Battle of the Blades: Shae-Lynn Bourne

 
(Eliminated skaters Patrice Brisebois, Shae-Lynn Bourne, Georges Laraque, Anabelle Langlois, Violetta Afanasieva, P.J. Stock, Christine Hough-Sweeney and Russ Courtnall on the Battle of the Blades set in a CBC/Insight Productions photo.)

Getting a second chance to compete on Battle of the Blades, after being eliminated on Monday, is a double-edged sword for Shae-Lynn Bourne and Patrice Brisebois.

Shae-Lynn was tired the day after the elimination, after being up early doing media interviews, and she and Patrice were looking at several more days of hard work.

"We now have to get into Halloween gear and we don’t have a whole lot of time to prepare, but we've got three or four days to make a new number for this coming week," she said.

(In fact, Patrice -- who wasn't on the phone with Shae-Lynn Tuesday morning -- was so focused on practising he begged off media interviews for the rest of the week.)

The deal is that all four eliminated couples -- Shae-Lynn and Patrice, P.J. Stock and Violetta Afanasieva, Georges Laraque and Anabelle Langlois, Russ Courtnall and Christine Hough-Sweeney -- are to skate Sunday for a chance to get back on the show in the so-called "Second Chance Week." (Anabelle had a fall during practice Thursday, so there was a chance she and Georges would have to bow out, see more at the bottom of the post.)

The two best couples face off again Monday.

Shae-Lynn noted that if she and Patrice win the second chance, "we won't have a rest. Of all the teams, we’ll be the only ones that's going to keep skating, but we're going to try our best if that does happen."

The top four teams -- Valeri Bure and Ekaterina Gordeeva, Todd Warriner and Isabelle Brasseur, Theo Fleury and Jamie Sale, Kelly Chase and Kyoko Ina -- all get a week off from the competition.

It's a well-deserved break, Shae-Lynn said.

For a couple of months, the pairs spend "usually four or five hours a day on the ice and that’s without a day off. When you don’t take a day off you're not giving your body and mind a chance to rest and you do need that, so in that sense it's a big time commitment."

Everyone's bodies are aching, Shae-Lynn said. The men, especially, are using their muscles in different ways, learning lifts and new moves every week and "it takes a toll on the body, but they’re all in good spirits, they’re all positive."

Patrice has had a bad wrist, back and shoulders, "but we’re trying our best to do treatment and to be smart in our routine so that we don’t push it ... it's trying to listen to the body but also pushing through because there isn't really a choice. We've just got to kind of push through it, basically, to stay in the competition."

Shae-Lynn said she's proud of Patrice.

She chose the romantic choreography they performed on last Sunday's country-themed episode "to show his versatility, but it didn't work for everyone."

Judge Sandra Bezic commented that the number wasn't country enough.

"Maybe we could have gone for more uptempo country, but that's skating: it's interpretation. Everybody will have a different opinion when it comes to how you interpret music."

Shae-Lynn skated on Season 1 of Battle with Claude Lemieux. They were runners-up to Jamie Sale and Craig Simpson.

Asked how the seasons compare, she said this one "definitely it started at a higher level because ...
it helped going into this year for the men because they already saw how the show works and they weren't the guinea pigs.

"Last year was tough because those guys really put themselves out there and took a chance being the first to do something like this."

The hockey players coming into boot camp this year had studied DVDs of the show and some had already started practising in their figure skates.

"There are a lot of younger players, so they're physically more ready for these moves and for the skating," Shae-Lynn said.

Rejoining the series this season took some thinking over, though, because "it was a lot of hard work" and she has her own shows and choreography to keep her busy.

"I was hoping to do it again if I could work it into the schedule and I'm so glad I did because I got to work with a great player. Patrice has been really a joy. Every day we laugh and he learns and grows, and he's really been a great person to share the ice with."

What she loves best about the show, she said, is the fact that money goes to charities no matter what happens. Shae-Lynn is supporting Make a Wish Canada and Patrice the Sainte-Justine UHC Foundation.

The Halloween skate-off is scheduled to air Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBC with results Monday at 8 p.m.

According to the show's Facebook feed, Anabelle took a hard fall during Thursday's practice when Georges tripped in the middle of a twist and was sent to hospital with pain in her knee, but Georges said she had only a few bruises and three stitches in her knee, calling it a miracle.

