Thin Ice concluded last night with Michael Weiss and Marie-France Dubreuil winning the title. The audience at the show had some malfunctioning in voting, so their votes didn't count. But home audience votes from the prior performance counted. Here is what I thought of the performances.
Elena Berezhnaya and David Pelletier
Music: Cowboy Casanova by Carrie Underwood
Signature Moves: Pairs lifts and spins
Togetherness: 4/5
Best judge comment: Button: "Elena, be careful of him, he's the devil in disguise, as the lyrics say."
Score: 24
The up close talked about how Stephen Cousins and Elena Berezhnaya are dating. And he is best friends with David Pelletier. An odd up close because...it was kind of weird for Pelletier to be commenting, but adorable just the same. This was much better than what they did the other night, although I'm distracted by how slowly these two skate these days! But I had fun and there were some great moves.
Music: Hey, Soul Sister by Train
Signature Moves: Pair lifts, dancing and a pair spin
Togetherness: 5/5
Best judge comment: Yamaguchi: "Patrice, even though Jamie may wear the pants on this team, you were certainly showing off by lifting her and whipping her around. Very impressive for an ice dancer."
Score: 27
These two are a fabulous match. I loved watching them together and this was my favorite skate. They didn't look like they were trying so hard.
Shae-Lynn Bourne and John Zimmerman
Music: Poker Face by Lady Gaga
Signature moves: Lifts, jump, kind of weird death spiral thing.
Togetherness: 5/5
Best judge comment: Button: "You pierced the mystique of Lady Gaga."
Score: 30
Ah, David Wilson being David Wilson in the up close. He choreographed this routine. I don't know if Wilson choreographed Johnny Weir's Poker Face program, but I really think that after that, maybe skaters should steer clear because they won't be able to top Weir. But whatevs, it was pretty good, had some interesting moves...one of the...top three routines.
Shizuka Arakawa and Stephane Lambiel
Music: Get Me Bodied by Beyonce
Signature moves: triple jumps, spins.
Togetherness: 3/5
Best judge comment: Witt: "You executed the hip and the hop so well tonight."
Score: 25
Can I just say that I was distracted at the beginning of the music by how absolutely breathtaking Arakawa looked? Her hair is so cute this length. Unfortunately she is oddly not really that great of a dancer on the ice, whereas Lambiel is a complete natural. So I found that distracting. There also wasn't a lot of skating for a bit there. They skating next to each other but not together. It was better than the other night, I guess.
Marie-France Dubreuil and Michael Weiss
Music: Broken Strings by James Morrison
Signature moves: Ice dancing lifts for Dubreuil, backflip and triple flip for Weiss
Togetherness: 4/5
Best judge comment: Witt: "Marie-France, you are so gorgeous. So, don't play a desperate housewife. Let the man go and let the gardner come in."
Score: 30
The routine was choreographed by Mark Ballas of "Dancing with the Stars." Don't tell me that's not a cross-promotion. Ballas talked as much as the other two in the up close. Didn't like it as much as I liked the one the other night but it was very nice. They weren't a perfect pair but they definitely skated together well. The routine was a bit cheesy..they fought over a briefacase at the beginning. But then it took off a bit more.
Final Standings:
Dubreuil and Weiss
Bourne and Zimmerman
Arakawa and Lambiel
Sale and Lauzon
Berezhnaya and Pelletier
Final Verdict: It was fun and I always love when figure skating gets a prime time spotlight on network television. The judges were particularly good. I am very happy to be getting back to ISU competition with the world championships this week, though.