Jamie Salé & Craig Simpson winners of Battle of the Blades

JamieandCraig1From a media release:

JAMIE SALÉ AND CRAIG SIMPSON ARE DECLARED THE WINNING PAIR OF THE BATTLE OF THE BLADES

  • Winners receive $100,000 for donation to The Spinal Cord Injury Treatment Centre (Northern Alberta) Society

The results are in and Canadian viewers have spoken. After seven weeks of intense competition, Jamie Salé and Craig Simpson were declared the final winners of the BATTLE OF THE BLADES, as voting results were revealed during tonight’s broadcast of the series finale. Salé and Simpson receive $100,000 for donation to their charity of choice: The Spinal Cord Injury Treatment Centre (Northern Alberta) Society (SCITCS).

“This has been an incredible journey,” said Simpson. “The opportunity to learn something different every week and try something new, it’s simply been exhilarating!”

“I’d like to thank our families, kids and everyone who helped us along the way,” added Salé. “This was an amazing commitment and sacrifice for everyone.”

The Edmonton duo has impressed audiences from early on in the competition. Judge Sandra Bezic praised their most recent routine as a fantastic culmination of all their work and judge Dick Button commended them for taking on dangerous moves and making them their own. Simpson was also the first male skater in the series to do a waltz jump and both he and Salé delighted audiences with their madcap tribute to Austin Powers. The fact that Simpson has suffered from a bad back during much of the competition makes their performances even more remarkable.

Shae-Lynn Bourne and Claude Lemieux along with Marie-France Dubreuil and Stéphane Richer are the runner ups in the competition. For their efforts, Make-A-Wish Canada and MA Fondation, the respective charities for both pairs, will each receive a $25,000 donation. The judges also congratulated both pairs for their outstanding efforts and for showing their full commitment to the sport of figure skating throughout the competition.

Tonight’s finale wraps up a competition that began with eight pairs performing over seven weeks to a variety of different musical themes. Each week saw increasingly complex routines as the number of pairs remaining in the competition raised the stakes higher and higher to collect viewer votes, impress the judges and go all-out to win the grand prize.

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