The pair planned to see how things went during practice on Friday but were really hoping to skate on Sunday, according to the Blades website.

Cujo on Battle of the Blades

CBC has just announced the guest judge for Sunday and Monday's Battle of the Blades episodes and it's none other than former Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph.

Cujo, who was born in Keswick, Ont., also played for the St. Louis Blues and the Edmonton Oilers, was a member of the gold medal-winning team at the 2002 Olympics and is a three-time NHL all-star. Plus, I think it's fair to say Cujo was a fan favourite during his time with the Leafers.

Sunday is when the four eliminated pairs -- Patrice Brisebois and Shae-Lynn Bourne, P.J. Stock and Violetta Afanasieva, Georges Laraque and Anabelle Langlois, Russ Courtnall and Christine Hough-Sweeney -- skate for a second chance to compete on the program.

The top two of those pairs will skate on Monday night for the winning spot.

The show airs Sunday and Monday at 8 p.m. on CBC. I'll be attending the show live on Sunday and blogging it here, hopefully with a little video to sweeten the pot.

Survivor: Nicaragua - Let them eat fish (spoiler alert)

You know how people generalize and say that younger people don't want to work and expect things to be handed to them?

The younger folks of La Flor are doing nothing to dispel that notion.

I'm kind of looking forward to the day that Sash gets that smarmy little smile wiped off his face. Instead, we had to watch Wednesday night while he and Brenda and and Fabio and Purple Kelly (who, now that she's actually speaking, seems dumber than one of those cows whose milk she was hoping to milk) lazed around camp while Jane went off to catch fish to feed their smug faces.

"I don't care what they do right now. I'm not going to tell them to get off their lazy little asses," said Jane, who's 56, as she wandered off to check the fishing lines.

"Hopefully she comes back with something big," smirked Sash. "The older people who came over from Espada can work their butts off, feed me all day long and help me get stronger. I love it. Yeah, I get to stay home all day, relax, eat the fruits of their labour while they work hard.

"I give them a lot of credit, but you know, this is a game and the long run for me, who stays in this game isn't a matter of how hard you work around camp, it's about how loyal you are to me."

Sure, because it's all about you, Sash.

Jane did get fish and kept a big one for herself, sneaking off into the woods to build a fire and cook it, calling it her "food reward."

It was all the food La Flor was going to get after being beaten by Espada in the reward challenge, in which tribe members had to throw a ball into a net while jumping into a pool as a member of the other tribe tried to block it. 

The two WTF moments: Fabio peeing in the pool because "I can't concentrate when I've gotta pee" and Dan taking his turn, tossing the ball first straight at Fabio and then jumping, which host Jeff Probst said would have disqualified his goal had he got it anywhere near the net.

Mind you, Marty didn't do much better. He did manage to jump and throw at the same time but tossed the ball at Chase's family jewels instead of the net. 

Even with Dan on the team, Espada was victorious and got whisked away to a Nicaraguan farm where they went horseback riding, milked a cow, then enjoyed the milk as part of a tortilla and eggs and cheese breakfast.

("I am not a farm girl. I don't milk animals. I don't play with animals' nipples trying to get milk out," said NaOnka, who failed to squeeze a drop out of the cow.)

The breakfast was the fake display of solidarity that these things usually are, with Alina and Holly breaking into tears over the fact they were sitting down to a proper meal for the first time in 17 days and missing family.

Note that Holly had been plotting earlier with Chase and NaOnka to vote her sob sister Alina off.

"Alina's grimy, she's so grimy and so sneaky," NaOnka told the camera, having recovered her nasty 'tude since her breakdown of a couple of episodes ago.

"But I can put on a show like Alina."

Next up, the immunity challenge, in which two members of each tribe had to climb atop a platform and release cannon balls down a chute, which the other tribe members manipulated by ropes, to break tiles.

Espada worked like a well-oiled machine, with Benry and Alina expertly telling their teammates exactly where to position the chute and carefully choosing the size of the balls and what height to roll from. The members of La Flor wasted time arguing amongst themselves about where to place the chute and kept missing the tiles.

So Espada won back-to-back challenges.

