Skating With Celebrities Finale: The Big Finish

It’s time to decide who will win Skating With Celebrities! After the short program, Kristy Swanson and Lloyd Eisler held a narrow .4 point lead over Jillian Barberie and John Zimmerman. Anything could happen tonight! What does happen tonight? Let’s see!

With a predictable swell of melodramatic music, all of the remaining competitors say they want to win, they’ve worked hard, and are ready to bring it. Yes, we know.

Scott Hamilton and Summer Sanders welcome us; Summer invites us to scream our heads off. I may need mine later, I’ll pass.

We are told all of the teams will skate an encore of their favorite routines. This leads to yet ANOTHER recap of Jillian and John’s journey. You know, the season hasn’t been that long!

Jillian and John skate to Pink’s “Trouble,” and oddly they appear to have exactly that. The Detroiter is entered with a lot of effort from John, and Jillian looks pained throughout. They actually look tired. Scott says they haven’t had “trouble” with anything all season long (did he not just witness the performance?). John says he’s not sure about that, and Jillian complains that the Detroiter is what ruined her side. With no sympathy at all, Scott tells them they have to get ready for their long program and shoos them along.

Now, the recap of Kristy and Lloyd’s journey. Lord. They skate to Edwin McCain’s “I’ll Be” and perform even better. Clearly, Kristy is far more confident than the last time they skated this program. Rumor has it that they are dating now, as in, Lloyd left his wife for Kristy! Lloyd denies this timeline, but there you have it!

Scott congratulates them, Lloyd says they are just catching their groove. Scott reminds us (again) there is just one more program to do to decide the champion.

But first, the eliminated teams perform a horrific group number to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” If they had any for her, they would have left Aretha out of this mess. Bruce Jenner does a spin that makes him look 85 years old, Todd Bridges performs with all the enthusiasm of a death row inmate, and Jenny Meno proves once again, she honestly and truly has no detectable rhythm. And, another commercial. How much advertising did Fox sell for this show?? Jeez!

Finally, the long program. Or, the Free Skate, if you will (the terms are interchangeable). Lloyd and Kristy are up first. Kristy says when she first met Lloyd, she thought he was “super cool.” Lloyd knew Kristy wanted to do well. They discuss that they’ve had plenty of peaks and valleys, but they’ve created a friendship “that will last long after the show is over.” Kristy says she has been pushed to her limits, and finds the experience one of the greatest in her life.

They skate to Rick James’ “Superfreak” in garish and yellow and black costumes. The routine is pretty unspectacular, and downright goofy until Lloyd does his patented one-handed Detroiter! The whole program seems to lead up to this move. It’s an impressive trick, but I’m not wholly satisfied. Let’s see what the judges say.

Mark says Lloyd has improved as a professional skater (from this?), he loved the skating, and Kristy was tremendous. John says Kristy is so good and fearless “when he does all these things to you” and attributes it to Lloyd’s understanding that he must protect his partner at all times. Well done. Dorothy says they bring out the best in each other. They both are great, and she notes the save on the one-armed Detroiter - Kristy was starting to drop at the end - and how strong Lloyd is.

Kristy says the experience has been so hard, and the most amazing thing she’s ever done. She cries talking about it. Lloyd says he was happy to come out of retirement to do this. Summer says we won’t learn their scores until the very end of the show!

If you ask me, Kristy and Lloyd left the door open for Jillian and John! Their program was beatable. Jillian says she expected to have fun and get in shape, but didn’t expect things to be so grueling. John says he’s proud of her spunk and her bravery. Jillian says they are doing better than she ever expected. John thinks he’ll look back and find it very cool.

They are skating to Faith Hill’s “Breathe,” and what a program! Jillian and John dressed in gorgeous blue and white, go for the romance and nail it. They do inventive lifts they haven’t done before (unlike Kristy and Lloyd), Jillian even goes for a single axel, but she falls. I give her points for the effort; Kristy did not attempt any solo maneuvers at all! Jillian shakes it off, and she and John finish very strong, making the lifts and moves look easy. They clearly should win this competition. Jillian says she’s nailed 22 axels in practice, and Scott says it was the hardest trick any celebrity attempted all season long.

Dorothy says she’s sorry to see the evening come to an end, Jill and John have been consistent to the end, and together were like a cloud floating over the ice. Mark says they skated well, and the fall doesn’t make it a bad performance. They finished strong. John says it was a beautiful, lovely performance, and congratulates Jillian’s effort, and reminds the other judges that a fall is “no bar from winning the competition.” It is not!

Jillian says her already strong respect for figure skating has grown since she’s been competing. John says he takes the competition as seriously as any he’s done, and congratulates Jillian for trying the axel.

Now for the scores! Kristy and Lloyd have 58.7 and Jillian and John have 58.3. The Free Skate will decide it. Scott asks Jillian how she feels. Jillian says she needs a drink! Kristy says she feels very calm!

First the scores for Jillian and John…

Technical scores: John 9.8, Dorothy 9.8, Mark 9.7 = 29.3
Artistic impression scores: John 9.9, Dorothy 9.8, Mark 9.8 = 29.5
Their total is 58.8, for a grand total of 117.1

Now, the scores for Kristy and Lloyd…

Technical scores: John 9.8 , Dorothy 9.9, Mark 9.8 = 29.5
Artistic impression scores, John 9.8, Dorothy 9.9, Mark 9.8 = 29.5
Their total is 59.0 for a grand total of 117.7

So, the winners of Skating With Celebrities are Kristy Swanson and Lloyd Eisler! The actually extended their lead. And, it’s no surprise that the team that deserved to win didn’t. If there is another season of this show, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there were, they really have to look at the scoring. And, maybe, find a way to get America involved. I watched the tapes; Jillian did complete her 1.5 rotation, she just couldn’t check the landing, so she could get credit for the jump, but with lesser degree of execution.