Sand-who??

So he thinks he can dance, huh? No, check that—he KNOWS he can dance. He said so himself.

It’s been a busy seven days for former Canadian men’s figure skating champions. First we had Jeffrey Buttle’s surprise retirement… now we’ve got Emmanuel Sandhu turning up on the Canadian edition of So You Think You Can Dance (though, admittedly, Sandhu’s part was taped several weeks prior). What’s next? Elvis Stojko attempting to regain Olympic eligibility?

But back to Sandhu. In case you haven’t seen it yet, I’ll make his audition the Clip of the Day. And here are five quick, initial, off-the-top-of-my-head observations:

1) Dude… nice scarf.

2) When he’s posed on the couch, gloating about his figure skating success with lines such as “How many can walk the walk? Not many…” I instantly responded with he should know. Sorry. It was an involuntary reaction.

3) Judge Mary Murphy, from whom my ears continue to ring after being bombarded this summer by her weekly banshee wails (thanks to the U.S. version of SYTYCD), made up for almost all of it when Sandhu proclaimed “I think people know me as a figure skater because I’m a three-time national champion…” And, with perfect delivery, Murphy drawled “I don’t know you”, forcing Sandhu to look sheepish for a few seconds and say “Well, in Canada I guess.” Ms Murphy, that was AWESOME. I’ll take that over 5 squealing invitations on your Hot Tamale Train.

4) At least he doesn’t deny the “prima donna” comment made about him by one of the other judges. (Really, if the audience “knows” him as well as he says they probably do… how could they expect anything less?)

5) Finally, it’s good to know Sandhu’s put his skating career on hold for this particular brand of competition. Feel that gust of wind? That’s the collective figure skating community letting go of that breath they were holding as they awaited the answer.

Will he make it all the way to the finals, only to be pegged as a ringer a la Kristi Yamaguchi in last season’s Dancing with the Stars? Guess we’ll have to wait and see. Till then, can't wait until he has to do some "crumping".