Battle of the Blades 3 - week 7

This year's edition of Battle of the Blades is slowly coming to an end. Finally, the skating is a little more entertaining and challenging. Ron Maclean not so much.

The theme of the evening was duets, as each pair would be skating to a musical duet, and each performance would feature a brief moment where the hockey player had to break away and do 30 seconds of solo skating.

This week's guest judge was former Olympic ice dancing champion Christopher Dean. To kill time the show opened up with a skating duet involving Maclean and Kurt Browning. I'm pretty sure this was the first time in three seasons that Maclean put on a pair of figure skates and it showed.

Tessa Bonhomee & David Pelletier

Tessa and Davide went first, skating to "It's Only Love", by Bryan Adams and Tina Turner. It was a pretty weak performance as Tessa fell attempting a throw job.Tessa was pretty wobbly and her solo skate was pretty pathetic. The finish was strong with an amazing spin with David holding Tessa over his shoulders. As usual, the judges comments were glowing, completely ignoring the fall in favour of glowing praise about carrying on. "The hardest thing to do is come back after a fall, but you came back so hard," Sandra said. Then the judges awarded two 5.9s and a 5.8. Absurd. Total score: 17.6.




Elena Berezhnaya & Curtis Leschyshyn

Elena and Curtis were next, dancing to a cover of "Don't let the sun go down on me". I have found this pair to be the weakest each week yet they never get knocked off. Sunday night was no exception and they were considerably slower than the other pairs. "I thought that was your best skate of the show," Jeremy said, which at this point comes as no surprise to me. Anyway, then the judges gave this performance the lowest score deservedly. Total score: 17.4.

Tanith Belbin & Boyd Devereaux

Tanith and Boyd skated to "Falling Slowly" from the movie Once. For once I liked the music and enjoyed the skating program. Boyd's solo was terrific and there was one incredible lift midway through the skate. Sandra raved, "You are a musical being. You've got knees, you understand music," Although they were much better than Tessa and David they received lower scores. Total score: 17.7.

Marie-France Dubreuil & Bryan Berard

Marie-France and Bryan went last and skated to "If I Can't Have You" by Harvey Fuqua and Etta James. It was the best skate of the season by any pair. Bryan's footwork was surprising strong, the couple seemed completely in sync, and his solo bit was excellent. And there was some real passion in the program. The judges thought so too. "It was fun, it was sexy, it was soulful, it was great skating," Sandra said, "It was everything this event should be, it was fantastic." Then the pair were given the first perfect score of the competition. Total score: 18.0.



There was another 3-way tie and skate off on Monday which reduces the need for boring filler. Only Tanith and Boyd automatically moved on to next week's finale. Surprisingly neither Tessa and David or Marie-France and Bryan have been involved in a Monday skate off which reflects their popularity with viewers and not really because of their skating. Finally Elena and Curtis were voted off which finally makes because the other two pairs are so strong at this point of the competition.