ABC's eclectic selection of celebrities faced their fears in the newest diving competition show. The premiere of "Splash" featured five of the ten contestants performing dives of varying heights and complexity. Easily the most passionate about the show was comedian Louie Anderson.
Louie was more than 400 pounds when training began, and suffered the embarrassment of not being able to get out of the pool during an early training session. On the show, though, he was a much more confident man. In fact, he was so confident that he made the last minute change to go even higher -- up to 23 feet -- surprising even his coach, Greg Louganis.
Louie talked about how the show was such a huge opportunity for him, and something that could save his life. Entertainment Weekly felt that he was taking the show more seriously than the show was taking him, and that his passion "has the double-edged effect of making you like him more and yourself less.
Louie dedicated his dive to the troops and had one of the highest scores of the night. He told the LA Times that his weight may actually be an advantage. "Is it more impressive to see someone who's fit dive off a 5-meter or someone who's fat?” Louie asked.
Louie faced off this week against Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Rory Bushfield and Katherine Webb. They were judged by diving all-stars Steve Foley and David Boudia, who seemed to be giving points more on effort, ambition and growth than on the technical quality of each dive. There's an audience vote as well, but in this case the crowd agreed with the judges.
Katherine Webb and Keshia Knight Pulliam scored the lowest and had to compete in a dive-off. For that, Katherine pushed herself to a higher platform, and thus earned the save. Keshia was eliminated.
The other five competitors compete next week on "Splash," Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
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