewhere only we know

# This could be the end of everything

# So why don't we go

# Somewhere only we know? #

Fantastic! Josh and Ellie!

They did it!

No crashing into the barriers, no falling into the audience,

just a beautiful performance.

What a show from our superstar Ice Stars.

It went well, but Ellie's blade slipped off of my boot at the start,

so she fell over, but we got straight back up and carried on.

Everything else was fine.

I heard someone scream, "Oh, it's Jellie!" when we went out.

And the lift went all right.

We had to curve it round a bit and I felt like I was going to fall

into the audience, cos Josh's hand got stuck in my skirt again.

We had really good fun today.

-Wait, let's do our handshake.

-I don't even know what it is.

THEY LAUGH

Next time, on Ice Stars...

We have two weeks left of the competition,

so I would like to finalise a team.

Esther makes a life-changing decision for one lucky skater.

It's been a really hard decision for me and Lauren to make.

There's a shock in store for Ella when Adriana

returns from Italy.

He's been cheating on you, Ella.

And Josh has to come to terms with some incredible news.

I have to wait till it sinks in a bit.

I'm not going to cry. I'm fine.