Eight years ago, the figure skating world was embroiled in an Olympic judging scandal that would prove the nail in the coffin of the 6.0 system and give the world four gold medalists in pairs skating.

Apparently, time can heal all wounds, because Russian Elena Berezhnaya and Canadian David Pelletier, gold medalists on the opposite sides of the 2002 scandal, will be teaming up in "Thin Ice," a reality show/ skating competition to be held Thursday through Sunday at The MGM Grand at Foxwoods and broadcast live on ABC.

The 2010 Olympic bronze medalist Joannie Rochette, of Canada, will also stop by the competition. Rochette will perform a tribute to her mother, who died just days before she could see her daughter medal in Vancouver.

The show will feature 10 world-class skaters from all four disciplines, paired up and given a simple set of instructions: "Entertain us."

The 'us' are viewers — whose votes will count for 50 percent of the scores — and judges (and Olympic gold medalists) Kristy Yamaguchi, Dick Button and Katarina Witt.

Yamaguchi is already looking forward to seeing what chemistry Pelletier and Berezhnaya have.

"How can you compete against that?" she said.

All five sets of partners will be new to each other. Some will be new to partners skating entirely, such as 2006 ladies Olympic gold medalist Shizuka Arakawa, of Japan, and 2006 men's Olympic silver medalist Stephane Lambiel, of France.

'Musical chairs'

Because no teams were allowed to stay together, the competition sheet reads like musical chairs. Pelletier's professional partner (and wife), Jamie Sale, will be paired with Canadian ice dancer Patrice Lauzon, whose professional partner (and wife) Marie-France Dubreuil will skate with American Michael Weiss.

American John Zimmerman, 2002 world bronze medalist, and Canadian Shae-Lynn Bourne, 2001 ice dancing gold medalist, complete the field.

Button likes that, with no real rules and all-new partners, "Thin Ice" gives any of the teams the chance to knock out the crowd.

"I'm fascinated to see how some skaters skate with others," Button said. "When you really reduce it to a situation like this, 'entertain us,' then you're breaking through the dam … and the creativity's going to flow."

The televised portions will be on ABC from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and 7 p.m. to 8.p.m. Sunday with Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Kurt Browning co-hosting.

If you go

What: "Thin Ice," reality television figure skating competition.
When: 6:30 p.m. March 18, 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. March 19, 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. March 20, 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. March 21.
Where: Premier Ballroom, MGM Grand at Foxwoods.
Tickets: $40-$100.
For more information, visit www.mgmatfoxwoods.com

Norwich Bulletin