Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers for the “Dancing with the Stars” finale on Tuesday, Nov. 25.
Dancing with the Stars’ biggest season came to a close Tuesday night as Alix Earle, Robert Irwin, Dylan Efron, Elaine Hendrix and Jordan Childs battled it out for Len Goodman’s Mirrorball Trophy. Additionally, the host announced that the episode received 72 million votes during the finale. This is double last year’s tally.
Each team performed three dances: a judge’s chosen dance, an Instagram dance, and a freestyle. For Instadance, each team decided which dance they would perform and to which song five minutes before their number (so they could potentially practice four different dances in a week, in addition to the other two dances).
Alix and Val opened the show with a samba assigned by Carrie Ann Inaba, receiving a perfect score of 30. Even though your next dance is an Insta-dance, no one will know that you didn’t prepare a high-energy cha-cha that earned you a perfect score. Of course, the most anticipated dance was freestyle. This is something Val has always been very good at. She was excited to show her confidence in the routine and did just that, earning 30 points. In the end, she was the only one to receive a perfect score of 90/90 that night.
Dylan and Daniela took on the past double at the request of Bruno Tonioli. It wasn’t perfect, but I still got 10 points from Bruno and then two 9s for 27 points. For my Instagram dance, I chose foxtrot. The ballroom went wild for the routine, and the judges called it one of the best dances of the season, giving it a perfect score of 30. Their freestyle also featured a modern underwater routine and was one of the best performances of the night. Unsurprisingly, they scored 30 points, making their total for the night 87/90.
Derek Hough taught Elaine and Alan the rumba, and Bruno called the routine “pitch perfect.” So it was no surprise that he scored a perfect 30 points. For Instadance, I chose Quickstep. Despite one mistake, the score was 27/30. In freestyle, the pair performed a “Chorus Line” routine with cameos from Andy Richter and Lisa Ann Walter. He received 30 points, resulting in a score of 87/90.
Derek then assigned Quickstep to Robert and Whitney. Despite injuring his ribs during rehearsals, Derek and Bruno marveled at his routine, with Derek calling him the “King of Quickstep.” They received a score of 29/30. For the Instagram dance, they chose Cha Cha, but he didn’t want that. Still, they managed to score a perfect 30 points. The freestyle was also emotional and full of energy, earning it a perfect score. The final score was 89/90.
Jordan and Ezra were given a paso doble by Carrie Ann and were placed last in the first round. However, Carrie Ann pointed out that a very small mistake they made led to a score of 29/30. The two happily chose tango for their Instagram dance. It paid off, and the two earned a perfect 30 points. The two went into the final freestyle of the night, and it looked like they had saved their best for last. Carrie Ann said the dance, which featured Normani’s surprise appearance, was the best freestyle she’d seen in 20 years, giving it a perfect score of 30. The overall score was 89/90 points.
Before announcing the winner, the show announced that the live tour would feature Danielle Fishel, Andy Richter and Elaine Hendrix. In addition, the finalists will make a surprise appearance.
In the end, Robert Irwin took home the mirror ball trophy.
