Battle of the Blades - week 6

Week 6 had Toller Cranston as the guest judge. That caught me a little by surprise. Toller pretty much has disappeared from the skating scene over the past few years and has been living in Mexico where he paints. Toller was fired by the CBC in the 1990s for being overly critical of the skaters. He sued the corporation and got a settlement from them. Does this sound like the type of person who should be judging a fun competition? Well he didn't disappoint me. He gave the lowest scores to each skater and was pretty critical of their performances. None of that sweet syrupy stuff that you get from Sandra Bezic. Anyway on the to skating. This week's theme was the silver screen.



Kyoko Ina and Kelly Chase

This was K&K's best skate of the competition though to be frank I don't find them very entertaining. Kelly was dressed as Shrek without green makeup (thankfully) and Kyoko was Princess Fiona. Kelly has now lost a ton of weight and looks like a totally different person on the ice. He moves more like a figure skater and has dropped his dopey fist pumps. They actually skated with some speed though Roenick suggested that they try more speed next week - if they're still around (nice!).




Katia Gordeeva and Valeri Bure

Boy did these two look hot skating to the James Bond theme for “From Russia With Love.” The highlight was a magnificent throw jump. As always, the Russians were in a league of their own, and well deserving of two 6.0s handed out by the judges (Cranston gave them a 5.8). Valeri doesn't even look like a hockey player out there.



Isabelle Brasseur and Todd Warriner

Izzy and Todd borrowed a trick from back in the days when Isabelle skated with Lloyd Eisler to a number they called Patricia the Stripper yet the judges praised them for originality?? Todd skated in drag and Izzy in whiskers and a suit. Watching a big jock in a dress provides some shock value but there was not much of a performance to go with it. Roenick and Sandra Bezic gave him 5.9s just for having the guts to go on national TV dressed that way. Totally undeserviced. Toller, however, was downright brutal and expressed his disgust by giving them a 5.5. On Monday night they were forced to skated again and looked better including executing what appeared to be side by side spins. They survived to skate again on week 7.

Jamie Salé and Theo Fleury

Jamie and Theo did a number to Stayin Alive from Saturday Night Fever but the disco-themed routine didn't quite work. They bobbled several lifts and at one point I thought Jamie was going to land on her head and then it looked like instead would decapitate Theo. It wasn't pretty out there. They finished in the bottom two and had to skate again on Monday night. But Monday the made even more technical errors and the judges all agreed that they were done. So Jamie who had won in the first season was done.

Shae-Lynn Bourne and Patrice Brisbois

Well I didn't thnk they could top last week's incredibly entertaining Monster Mash routine. They didn't but sure came close. They did an equally eye-catching Bollywood number. Shae-Lynn and Patrice showed that not only did they belong back in the competition but they make be the only competition for the Russians. This program was also super loaded with tricky elements, footwork and lots and lots of speed. Shae-Lynn didn't stop moving for the full 90 seconds.