Brooke and Derek win Dancing with the Stars
2nd Place: Warren and Kym
3rd Place: Lance and Lacey
Video and live re-cap after the JUMP…
Brooke and Derek win. Wow, that was…anticlimactic. Do I suck at making predictions for this show, or what. I totally underestimated Warren and Kym’s fan base, even though some peeps warned me earlier in the season not to underestimate the fan bases of the football players.
As far as the finale, I thought the highlights were few and far between all of the unnecessary filler. Most of the show was some sort of do-over–including all the contestant’s routines tonight. In between stuff we’ve already seen ad nauseum, there were a couple of guest performances–Alicia Keys and Miley Cyrus–and a few lame bits. The Jeffrey Ross “roast” and Cloris’s interview segment had potential, but fell flat.
I felt about a minutes worth of disappointment that my favorites, Lance and Lacey lost. Everyone will go on with their careers already in progress. I would think the win means more in terms of career advancement for the pros than it does for the stars. In the meantime, stars like Lance and Toni, who don’t have regular day jobs will go on the tour.
Then, it starts all over again in a few short months…
There’s going to be a heck of a lot of filler in tonight’s special finale. Re-cap, pointless interviews, dumb videos…yada yada. And of course, we’ll have to re-live the entire season, I’m sure. Do we have to?
After the requisite recap, Cloris Leachman conducts a man-in-the-street type interview. Well, there wasn’t much to that. I was expecting way more hijinks.
Alicia Keys take the stage to sing “I Need You” with a gaggle of dancers. Alicia’s got a little footwork of her own going on, until she gets behind the piano to do her thang.
Oh look, there’s Miley. She’s next. Yipee.
Jeffrey and Edwina, Ted and Inna and Kim Kardashian reprise a dance. Do we really even want to see these dances again? Jeffrey and Kim–Ouch.
Re-cap of Week 3 and 4 – Misty May-Treanor injures her ankle. I an’t get enough of hearing her tendon pop. Ouch. I can’t get enough of Rocco in a pink ruffled shirt! Misty May is back. She can walk now. That’s a good thing. Look, there’s Maks, and he’s answering questions diplomatically, for once.
Rocco and Karina dance the Mambo. Aww, Rocco sure is cute, but he’s got no rhythm!
Weeks 5 and 6: Four brand new dances, and it was kind of a trainwreck! Michael Flatley judges. Sort of.
Toni Braxton is here, but she’s just come out of minor surgery, and she can’t dance. But who cares about her, Cloris and Corky make their entrance. Everybody loves Cloris! Aw, Cloris isn’t going to Broadway after all, because “Young Frankenstein” is closing… Damn the economy!
Susan Lucci and Tony are back to dance the paso doble. Susan’s dramatic skills held her in good stead here…
Maurice Greene and Cheryl dance the Salsa. Aw, I thought Maurice should have lasted at least another week. Maybe he should be in the finals instead of Warren. Love this salsa…
More and more recap. We’re speeding through the weeks now, to make time for Jeffrey Ross and his roast of his fellow contestants. This is a little corny. But then, he’s got to keep it PG for the kids.
Cody and Julianne dance their Lucy and Ricky jitterbug. Maybe my favorite from them.
The judges assess the competition. For the nth time. The Pop Star, The Hero, The Hot Momma–guess who is who!
Oh geez, presenting the competitors standing on pedestals with blowing smoke to the strains of the Star Wars theme? This show is so cheesy! They’re all cracking up.
