Pussycat Dolls member Nicole Scherzinger and professional partner Derek Hough were crowned Dancing with the Stars' tenth-season ballroom champions during last night's live finale results show on ABC.
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Olympic gold-medal figure skater Evan Lysacek and partner Anna Trebunskaya -- Scherzinger and Hough's chief rivals throughout the season -- finished in second place.
"It's been such a blast. We were totally satisfied with everything we gave in these last few weeks and we're so proud of Nicole and Derek," Lysacek said after Scherzinger and Hough's victory was announced.
"They deserve it and they worked so hard, and they inspired us all the rest of the couples in the competition."
Given they had finished atop the judges' leaderboard during seven of the competition's nine previous performance rounds, Scherzinger -- whom the judges had labeled Dancing with the Stars' best celebrity dancer ever in recent weeks -- and Hough had been considered the overwhelming favorites to win.
"You guys won. You actually seem surprised!" Bergeron said after watching the pair celebrate wildly.
"Absolutely, man. We weren't taking anything for granted, everybody has been amazing. I'm so happy!" Hough replied.
ESPN reporter Erin Andrews and partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy finished in third place.
"This experience has meant everything to me. I knew that these two were going to go head-to-head in this, but I came here under really crummy circumstances and I just wanted to get my life back together and my smile back, and I just wanted to be myself again," Andrews told Bergeron and co-host Brooke Burke after their elimination was announced earlier in the finale broadcast. "And you guys have been amazing, [the judges] have, and my family up there, and this one [Maks] has just put my life back together, and so I'm so thankful."
"It was a roller-coaster, I'm not going to lie. But I think we've both learned a lot about each other, and ourselves," Chmerkovskiy added. "I learned a lot about myself. It's been amazing journey. I've come close before, but this is obviously different. And I feel like we've won and I certainly have. My own prize."
Scherzinger and Hough had received 55 out of 60 possible points for the routines they had performed during Monday night's first two finale performance rounds -- which had left them tied for first place with Andrews and Chmerkovskiy. Lysacek and Trebunskaya had followed in third place with 52 out of 60 possible points.
Tuesday night's broadcast then began with all three couples re-performing their favorite tenth-season dance and the judges ranking the performances from best to worst. While they didn't all have to chose the same dance style, all three couples opted to re-perform their previous Argentine tango routines.
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Dancing with the Stars judges Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli ranked Scherzinger and Hough's performance the best, earning them 30 additional points. Lysacek and Trebunskaya were ranked second and earned 28 additional points while Andrews and Chmerkovskiy were ranked third and earned 26 additional points.
Afterward, the finalists' shares of the judges' scoring from the finale's first three performance rounds was combined with their shares of the home viewer votes that were cast immediately after Monday night's two initial rounds and Andrews and Chmerkovskiy's elimination was announced.
The remaining two couples then each performed one last additional dance for the judges, who scored the dances independently as usual.
Scherzinger and Hough performed a jive that received 30 out of 30 possible points, giving them a total of 115 points for all four of their finale dances.
"Nicole.. there can only be one winner of Dancing with the Stars [and] it should be you," Goodman proclaimed after the performance.
Lysacek and Trebunskaya performed a quickstep that earned a perfect 10 from Inaba but received only 9's from Goodman and Tonioli, leaving them with a total of 108 points.
"Nicole and Derek, they may be winning in the scoring right now, but I swear you have won the hearts of not only myself but I think everyone here," Inaba told Evan and Trebunskaya after their final performance.
The couples' shares of the judges' scoring from all four performance rounds was then combined with their shares of the home viewer votes that were cast immediately after Monday night's two initial rounds and Scherzinger and Hough's tenth-season victory was announced.
About The Author: Steven Rogers