And La Flor returned to camp where the young people plus Jane debated how best to flush out Marty's hidden immunity idol at tribal council. The original plan was to cast three votes for Marty and two for Jill, and tell Marty he was getting three votes so he'd use the idol. Then Jill would be tied with whoever she and Marty targeted, and the youngsters would switch all their votes to Jill on the tiebreaker, sealing her fate.

Then Brenda came up with a bolder plan: demand the idol from Marty in exchange for his safety for a few more days and vote Jill out.

Or, said Brenda, "we ask marty for the idol, tell him, 'You're safe, give us the idol, we’ll vote out Jill,' then we vote him out."

Would they really be that nefarious? 

Sash did ask for and receive the idol on the promise Marty would be safe that night, and promised to give the idol back to Marty if La Flor lost the next immunity challenge.

"I feel absolutely powerless in every way, shape or form," said Marty. "If I keep the idol, I have to use the idol tonight. I've got to give the idol to somebody. I'm either giving it to Jeff tonight or I'm giving it to Sash. 

"I'd rather give it to Sash because maybe if he lives up to his word, I live one more cycle; one more cycle could potentially get me to the merge, then things are wide open," reasoned Marty.

"Turns out I don't even have to dig for idols," gloated Sash. "All I have to do is ask for them. People will literally hand me an idol. Marty made a big mistake, probably the biggest mistake in the game."

At tribal, after Sash 'fessed up to having the idol in his pocket, Marty acknowledged to Jeff that handing it over "could go down as one of the stupidest moves ever or maybe not."

"We could easily vote him out tonight," conceded Fabio, adding his alliance would be fine either way because "we have the idol."

Questioned by Jeff, Brenda said, "I think it’s okay to say we because that is how much we trust Sash."

Jeff stirred the pot a little by asking if Sash would let Brenda keep the idol when they got back to camp.

"If that's what we decide as a group then maybe back at camp I might do that. At this moment I don't think it serves a purpose, but if there's a time when I lose trust in them, or I'm sorry, if there's a time when they lose trust in me then I'll have to turn it over or I'll have the biggest target on my back of this entire tribe," said Sash.

Interesting Freudian slip, said Jeff, and Brenda and Fabio agreed.

Jane, meanwhile, predicted Marty would be haunted by his decision to give up the idol.

But Marty survived the vote. Only Jane and Fabio voted for him; Marty and Jill voted for Jane; and Sash, Brenda and Purple Kelly voted for Jill.

"I'll miss you babe. See you, Doctor Jillian," said Marty with a hug as Jill went to get her torch snuffed.

"It's clear from the vote that this group is making decisions based on loyalty. The question is how long can that loyalty last?" queried Jeff as he sent La Flor back to camp.

Don't know, but we'll probably get an idea next week when the two tribes merge.

The promo showed NaOnka up to her old tricks, pilfering stuff from the chest of food and supplies given to the new unified tribe and hiding them in somebody's bag. (Seriously, this woman teaches kids? Is her school board watching her nonsense?)

Watch Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Global TV and catch the recap here.

(The photo of Jill during the reward challenge is by Monty Brinton for CBS.)

Survivor: Nicaragua - Yve and Kelly B's exit interview

Kelly Bruno is too diplomatic to call NaOnka a bully.

You'll recall that Bruno, a 26-year-old medical student with an artificial leg, was a verbal and even a physical target of the aggressive Na on the original La Flor tribe in Survivor: Nicaragua. 

"She came into this, she was a track star in college and a PE teacher, so I think there was some idea for her she could be kind of a strong female on the tribe. I certainly was no less of that than she was and I think that was a little bit of a threat to her position in the game," Kelly said in an interview this week.

"And I also think she's a very emotional player and needed to take it out on somebody so found that she could take it out on me. I didn't fight back, not that I couldn't, that's not really how I go about my life and I think she wasn't getting the responses she wanted so she kept going after me.

"I mean you saw her pick on Fabio, I don't know why. She made some comment about it being about his hair ... he got very defensive and did react. I think she kind of enjoyed that engagement and I wouldn't give that back to her."

Sounds like a bully to me.

I joked that Kelly and NaOnka wouldn't be BFFs any time soon.