The last leg of the competition finally begins…
Warren and Kym – The Hustle – As it turns out, Warren’s football footwork translated to dancing. Kym wants to cuddle Warren! Warren tells Kym he loves her. Aw. Warren’s footwork here is a bit clumpy, but the lifts are really nice. Len says he may not be the judges champion, but he is the people’s champion. Bruno calls him the craftiest hustler of them all. Carrie Ann calls it, “Too cool for school.” Carrie Ann – 9 Len – 9 Bruno – 9 – 27 – 80
Lance and Lacey – The Jitterbug – Lance wanted to bring something different to the dance floor. Lance loves Lacey like a sister, and calls her a friend for life. Lacey says Lance is a little butterfly that came out of his cocoon. Lance feels so much more confident! The jitterbug is a total crowd pleaser. Will Lance keep his shoe on? Yes, he does. Bruno tells Lance he’s become a great showman. Carrie Ann nitpicks some mistakes, and adds that they both deserve to be here. Len says they sparkled the last few weeks. Carrie Ann – 9 Len – 9 Bruno – 10 28 81
Brooke and Derek – Viennese Waltz – Brooke says Derek was her favorite dancer. Derek says Brooke was born to dance. They admit to having problems during the competition, but ultimately came to respect one another. They fully intend to win. They are dancing beautifully. If they don’t get another perfect score, it will be close. Carrie Ann is crying. No sh*t. She calls Brooke a star, and Derek an incredible teacher. Len thinks it was the dance of the season. Bruno says, “Belissima” Aw, Brooke’s husband is tearing up. Carrie Ann – 10 Len – 10 Bruno – 10 – 30 – 88
First couple to be eliminated: Lance and Lacey!
OMG. Color me shocked. I was sure they’d come in second.
Miley Cyrus sings her craptacular hit “Fly on the Wall”. This song is really terrible, and Miley can’t sing at all. I predict the end of her adolescence will be the end of her career.
Samantha interviews Brooke and Derek and Warren and Kym backstage.
Ten minutes to waste. Really, they should just hand out the damn thing now. Tom is out in the audience interviewing the eliminated contestants, who plug, plug away.
Finally, the winner.
Brooke and Derek win Dancing with the Stars….
Aw look, they have their mirror ball. What a prize!
I totally forgot the second half of the finale was on tonight, so thanks for the recap MJ. I hope I didn’t miss much Maks. Not surprised at the outcome. I tend to vote for the quirky or the sexy couples, and the people tend to go for the technically proficient or the cutesy. Yet another season where I don’t dig the disco ball winner. Evs. I do beg to differ about the freestyles. I’d much rather see dancing than tricks and lifts and I loved Lance and Lacey’s freestyle. Oh wells. And put me down for Team: Judging is Bogus. Every season, Carrie Ann has a bug up her butt about someone who is better than she gives them credit, and gushes about someone else who doesn’t really earn it. Kinda over Dancing With the Houghs and Friends, but if Maks comes back next season, I’m sure will not be able to resist his fine, um, dance skills.
I’m just not convinced they needed Brooke to win to pull strings for her. I can’t think of a reason to do that, especially if she’s NOT a fan fave.
If they’re going to give them all 30s, then why waste our time?
Night Sarah!
Oh, I can think of plenty of reasons, first and foremost, not wanting to sacrifice their pride by having their Golden Child lose after 2344343 weeks of OTT praise.
That’s the question people have been asking for season after season. There IS no need for a scored dance on the finale. The only reason I see the need is to boost scores.
Night!
From a business standpoint, it makes more sense for them to make it a closer contest with the judges to build suspense.
If it’s all about ego, then I’m assuming they wouldn’t have praised Brooke in the first place if they didn’t deem her worthy. I’m not sure everyone would agree that it was OTT.
Now I’m really off.
–amen PJ. As another one of the minority (in this blog) who has favored Brooke (and Warren) since week 2, it isn’t hard for me to believe either.
Just my two cents — A TON of people I know who love the show and watch constantly all rooted for Brooke all season long, with the sentimental favorite being Warren. It’s a small sample, but I do believe people voted for her because she has been consistent and is a REALLY good dancer.
Also not that DialIdol is the be all end all of accuracy, but DI had Warren in first by quite a wide margin. Followed by Brooke who had an even wider margin over third place Lance, so in all honesty if the the dancers had done the same dances on finale night and gotten all equal scores, there is a good chance Brooke would have still come in ahead of Lance–though likely Warren would have beaten them both.
