It’s with mixed emotions that we say goodbye to Tie Domi.

He should have been out weeks ago, but on Sunday, I thought a lot of good things were happening in his skate. I commented to my friend Janean before they announced the bottom 2: “Man, if it’s Tuffy and Tie vs. Dubreuil and Richer, I think Tie may actually pull it off.” On Sunday, he and Tuffy did a “Boots are Made for Walking” ode to a horrible Jessica Simpson movie BUT they were actually really good. He did some footwork. He got into the music and because he was playing a tough cow boy, his cockiness worked with the music.

Marie-France Dubreuil and Stephane Richer were fine by contrast, but just fine. Slash – what was with the sunglasses? Their program was less exciting and certainly less entertaining. They are great as a pair and do some interesting lifts, but they haven’t shown the improvement that say, Jamie Sale and Craig Simpson have.

THEN – Tie Domi, I’m going to guess royally hung over from his 40 birthday party the night before, forgot the program. (Flash back to when I was 9 years old – I totally forgot my program. Standing at centre ice with no clue is the worst feeling ever). Don’t get me wrong: I think Dubreuil and Richer deserve to be in the final 3, but not this way. To have him get voted off when he clearly just had a bad night kinda blows. If they would have skated the way they had Sunday, I think they would probably still be in the competition. And this just isn’t the right way for him to leave the show.

The skating gods clearly foresaw a problem of having Domi in the final 3 and unleashed their wrath on his memory. Tuffy – you were the best possible partner for him, as Sandra Bezic said, and you did a stellar job of getting him through what was obviously a pretty terrifying moment.

Craig Simpson – let’s see that toe loop next week!

Robyn Doolittle
The Toronto Star Blogs