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Jillian Barberie Reynolds has fond memories of her time on Skating with Celebrities with partner John Zimmerman. (courtesy of Jillian Barberie Reynolds)

By Lois Elfman, special to icenetwork.com

(04/02/2009) - Growing up in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, Jillian Barberie Reynolds followed the path of many young Canadian girls.

"My brother played hockey, and I figure skated," said Barberie Reynolds, a television fixture in Los Angeles for more than a decade.

Most of her childhood friends gravitated toward gymnastics, but her parents found only skating calmed their hyper daughter. "They put me in skating, and I loved it. I did it from the time I was 3 until I was 13," she said.

After college and TV work in Canada, Barberie Reynolds set her sights on coming to the U.S. "I sent a tape of me on air dealing with all the screw-ups that happen," she recalled. "I didn't want to send a polished tape. I thought I've got to stand out because I'm Canadian. How am I going to stand out to an American news director? So I sent a tape of all the flubs and how I recovered from things happening on live TV. I sent it to Miami and Los Angeles, because I didn't want to live anywhere in between. I got hired in Miami. I didn't have an agent. I was so ignorant; it was great. I had no idea what I was doing, and it worked out."

After a couple of years in Miami, she moved to Los Angeles. For the past 14 years she has co-hosted FOX's Good Day L.A.. She also does the weather on NFL on FOX. In 2005, she got to live out her childhood fantasies of skating stardom when she was cast on Skating with Celebrities (it aired in early 2006), on which she and partner John Zimmerman finished second.

"It was a dream to go back and skate," Barberie Reynolds said. "And to do it in front of Dorothy Hamill [a childhood idol] was incredible to me. It was such a wonderful time in my life. Skating and getting to do what I love to do, which is television, combining the two.

"It was so much fun for my parents to watch it. The only thing I regret is I didn't have them come see me in person. They would watch it each week on TV, and they were so excited."

Amazingly, she had to beg FOX executives to let her do the show and was only cast two weeks before rehearsals began. Given her obvious skating skills, many people assumed she'd win, but due to some costly mistakes in the finale she wound up second.

Barberie Reynolds said there are aspects of skating that have stayed with her all her life, not the least of which is the ability to rise and shine. "The discipline of the sport," she said. "I've been getting up at 5:00 a.m. for 15 years now to get on air. Skating definitely prepared me for that."

Being a star on the L.A. scene, she's often asked to walk red carpets, but she said it's never been one of her favorite things. Her husband, Grant Reynolds, holds her hand all the way. "I think, 'What if they throw rotten food at me?'" she joked. "I've never been a fan of the red carpet. Grant is good for me because he pushes me out there and makes me do it."

Several months after her Skating with Celebrities adventure, Barberie Reynolds married Reynolds and in June 2007 gave birth to daughter Ruby Raven. Longtime friend and fellow former Canadian skater Patty Vincent, now a director with Disney on Ice, presented Ruby with a pair of skates, which her mother plans to put to use in about six to eight months. If her daughter takes a liking to sport, she'll certainly encourage it.

"I won't force it on her, but I hope she enjoys it. If she's into it, then definitely I'll get her some cute outfits," she said.

In addition to Vincent, Barberie Reynolds has other friends in skating, including newly crowned world champion Evan Lysacek. "He's so dazzling on the ice," she said. She was only sorry she didn't get to join him on the ice when he appeared on Good Day L.A. to promote worlds.

The perpetually busy Barberie Reynolds has little time to think about skating now, because she has a new gig to keep her occupied the next few weeks. She's hosting American Idol Extra, which airs on FOX Reality each week right after American Idol.

"I'll be there each week for the final 10," she said.