| Battle of the Blades | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | Sandra Bezic Kevin Albrecht |
| Presented by | Ron MacLean Keshia Chanté(2020-present) Kurt Browning(2009-2011) Maura Grierson(2011) |
| Judges | see below |
| Opening theme | "There Will Never Be Another Tonight" performed byBryan Adams |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 65 |
| Production | |
| Production locations | Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto, Ontario(season 1) Pinewood Toronto Studios Toronto, Ontario(season 2) MasterCard Centre Etobicoke, Ontario(season 3-4) FirstOntario Centre Hamilton, Ontario(season 5) CAA Centre Brampton, Ontario(season 6) |
| Running time | 60-120 minutes (performance shows) 30-60 minutes (results show) (times include commercials) |
| Production company | Insight Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBC Television |
| Release | October 4, 2009 (2009-10-04) - November 17, 2013 (2013-11-17)(Season 1-4) September 19, 2019 (2019-09-19) - present(Season 5 onwards) |
Battle of the Blades (orBOTB for short) is a Canadianfigure skating reality show and competition that airs onCBC Television. The show originally aired for four seasons between 2009 and 2013. It was revived for a fifth season in 2019.[1]It was first broadcast before a live audience at the historicMaple Leaf Gardens. With Maple Leaf Gardens under renovation however, the show was filmed atPinewood Toronto Studios in season two. The venue moved again in season three toMasterCard Centre located inEtobicoke,Ontario.[2] For the revived fifth season in 2019, the venue was at theFirstOntario Centre inHamilton, Ontario. The venue changed again in the sixth season to theCAA Centre, located inBrampton, Ontario.
The series resembles the international reality showDancing with the Stars and is similar in concept toDancing On Ice from the UK. The biggest difference, and the show's main "hook", is that Battle of the Blades brings two very different styles of skaters together: hockey players are paired with prominent figure skaters to perform figure skating routines. During the first two seasons, contestants were strictly male hockey players from theNHL, paired with female figure skaters. In Season Three,Tessa Bonhomme was cast as the first female hockey player contestant,[3] making her partner,David Pelletier the show's first male professional figure skating competitor.
In 2010, the French-language CBC's counterpart,Télévision de Radio-Canada, was planning to air aQuebec version, but did not decide if it would be an adaptation or a French-dubbed version.[4] The show's executive producer thinks that it may also interest other countries like Russia.[5]
On April 19, 2012, CBC announced that due to budget cuts by theCanadian federal government,Battle of the Blades had been put on "hiatus" and would not appear on the 2012 fall schedule, stating that the network could not afford the high production costs of the show. Although not technically cancelled by CBC, executive producerJohn Brunton mentioned that the show may search for other network alternatives to produce future seasons.[6]
On April 3, 2013, CBC announced thatBattle of the Blades would return in Fall 2013 after a one-year hiatus.[7]
With the loss ofHockey Night in Canada rights toRogers Media,[8]Battle of the Blades was officially cancelled by CBC on April 10, 2014, due to federal budget cuts, declining advertising revenues and television ratings.[9] In addition, CBC subsequently announced it would no longer compete for any professional sporting rights of any kind.[10]
The CBC revived the show in 2019, in response to demand from the public.[1] The show was renewed for a sixth season for the Fall 2020 lineup.
Each judge can award a score of up to 6.0, as in official figure skating competitions. The highest score a team can achieve in a performance is 18.0.
In the first season, the team were scored on their Sunday night performance, but only as a reference guide for the viewers to vote on. The bottom two teams were ranked based solely on the lowest number of viewer votes. Viewers can either text, call or log onto the show's official website to cast their votes. On Monday, the bottom two teams are revealed and they skate their Sunday night program once more in the Skate-Off and are then scored by the judges. The team with the lower judges score from their Monday night performance is then eliminated.
The rules of elimination were slightly altered in the second season. The scores from the teams' Sunday night performance are now added to the viewers' voting to determine the bottom two couples. Also, instead of scoring the bottom two teams on their Skate-Off performance, the judges are now just asked to vote on the team of their choice. The team with the fewer number of judges' votes is then eliminated.
Midway during the second season, it was announced that Week Five would be a "Second Chance" competition for the couples eliminated thus far in the season. The team with the highest combined total of viewer's vote and judges score would be reinstated as of Week Six, re-joining the top four team in the competition.[11]
Season three introduced the Judge's Save, which is a one-time use per season tool that needed the consensus of all judges that would reinstate a team that was eliminated that same episode back into the competition.
The Monday night results show was cancelled in season four, and therefore elimination takes place at the end of each Sunday night performance show from Week 2 onwards. The judges score and viewer votes from the previous week determine the bottom two teams on the current week's show. The bottom two teams skate-off at the end of the episode, performing their new routines. The judges would then score their performances and the team with the lower judges score is then eliminated. Also, viewer voting starting this season is solely done on the show's official website. Each unregistered visitor gets one vote. Registered visitors can earn additional votes by completing their profile and other activities and challenges on the website.