Chuckling, Kelly said, "I guess the finale will tell ... I'm sure it will come up in the finale. Maybe we'll get a chance to work it out. Maybe she'll apologize, I don't know. I'm certainly not holding my breath for that, though."

Kelly, a resident of Durham, N.C., came into Survivor wanting to show she was as strong physically as the rest of her tribe (she was the fastest female amputee to finish the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii in 2007) and not be targeted because of her artificial limb.

She was targeted, though, but not in the way she expected: her tribemates decided she was a threat because she'd get sympathy votes if she made it to the final tribal council.

"I just found it very amusing that that was a concern of theirs at the end of the day because they were the ones making the decision that I deserved it more than they did. I certainly never made it seem like that."

Kelly was definitely blindsided when she got voted off last week, but "if I have to go out in any way, being a threat is probably the best way to go out.

"Brenda herself said she was worried I would win it all. I can't complain about that."

Kelly, who lost her leg at 6 months of age due to a birth defect, said, "I went out and did what I wanted to do. Obviously I got targeted but, at the same time, I showed that someone with a physical disability is just as capable as anyone else out there." 

Yve Rojas, a 41-year-old homemaker who lives in Kansas City, Mo., can't say that being voted off Espada last week came as a surprise to her.

At first, when the young and old tribes traded members, Yve was forming "a nice relationship" with Chase and looking to lay the ground for a new alliance.

But then Dan and Holly started acting differently around her (Dan wouldn't even speak to her, Yve says) and she got left out of the decision to vote off Tyrone.

Yve tried to pitch her strong relationship with Marty and Jill, now on the new La Flor, as a reason to keep her around, "but I didn't articulate well, I didn't communicate strongly enough and I waited, I hesitated. That should have been happening from the moment we stepped on the beach ... I waited until after Tyrone had left and I should not have waited for a big red flag."

Asked why she did, Yve said she became a little complacent since things had been going so well with Marty on the old Espada. "I knew there was going to be a swap considering the numbers, but it was a little early and it caught me off guard."

One of the ironies was that Dan, who should have been voted off early for his physical infirmity but was kept around by Marty and Jill and Yve, turned against her in the end.

Yve said Dan's weakness was obvious from "Day 1, especially the first torrential downpour, Day 1 and Day 2. He would tend to the fire and I'd be out there, and he'd almost fall into the fire. He'd struggle sitting up from a log.

"He was an easy vote essentially to align with for Marty and myself because he knew he could go any day." But in hindsight, she would rather have kept Jimmy Johnson and Jimmy T. than Dan.

Yve found the strategizing and alliances the most difficult part of playing the game. 

"To wake up from Day 1, going, 'Nobody wants you here, but get on your mark, Yve, and align,' because you have to at some point commit to somebody out here, that is much more challenging to do in the game as opposed to a bird's eye view watching on your television." 

That rang true for Kelly as well.

"You don't know who to trust. And that's a hard thing, you don't have anyone to turn to," said Kelly, whose inspiration for playing Survivor was her father, a doctor who was killed during the earthquake in Haiti while there with a group called Food for the Poor.

"In some respects, it's a very lonely thing, even though you have all those people around. You really don't have anyone who's 100 per cent behind you and absolutely on your side."

Both Kelly and Yve relished the physical challenge of the game.

"The best part of the game was just being able to ... experience being out there in those elements, having no food, water, no shelter, no privacy, and being able to just realize that you can live with so little and be completely happy," Kelly said.

"I really thoroughly enjoyed the physical, mental and spiritual challenge of being out there and having absolutely nothing. I enjoyed the torrential downpours, the elements," said Yve.

And she proved to herself and to her daughters, whom she wanted to inspire, "I'm just capable of more in general. We're all capable of so much more. Just make life happen."

Survivor: Nicaragua airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Global TV. I'll be recapping tonight's episode right here.

(The photos of Kelly and Yve are by Monty Brinton for CBS.)

Dancing With the Stars: A surprise elimination (spoiler alert)

Emotions seemed to have a lot to do with how things turned out on Dancing With the Stars this week.

One dancer channelled her feelings into her tango and excelled, earning top scores for the second week in a row and enough votes from the viewers to dance into next week.

Another put her frustrations into her paso doble and got negative judges' remarks, her worst scores of the competition and was one of three couples declared in jeopardy on Tuesday night.