My other guess is as much as Lance touted himself as the worst dancer in NSync and I certainly agree that he was, for some he was probably still seen as a boybander “ringer”. Usually there are some every season who refuse to vote for people who they think have prior dance training, even if it is as far from ballroom as possible. It reared it’s ugly head with Mario Lopez, Joey Fatone, Mel B. and several others. So I wouldn’t be surprised if some didn’t vote for him for that reason ether.
I would have been happy with any of the three winning. They all worked very hard and I think that all three deserved to be in the final.
Having said that, I have to say that the show has never been about picking the winner for me. It’s about the totality of the season – watching the struggles and the growth and the joy in watching the “stars” challenge themselves to do something outside of their comfort zone. I also love watching a “live” show when absolutely anything can happen and usually does. Another thing I love is the mix of celebs and pros who get thrown together and become instant family. The stories are great.
I can’t wait for the next season.
Brooke – stiff, and unfinished arms???? Not what I saw. Her arm movements were so elegant. As you say, Warren, and to a lesser extent. Lance were not great technically, so they didn’t win. I am glad the bias against the “models” was overcome this time. Brooke is a great winner.
I am glad that Brooke won, and really, really glad that Derek won. His choreography is always so incredibly hard, I am glad that he finally got some recognition for it.
Poor Alec, they finally get a model who can dance, and they pair her with Derek.
I would really love to see Edyta or maybe even Kim (such a good sport) win next season.
I don’t think there was any chosen one. I had been rooting for Julianne and Cody but have never thought Cody was the best dancer. At various times throughout the show, many of the dancers gave great performances but Brooke was the most consistently great performer. The Viennese Waltz, was absolutely beautiful – even in slowed down speed, she showed grace and beautiful lines. She did the most difficult choreographed dances as well. I loved Lacey’s choreography and Warren’s personality (except if that story was true that TMZ reported) but there is no doubt that Brooke was the best dancer.
Congtrats to all the dancers!
Brooke was the obvious favorite from the beginning, I don’t think this is a show that can really surprise you. Kim K. was as slow as usual. Lance and Lacy mucked up a lift. Also Lacey was trying a bit too hard and made Lance look kind of slow on the last dance, I thought.
Pure cheese, just what the audience watches for.
I am cracking up that I finished in 14th place in the pool and barely watched the show, usually on my dvr a couple of days later. I guess not getting caught up in the week to week stuff, I could see Brooke as TCO/winner from miles away.
oh there was a chosen one and you knew right from the start that it would be Brooke, they just went on and on about her, critizing everyone elses feet but ignoring the fact that her arms and hands were stiff and graceless in every dance. She was not fun to watch, she was correct but boring imo
This is true, as Brooke was the top scorer almost every week. Last night’s conversation here was so compelling; I am sorry I wasn’t here at the time. (Just celebrating my birthday.)
One point, there was too much praise for Brooke. It was unnecessary as the judges’ scores were so high. At times, I felt they were too hard on Lance and Lacey. Len’s score of 10 on Warren’s dance was undeserved.
I wish Lancey had not done the Hip Hop dance for the Finale. It was not what I expected or wanted.
Overall, it was a good season!
Though I do not think That Brooke and Derek deserve 58 at their finale, but the problem was Lance & Lacey also Warren and Kym also didnot sparkle too.
Look at the lackluster free style. Compare to Season 2, season 4 when Apollo-Julianne and Joey-Kym awesome freestyle. Helio-Julianne was good too. And of course last season Kristi-Mark.
Like lots of people said here free style really can make you or break you. From Stacy season 2, Leila season 4, Mel B and Marie season 5, etc etc.
So we really had to give our hat to Cheryl, Julianne and Mark who can coreograph a good free style round. I am not so sure that Derek free style deserve a 30.
I also agree based on celeb talent pool, season 7 was the weakest since season 1. Truth that season 4 had only 4 good celeb that can dance but they all can dance pretty good for a celeb. Apollo, Joey , Laila and Ian were neck to neck in the semifinal.
If Brooke join any season except season 1, she will not win or even get into the final 3.
HOpe season 8 , the celeb can dance better than season 7 or I will not watch it anymore.