"Beaut outfits": Karl shows off glamorous ice-dancing past
Karl Stefanovic has shown off a blast from the past on The Today Show for a cause close to his heart.
The presenter showed footage from his time on Dancing on Ice, which ran for only one season in 2006, as Karl competed and twirled his way to placing runner-up in the competition.
"That's right Harper, daddy was an ice skater - beaut outfits," Karl told his daughter watching at home.
"Times were different then on television, they didn't have OH&S."
Although Karl's trip down memory lane delighted his co-hosts, the flashback was to bring awareness to an important cause.
The Penrith Ice Palace, run by Karl's dance partner on the 2006 competition, Linda Albrecht, is under threat of being closed with developers recently buying the property.
But Albrecht and a specially-formed cooperative are working to ensure the developers keep them open and continue to allow the community and elite-level athletes to use the facility as it is.
"It is a fight for any community sport out there and it is a fight that goes on around the country," Karl said.
"It is so good for the communities to have this at a time when the winter Olympics has never been more popular and giving people an opportunity to do something that they have never done before."
Albrecht said the Penrith venue is the last full-sized rink in Western Sydney and would leave athletes without a place to train.
She said, "We are in negotiations at the moment, but obviously when we are competing with developers and other prospective lessees we need to be competitive and need extra funds to set this up properly and do a good job."
Ally suggested getting Karl back in his sparkly costumes and out on the ice competing with Linda again after their first efforts 16 years ago.
"Sounds great, what do you reckon, Karl?" Albrecht asked.
Karl seemed less keen on the idea, and instead encouraged people to donate to the cause.
Image credits: Nine