'Battle of the Blades' Ends With Shattered Trophy

No sooner did former Olympic skating champion Ekaterina Gordeeva win Canada's Battle of the Blades competition series Monday night than a national TV audience watched her winning Crystal Trophy topple to the ice during the closing credits.

"In Russia, we break plates and take a piece. She did it with the trophy," Gordeeva's skating partner, Valerie Bure, told reporters backstage after both were crowned second-season winners of the Battle of the Blades competition.

The Canadian reality TV series from Insight Productions features former National Hockey League tough guys mastering graceful ice dance routines with Olympic figure skating stars.

Canadian TV viewers apparently put their patriotism aside and voted Gordeeva and Bure, both of Russian heritage and living in California, winners of the competition series over homegrown finalists Shae-Lynn Bourne and Patrice Brisebois, and Isabelle Brasseur and Todd Warriner.

Gordeeva and Bure won over the competition judges, and a nationwide voting TV audience, with a James Bond-esque From Russia With Love dance routine during Sunday night's performance finale on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.