Brandon Mychal Smith

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Brandon Mychal Smith

Brandon Mychal Smith plays super-suave Nico Harris on the Disney Channel sitcom Sonny With A Chance. He also recently starred as Stubby in the Disney Channel Original Movie StarStruck.

In 2006, Brandon won a Family Television Award and a Young Artist Award for his role of Tayshawn in the Emmy Award-nominated TV movie The Ron Clark Story with Matthew Perry. His other film credits include Gridiron Gang opposite Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Weapons with Nick Cannon.

Brandon landed a role in the 2002 season finale of The District, and has guest-starred on several popular shows including ABC's The Forgotten, Disney Channel's That's So Raven and Phil of the Future, The Shield, Bones and Without a Trace.

Brandon makes his home in Los Angeles and is very close with his parents and younger sister, Kimberly. He’s an avid roller skater, so hopefully the transition from wheels to blades will be a smooth one!

Oooh, if he has artistic roller skating as a hobby he has a great advantage.

Roller skating does translate well on the ice for most basic steps. Spinning on ice skates is very different though. A roller skating background should give him a leg up in this competition. He is also young and flexible, a quality that Vince probably lacks. He is also partnered with a two time US champion pairs skater who competed in the 2010 national championships. This may not be a train wreck after all.

They spin on their back wheels (I think) but once he gets the feel of a his blades, having the ability to hold a centered spin is a big leg up. My daughter skates with a high school age girl who roller skated until last summer. She's novice level on the ice, almost a one-to-one transition (that's double jumps for people who don't follow skating). This bio doesn't say but if he roller skated competitively, he could be a ringer! Maybe he just likes to rollerblade around.

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Originally Posted by hepcat;4099815;

They spin on their back wheels (I think) but once he gets the feel of a his blades, having the ability to hold a centered spin is a big leg up. My daughter skates with a high school age girl who roller skated until last summer. She's novice level on the ice, almost a one-to-one transition (that's double jumps for people who don't follow skating). This bio doesn't say but if he roller skated competitively, he could be a ringer! Maybe he just likes to rollerblade around.

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I was sort of thinking the r-word too. It doesn't necessarily dictate the winner. After all, Jillian Barberie was a competitive skater at one point, but she didn't win Skating With Celebrities, but I still wish there weren't contestants with much more experience on skates than the others. There was a bigger difference between roller and ice skating when I was growing up, but with roller blades, he would already have the advantage of being able to balance on the blades.

All that being said, I have no idea who this kid is. This is likely because I am over 12 and have no children :lol

I'd rather see folks who have at least some ability coming in. If all of the "stars" were rank beginners it would be a snooze-fest when it wasn't an impromptu episode of ER.

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Originally Posted by DancingDad;4100425;

I'd rather see folks who have at least some ability coming in. If all of the "stars" were rank beginners it would be a snooze-fest when it wasn't an impromptu episode of ER.

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I agree. How boring it would be to watch people learn to stand on skates!:lol

I don't know about that, if memory serves, Kristy Swanson was in that "can barely stand on skates" category on Skating With Celebrities and she ended up winning the whole thing. She worked really hard and got pretty good. I enjoyed seeing her growth over the course of the show. Of course, I don't think any of the pros on this show are probably in the same category as Lloyd Eisler. He was a great partner.

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Originally Posted by Critical;4100501;

I don't know about that, if memory serves, Kristy Swanson was in that "can barely stand on skates" category on Skating With Celebrities and she ended up winning the whole thing. She worked really hard and got pretty good. I enjoyed seeing her growth over the course of the show. Of course, I don't think any of the pros on this show are probably in the same category as Lloyd Eisler. He was a great partner.

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I disagree. Lloyd was a world champion and an Olympic medalist. he currently teaches several of my friends and their kids, and is obviously a good coach and partner.

While the general public has not heard much about the pros rumored to be on the show, all of them are quite accomplished. If you googled their performances I think you would be impressed. These pros are not household names, but they aren't clunkers either. Most are very well known and respected in skating circles.

During the FOX incarnation of a similar show the skating pros were more famous than many of the celebrities they were partnering. In fact, most of the skating pros would have been considered "stars" if they were to appear on "Dancing with the Stars". The notable contestant exception for me was Bruce Jenner, who's image was plastered on every Wheaties box in the country after he won the 1976 Olympic decathalon. He was very famous for several years after his accomplishment, but people forget quickly.

I think that ABC wanted to change the chemistry of this show by getting excellent skaters that weren't as well known so that the "stars" could be the focus. The formula worked for the first few seasons of "Dancing with the Stars" until the pros became more popular than their "star" partners in many cases.

I didn't mean to suggest that the pros on this show were chopped liver, but none of them has won a world championship and two Olympic medals. Eisler is known for being a terrific partner and, although the pros on this series are surely good skaters, they just aren't in his league, IMHO. If they were, people outside skating would have heard of them :shrug