Diving with the Stars? It’s Happening

Dancing with the Stars and Skating with the Stars“¦been there, done that. Now, ABC has announced its latest sports-meets-celebrity show: a diving show based on an overseas format called Celebrity Splash. 

Olympic gold medalist divers Greg Louganis and David Boudia have signed on to judge the competition (one more judge will soon be announced), which the Hollywood Reporter says will feature “complicated dives from varying heights with the assistance of a professional diving instructor who helps each participant with weeks of training.” Now, I know you can get injured dancing and ice skating, but high diving just seems incredibly dangerous for a novice (although maybe it terrifies me more because I’ve never liked jumping into pools). One of the redeeming qualities of Dancing with the Stars is that while many of the contestants do have an athletic background, a lot don’t, and they become more limber and flexible by dancing. I don’t see the same thing happening on this diving show; the celebrities are going to have to be pretty athletic to begin with because someone new to the world of diving will have a hell of a time getting it right after two weeks of practice. I don’t want this to turn into Celebrities Breaking Their Necks in Water.

This also got me thinking about what else we can make celebrities do on television. Dancing, skating, diving”¦how about football? Or soccer? Maybe air hockey? I’d love to see Gymnastics with the Stars, with soap opera actors on the balance beams and reality show contestants on the rings. Forget about athletics and move onto academics, where Shakespeare with the Stars asks Snooki to play Juliet to the Situation’s Romeo. You know you’d watch!

Celebrity Splash apparently did well in the Netherlands, and was also sold to studios in France, Australia, and the U.K. It’s expected to premiere in 2013, but until then, let me know what celebrity-centric physical show you want to watch. The more outlandish the idea, the better!