And a third got criticized for not putting enough emotion into her paso and, despite still earning high marks, got eliminated on Tuesday. 

Audrina Patridge was the celeb who went home, along with professional partner Tony Dovolani.

The judges were hard on her Monday night but expressed shock that she and Tony, and Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough were the two couples on the chopping block.

"I'm almost lost for words," said Len Goodman. "This is ludicrous that these two, one of these is going home is absolute nonsense ... There is no justice these two being, it's nonsense."

Bruno Tonioli said the judges criticized Audrina on Monday "because we know she's good, we want her to do better."

Monday's comments had to do with Audrina not expressing enough character in her dancing.

"Audrina, I've got to be honest, you're getting on my nerves a bit and I'll tell you why," said Len, "because you've got the potential to blow us all away week after week, your dancing is clean and it's crisp, every week it lacks the character of the dance."

Bruno and Carrie Ann Inaba both agreed, but Carrie Ann said "the improvement that you've shown since Week 1 when you came out here is ridiculous. What's going on in your body, Audrina, is truly, truly impressive."

Not impressive enough for the viewers, apparently. Audrina and Tony had the second highest score on Monday, 32, when their paso score was added to their number from the rock and roll group dance, but maybe she was getting on voters' nerves, too.

As for Jennifer, she had decided "to take all of that pent-up energy and frustration from last week (when she clashed with Derek) and put it into the paso doble." But it backfired. She stumbled out of a turn at the end and was told she'd danced too aggressively.

"Jennifer, you need to calm down a little bit," said Carrie Ann. "You're way out of control, the dance is totally disjointed ... You're like the chosen one and yet something is going terribly wrong and you're going downhill."

"It was like a woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown: get the skirt off me, get it off me!" said Bruno. "The problem is that then you lose the quality of movement."

She and Derek scored just 20 points for the paso and another nine for the marathon, but that 29 points put them third from the bottom of the scoreboard.

The outcome was far better for another passionate and intense performer, Brandy.

She fretted all through tango rehearsals with Maks Chmerkovskiy, even breaking down in tears at one point when the steps didn't seem to come fast enough, but decided to put those feelings into the dance.

The resulting combination of intensity and good technique was declared "the dance of the night" by Len. Bruno said Brandy was like "Tina Turner in Mad Max" and Carrie Ann said it gave her goosebumps.

"It was like watching somebody who had been through a tough time really developing their wings and flying," Carrie Ann said.

Brandy and Maks flew to a score of 26 out of 30 and earned another 10 points for winning the marathon.

By the end of Monday night, Brandy and Maks were in first place; Audrina and Tony second; Rick Fox and Cheryl Burke, and Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer were third with combined scores of 30; next were Jennifer and Derek; then came Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas with 28; and Kurt Warner and Anna Trebunskaya were last with 22 points.

They scored just 18 points for their paso and were the first couple yanked out of Monday's marathon (which was rock and roll in honour of Rock and Roll Week on the show) for just an extra four points.

Kurt was having trouble with the passionate paso in rehearsal so Anna (or more likely, the producers) brought in rocker Bret Michaels to help Kurt "get his wild side out" (is it just me or does Bret pop up everywhere these days?).

Kurt worked hard on the dance and it was a big hit with the studio audience, but Carrie Ann said it lacked polish, Len said it was awkward and Bruno said, "you looked like you were doing karate instead of Spanish dancing ... You looked like Jackie Chan, we want Banderas."

But I guess the viewers like Jackie Chan because Kurt and Anna were the first couple declared safe on Tuesday night.

Here's how the others did:

Kyle and Lacey got decent marks of 23 out of 30 for their tango (and seven points for the marathon). You could see that Kyle had worked really hard on the technique but without sacrificing performance value. The judges complimented his footwork and carriage. "I'm not gonna sack you, I'm gonna back you tonight," said Len. "You worked hard and the dance was much better."

Kyle and Lacey were also told they were in jeopardy on Tuesday but were then declared safe.

Rick and Cheryl did the tango and despite Rick's worries in rehearsal about getting the steps right, the dance came out clean. Len praised Rick's hold and posture, and Carrie Ann liked his intensity, but Bruno said, "I thought you were going to scalp her at the end ... you're scaring me." They earned 24 for the tango, six for the marathon.

