Melanie Lambert and Fred Palascak

Melanie Lambert and Fred Palascak on the Dancing on Ice tour in 2010.

Melanie Lambert (born 30 June 1974 in Boston) and Fred Palascak (born 2 April 1975 in Parma, Ohio ) are a husband-and-wife pair ice skating team who began skating together in 1994. During their competitive years they were two-time United States Eastern Sectional champions and had two top-10 finishes at the national championships. They turned professional in 1999 and married in 2003.

Competitive Skating

Lambert and Palascak met in 1993 at the US Eastern Sectional Championship whilst skating with other partners. The following year they had both split with their skating partners and began their skating partnership. The following year at the US Eastern Sectional Championship they were crowned champions.^[1]

Men's Singles

Event	1992
U.S. Championships	11th J.

Pairs

Event	1995	1996	1997
U.S. Championships	4th J.	9th	11th
Eastern Sectionals	1st J.	1st	2nd

• N = Novice level; J = Junior level

Year	Competition	Place
1995	US Olympic Festival	4th Place

Entertainment Skating

Since quitting competitive skating, Lambert and Palascak have appeared in a number of ice dance entertainment shows and have taken part in the UK television series Dancing on Ice.^[2]

Dancing On Ice

Fred was teamed up with newsreader Kay Burley during season 2 of Dancing on Ice series, however they were eliminated at the end of the fifth show. Melanie, however, enjoyed a great deal of success with partner Kyran Bracken, (rugby player) and won both the series final on 17 March 2007 and the Champion of Champions contest a week later.

Fred and Melanie competed in the third series of the show, with television presenters Sarah Greene and Michael Underwood respectively. Fred and Sarah were the first couple to be voted off. Underwood broke his ankle training for the show in week three, thereby taking Melanie out of the competition. Fred returned to the show in the third week of the competition, partnering actress Zaraah Abrahams, a reserve brought in to fill the space left by Underwood's departure. After first meeting partner Zaraah, Palascak had a show-stopping first routine scoring them a huge first week total of 18.5. Throughout the competition Zaraah came in fourth place on the leaderboard. Zaraah was in four skate-offs starting in Week 6 and ending in the semi-final (this meant she had broken the record). All the judges saved her in each one meaning she had made it to the final, despite bookies having her favourite to go each week. Zaraah and Fred had a combined total of 52.5 in the final and were announced in third place.

In the fourth series of the show, Fred was partnered with Melinda Messenger and Melanie was re-partnered with her Series three partner, Michael Underwood, who was allowed to return after his ankle-fracture in the 2008 series. Melanie and Michael were voted out of the show in Week 4 when in the skate-off against Melinda and Fred. In week 7, Melinda and Fred were voted off the show when they were in the skate off against Jessica Taylor and Pavel Aubrecht.

The duo are again competing in the fifth series of the show; Fred is partnered with Inbetweeners actress Emily Atack, while Melanie is with Boyzone star Mikey Graham. For their first dances, Fred and Emily got just 11.0 points and Melanie and Mikey earned a respectable 16.0. On both occasions, the couples avoided the skate-off in the public vote. In week 9, Mikey and Melanie were eliminated after a skate-off against Danniella Westbrook and Matthew Gonzalez, while in week 8, Emily and Fred were eliminated after they were also beaten by Danniella.

In 2010 Palascak was cast on the American version of Skating with the Stars as a partner for Rebecca Budig.^[3] The couple went on to win the first season of the show on December 21, 2010.

It was revealed in the iSkate Magazine that Melanie and Fred did not return to the 2011 series of Dancing On Ice because ITV had told them that they wouldn't be announcing the professional partners until later than usual due to the changes being made to the programme. The magazine stated that the pair didn't want to be left hanging around waiting and so, as a result, decided not to feature in this year's show.

References

1. ^ fredandmel.com
2. ^ Dancing on Ice - Series 2 - Torvill and Dean return with eleven new celebrities | The Internet Forum
3. ^ thefutoncritic.com

External links

• The official website for Fred Palascak and Melanie Lambert

Preceded by Gaynor Faye and Daniel Whiston

Dancing on Ice Champion (Melanie with partner Kyran Bracken) Series 2 (2007)

Succeeded by Suzanne Shaw and Matt Evers

Persondata
Name	Lambert, Melanie
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Date of birth	30 June 1974
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