| Personality | Seasons | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| Ron MacLean | ||||||
| Keshia Chanté | ||||||
| Kurt Browning | ||||||
| Scott Moir | ||||||
| Natalie Spooner | ||||||
| Elladj Baldé | ||||||
| Colby Armstrong | ||||||
| P. J. Stock | ||||||
| Jamie Salé | ||||||
| Maura Grierson | ||||||
| Jeremy Roenick | ||||||
| Sandra Bezic | ||||||
| Dick Button | ||||||
The show is hosted byHockey Night in Canada'sRon MacLean and singerKeshia Chanté. Four-time World Figure Skating ChampionKurt Browning is an "Elite Battle Expert" correspondent, providing colour commentary. Browning had previously hosted from seasons 1 to 3, and was a judge in seasons 4 to 5.Virgin Radio 999 DJ Maura Grierson was added in season three as the "Battle Correspondent", providing viewers with a look backstage, but did not return in subsequent seasons of the show.[12]
In season one, the head judge wasEmmy Award winning choreographer and figure skaterSandra Bezic, withOlympic championDick Button being the other regular judge. There was also one rotating guest judge each week from the world of hockey or figure skating. Season Two saw the departure of Button and the addition of retired NHL playerJeremy Roenick as the second regular judge. Season Four featured a completely new judging panel with Browning switching from hosting to judging, Olympic figure skating gold medallist and season one championJamie Salé, and former NHL player and season two competitorP.J. Stock, with no rotating guest judges.[13] Season five saw the departure of Salé, bringing back the rotating guest judges. In the second week of competition, Stock swapped to become a contestant, filling in for an injuredColby Armstrong, and Armstrong took over as a regular judge in place of Stock. Season six saw another complete overhaul of the judging panel with Olympic ice dancing gold medallistScott Moir, Olympic ice hockey gold medallist and season 5 runner-upNatalie Spooner, and Junior Canadian figure skating championElladj Baldé as regular judges.[14]
Each couple represent one or two charities of their choice. Depending on their placement in the competition, an increasing amount of money is then donated to their charity. The winners of season one,Jamie Salé andCraig Simpson, hadCAD 100,000 donated to Spinal Cord Research. In season two, all competitors were guaranteed $25,000 donated to the charity of their choice and $100,000 for the winnersEkaterina Gordeeva andValeri Bure. In season three, the winners' charity will receive $100,000, second place will receive $35,000, third place will receive $30,000, and the other five charities will receive $25,000.
| Season | No. of Stars | No. of weeks | Season Premiere Date | Season Finale Date | Winner | Runner-Up | Third Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 – Fall 2009 | 8 | 7 | October 4, 2009 | November 16, 2009 | Craig Simpson & Jamie Salé | Claude Lemieux & Shae-Lynn Bourne | Stéphane Richer & Marie-France Dubreuil |
| 2 – Fall 2010 | 8 | 8 | September 26, 2010 | November 22, 2010 | Valeri Bure & Ekaterina Gordeeva | Patrice Brisebois & Shae-Lynn Bourne | Todd Warriner & Isabelle Brasseur |
| 3 – Fall 2011 | 8 | 8 | September 18, 2011 | November 14, 2011 | Tessa Bonhomme & David Pelletier | Bryan Berard & Marie-France Dubreuil | Boyd Devereaux & Tanith Belbin |
| 4 – Fall 2013 | 8 | 7 | September 22, 2013[15] | November 17, 2013 | Scott Thornton & Amanda Evora | Jason Strudwick & Violetta Afanasieva | Mathieu Dandenault & Marie-France Dubreuil |
| 5 – Fall 2019 | 7 | 7 | September 19, 2019 | October 31, 2019 | Sheldon Kennedy & Kaitlyn Weaver | Natalie Spooner & Andrew Poje | Bruno Gervais & Ekaterina Gordeeva |
| 6 – Fall 2020 | 8 | 6 | October 22, 2020 | November 26, 2020 | Wojtek Wolski & Meagan Duhamel | Jessica Campbell & Asher Hill | Kris Versteeg & Carlotta Edwards |
| Season | Premiered | Ended | TV Season | Rank (Performance shows) | Viewers (in millions) | Rank (Results shows) | Viewers (in millions) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Preview Show Viewers (in millions) | Premiere Performance Viewers (in millions) | Date | Final Performance Viewers (in millions) | Finale Viewers (in millions) | ||||||
| 1st | October 4, 2009 | - | 1.959[20] | November 15–16, 2009 | 1.878[21] | 1.736[22] | 2009-10 | #18[23] | 1.737 | #28[24] | 1.270 |
| 2nd | September 26, 2010 | 1.511[25] | 1.662[26] | November 21–22, 2010 | 1.505[27] | 1.333[28] | 2010-11 | - | 1.534 | - | 1.113 |
| 3rd | September 18, 2011 | 1.195[29] | 1.307[30] | November 13–14, 2011 | 1.341[31] | 0.897[32] | 2011-12 | - | 1.147 | - | 0.823 |
| 4th | September 22, 2013 | 0.771[33] | 1.004[34] | November 10–17, 2013 | 1.078[35] | TBD | 2013-14 | TBA | TBA | - | - |
| 5th | September 19, 2019 | - | 0.774[36] | October 31, 2019 | - | TBA | 2019-20 | TBA | TBA | - | - |
| 6th | October 22, 2020 | - | 0.455[37] | November 26, 2020 | - | TBD | 2020-21 | TBD | TBD | - | - |
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Rose d'Or | Best Variety & Live Event Show | Season 1 | Nominated | [38] |
| Gemini Awards | Best Music, Variety Program or Series | Nominated | [39] | ||
| Best Direction in a Variety Program or Series | Joan Tosoni | Won | |||
| Best Photography in a Variety or Performing Arts Program or Series | Alex Nadon | Nominated | |||
| Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or Series (Individual or Ensemble) | Kurt Browning | Nominated | |||
| 2011 | Gemini Awards | Best Music, Variety Program or Series | Season 2 | Won | [40] |
| Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or Series (Individual or Ensemble) | Ron MacLean,Kurt Browning | Nominated | ForEpisode 2-15 | ||
| Shae-Lynn Bourne,Patrice Brisebois | Nominated | ForEpisode 2-09 | |||
| 2013 | Canadian Screen Awards | Best Music, Variety, Sketch Comedy or Talk Program or Series | Season 3 | Nominated | [41] |
| 2015 | Canadian Screen Awards | Golden Screen Award for TV Reality Show | Season 4 | Nominated |