Rick and Cheryl were the third couple declared safe Tuesday (but did he really kiss his biceps in that backstage video?).

Bristol and Mark redeemed themselves after the monkey suit jive of the week before. The technique in their tango wasn't perfect, but it was pretty darn good. I'm not certain the air guitar in the middle was necessary (Len docked them a point for breaking hold) but it was better than gorilla costumes. "That was ridiculously amazing," Carrie Ann told Bristol. "Last week a chimp, (now) almost a champ," said Len. Their score of 23 out of 30 was their highest ever in the competition and they gained five more points in the marathon.

Bristol and Mark were the second couple declared safe on Tuesday.

Audrina had been tearful backstage on Monday after the judges' criticisms, but she maintained her composure after the elimination.

"I just know I had so much fun this entire experience and I made such good new friends, and Tony's been an amazing teacher, and I'm definitely going to be coming back to visit and thank you for all the comments," she told the judges. "It did help as motivation, all the fans, all the support and everything. It's been a fun journey."

The results show also featured a Macy's Stars of Dance number choreographed by So You Think You Can Dance alumnus Travis Wall; rockers Bret Michaels, Alice Cooper and Dee Snider weighing in on what the contestants need to do to be rock stars ("Alice Cooper doing ballroom analysis: I love this gig," quipped co-host Tom Bergeron); and songs by Kylie Minogue (meh) and Heart ("Barracuda," brought back memories of bombing around Lefroy, Ont., in some guy's blue convertible).

Next week, Nov. 2, is the show's 200th episode and word is Taylor Swift will perform. Fifty stars from past seasons will be there, including Helio Castroneves, Kelly Osbourne, Emmitt Smith, Drew Lachey, Mel B and Gilles Marini serving as guest judges. And former champs Kristi Yamaguchi and Apolo Anton Ohno will captain teams of this season's dancers in a group round.

I'll be back to blogging Monday's performances on Monday.

Don't forget your comments are always welcome. And you can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/realyeo

(The photo of Audrina and Tony doing the paso doble is by Adam Larkey for ABC.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take that American Idol: Kara DioGuardi returns to TV

Kara DioGuardi, the American Idol judge who left the talent show this past summer (after a couple of months of persistent rumours that she was being fired) is getting a new show of her own.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday morning that Bravo (the U.S. network, not Bravo! here in Canada) has hired Kara as head judge of a new series, Going Platinum.

It's described as a songwriting competition with contestants vying for a $100,000 prize.

Singer-songwriter Jewel is to host.

The 10-episode show is expected to premiere next year, Bravo said.

Songwriting, of course, is what Kara was doing for a living before she was chosen to replace Paula Abdul on Idol.

When Idol returns in January, singer and actress Jennifer Lopez and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler will join Randy Jackson at the judges' table.

Simon Cowell left to head his own talent show, The X Factor, coming to Idol network Fox in fall of 2011.

Dancing With the Stars: Post postponed

Due to the So You Think You Can Dance Canada finale on Sunday, I'm a day behind with everything. The need for sleep means I won't be blogging DWTS tonight, although I have watched the performance show. But look for one big recap on Tuesday night after the results.

Battle of the Blades: Gone but maybe not for good (spoiler alert)

This week's Battle of the Blades holds lessons, I think, in not counting people out too soon.

Take Kelly Chase and Kyoko Ina. 

After watching Sunday's performance show (which I didn't catch until Monday evening), I was pretty sure Kelly and Kyoko were headed for bottom two and probably right off the show.

Their routine to "Bad Things" from the True Blood soundtrack (one of the few country songs I actually like) seemed to pale in comparison to the other four pairs in terms of technical ability and musicality.

The first part of my expectation came true, when Kelly and Kyoko had to skate for their lives against Patrice Brisebois and Shae-Lynn Bourne on Monday.

Patrice and Shae-Lynn did a smooth and romantic routine on Sunday night that was full of interesting flips and spins and lifts, and their usual great chemistry.

It earned them 17.2 from the judges compared to Kelly and Kyoko's 16.8.

