Wheres My Koppy's Blog: 'Skating With the Stars' Finale Week, Part One

I will be covering the finale in a separate Blog 'Skating With the Stars' Finale Week, Part 2 - A Champion Is Crowned !

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Week 5 - The Finals (from ABC.Com recap)

Three teams enter, two teams leave. And tomorrow night, the winner is crowned.

It's the finals, and tonight weeks of hard-core rehearsing came to a head. The pairs, who at the beginning of the season could barely skate backwards, are now performing lifts and jumps and death spirals — things have gotten good.

For tonight, there were no required elements. Instead, the challenge was two-fold. First: the pairs performed in a group skate to Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" — a spectacular display of each team's ice dancing skills, choreographed by Cindy Stuart and Douglas Webster. The judges conferred to give each team one score, and no score could be repeated. Rebecca & Fred earned a 9, Jonny & Brooke an 8, and Bethenny & Ethan a "very close" 7.

Next, each pair performed the "Free Skate" — with no rules to follow — and the celebrities chose the music.

Tanith's analysis:

Rebecca performed one of the most impressive lifts that she has done in the entire competition, and incredible "attention to detail, with the free leg turned out and her posture remaining absolutely perfect." Rebecca also performed some beautiful assisted jumps, using Fred only for balance.

Bethenny went head-to-head with Rebecca performing the same difficult lift from Rebecca's routine. Although Bethenny showed confidence, her imperfect posture and free leg may have cost her points. Bethenny did show tremendous improvement in her basic moves, which the judges have been calling out throughout the competition.

Jonny lifted Brooke into a difficult lift using good knee bend, but his timing was off. His "Olympic muscle" was able to lift her, however, and she struck a beautiful position above his head. Then, performing the first back outside death spiral we've seen in the competition, "he took on the full level of difficulty by performing a proper pivot."

It was really an impressive night of skating. And even though Jonny had solid judges' scores over these two weeks of voting, when all the viewer votes were combined with the judges' scores, Jonny Moseley was eliminated in third place.

Tomorrow night, the finale!

The Scores:
Rebecca & Fred

Technical score: 28 (9/10/9)
Artistic Impression: 29 (10/9/10)
Bonus score from group skate: 9 points
Tonight's Total: 66 points

Two week total: 119 points

Bethenny & Ethan

Technical score: 21 points (7/7/7)
Artistic Impression: 22 points (8/7/7)
Bonus score from group skate: 7 points
Total: 50 points

Two week total: 88 points

Jonny & Brooke

Technical score: 26 (9/9/8)
Artistic Impression: 26 (9/8/9)
Bonus score from group skate: 8 points
Total: 60 points

Two week total: 114 points