Amanda Kessel and Eric Radford learn from host Ron MacLean they will be the first team eliminated on Season 5 of Battle Of The Blades. Amanda Evora & Colton Orr look on. (Episode 2 / September 26, 2019)Battle of the Blades

Olympic Games gold and silver medal-winning ice hockey player Amanda Kessel and her partner, two-time World pairs champion and three-time Olympic Games medallist Eric Radford, were the first pair to be iced on tonight’s episode of the hit live competition series BATTLE OF THE BLADES.

Amanda Kessel and Eric Radford first team eliminated on Season 5 of Battle Of The Blades
Amanda Kessel and Eric Radford first team eliminated on Season 5 of Battle Of The Blades

Kessel and Radford came into the show in the bottom two, alongside Olympian in pairs skating and Season 4 winner Amanda Evora and her partner, former Toronto Maple Leaf Colton Orr. The two teams were ranked lowest of the six competing pairs ,(note: Violetta Afanasieva and her partner P.J. Stock were given a bye during the first week due to the forced departure of Afanasieva’s original partner Colby Armstrong following an injury suffered in training)..

Amanda Kessel and Eric Radford first team eliminated on Season 5 of Battle Of The Blades
Amanda Kessel and Eric Radford first team eliminated on Season 5 of Battle Of The Blades

At the end of an intense skate-off in tonight’s episode celebrating the ‘decades,’ the judges gave Kessel and Radford a lower score, sending them off the ice and home.

Photo by Battle of the Blades    Amanda Evora &Colton Orr on Season 5 of Battle Of The Blades (Episode 2 / September 26, 2019)
Photo by Battle of the Blades
Amanda Evora &Colton Orr on Season 5 of Battle Of The Blades (Episode 2 / September 26, 2019)

Evora and Orr will continue in the competition next Thursday, October 3

   Amanda Evora & Colton Orr on Season 5 of Battle Of The Blades (Episode 2 / September 26, 2019)

Amanda Evora & Colton Orr on Season 5 of Battle Of The Blades (Episode 2 / September 26, 2019)

Kessel was competing on behalf of SickKids Foundation, in support of The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, while Radford was competing in support of Egale Canada, which works to improve the lives of all LGBTQI2S people.

The remaining pairs are:

Violetta Afanasieva and P.J. Stock

Amanda Evora and Colton Orr

Ekaterina Gordeeva and Bruno Gervais

Vanessa James and Brian McGrattan

Natalie Spooner and Andrew Poje

Kaitlyn Weaver and Sheldon Kennedy