It seemed like a no-brainer that Kelly and Kyoko would get the chop, but darned if they didn't skate much better on Monday than they did on Sunday, including making a throw that they flubbed the first time.

There were still moments I wanted Kelly to look up instead of at his feet but, as guest judge Scott Hamilton pointed out, they skated the routine twice as well as the night before.

Jeremy Roenick said it was their best skate of the entire competition and Sandra Bezic said they rose to the occasion, adding that Kelly embodies "everything that this competition is about."

So it was a unanimous decision and Patrice and Shae-Lynn were going home. Or were they?

A twist was introduced to the show this week: "Second Chance Week."

All four eliminated couples -- including Patrice and Shae-Lynn, P.J. Stock and Violetta Afanasieva, Georges Laraque and Anabelle Langlois, Russ Courtnall and Christine Hough-Sweeney -- return on Sunday to skate Halloween-themed routines. The top two couples compete on Monday night, with the winning pair returning to the competition.

So we haven't necessarily seen the last of Patrice and Shae-Lynn after all.

The four couples declared safe on Monday, including Kelly and Kyoko, will get the week off.

Here's a quick look at how they all did on Sunday, starting with the top scorers.

Valeri Bure and Ekaterina Gordeeva: The Russians just keep coming and coming and coming on. Val and Katia scored three 5.9s, a total of 17.7, for a beautifully skated routine with a high level of technical difficulty, including the competition's first double twist. "I don't think people realize how difficult that is because you made it look so easy," said Sandra. "It's a very difficult pair element that takes a long time to learn."

She also praised the routine's speed, elegance and connection.

"What was most special about this performance was it was so much more than a lineup of tricks or choreography or just moves, there was something magical about that, true pairs skating."

Scott joked that the double twist was "Russian genetics" but suggested they skate in the U.S. pairs figure skating championships (Sandra said they're not eligible because of skating on Blades).

Todd Warriner and Isabelle Brasseur: The judges loved their combination of dance moves and spins, flips and lifts, including a sit-spin by Todd, awarding them two 5.8's and a 5.9 from Sandra for a 17.5 total.

"It was just jam-packed with delightful stuff, choreographically, the moves, the tricks, the difficulty, all of it. And I think a lot of people forget that figure skaters aren't normally 6-2. That's a lot of figure skater to be moving quickly on your feet and you're doing it, and you're doing it together as a unit," Sandra said.

Theo Fleury and Jamie Sale: Theo alway brings a high performance level to his routines with Jamie and this week was no exception, with the hockey player landing the competition's first axel. It wasn't pretty, but he did it. His lifts were also stronger and there was a move in which he spun Jamie around with just her feet on either side of his neck (sorry, I don't know the technical term). There were also some line-dancing moves in the fun routine, skated to a song Theo wrote and sang, "As the Story Goes." (Shae-Lynn also sang, a duet with Don Mescall on "All Over Again.")

Jeremy managed to get his mind off Jamie's sexy costume long enough to praise Theo's axel, or as he called it "that twist, the jump, the axel ... I'm a hockey player, not a figure skater."

Scott said he was in awe and proud of Theo: "To see a man of average height do what you did ... I'm your biggest fan ever. That axel, are you insane? Are you out of your mind? You just threw yourself right into that thing. That was unbelievable. It was kind of like Sonja Henie in her day with the legs coming out."

Sandra said Theo is an inspiration. "In life, on the ice, there's isn't anything you don't face full on."

With two 5.8's and a 5.7 from Scott, Theo and Jamie had 17.3 points.

So there you have it. Tune in Sunday at 8 on CBC for a show that will hopefully have both tricks and treats. And look for the recap here.

(The photo of Kelly and Kyoko skating on Monday is courtesy of Insight Productions and CBC.)

So You Think You Can Dance: The runner-up interview (spoiler alert)

Here's a video of the chat I had with Amanda Cleghorn after Sunday's Season 3 finale of So You Think You Can Dance Canada:

 

The bad news is that my source of video material has dried up now that the season is over. However, I'll keep my eyes and ears open for future video opportunities and post whatever I can. I've had a blast doing it.

So You Think You Can Dance Canada: Interview with the winner (spoiler alert)

As promised, here's a short interview I did with Denys Drozdyuk after he won Season 3 of So You Think You Can Dance Canada: