Cue that theme music...

Posted: Wednesday, November 24, 2010 by Travis Cody in
18

It's the grand finale, live from Hollywood!


Tonight we find out who dances off with the Fabulous Mirror Ball trophy!


We've got our fru-fru finery, our nice bottle of merlot, our lasagna for dinner, and our CAKE. We are ready for two hours of frivolity.

Let's get to it!

Our eliminated celebrities open the show, and they each bring out their celebrity partner for a group dance. That's a great way to take the floor, with our three final couples joining them.


Here's a reminder of our leader board after Monday's performances:


60 Jennifer and Derek
56 Kyle and Lacey
52 Bristol and Mark


Apparently, Jennifer ruptured a disk during Monday's performance. She has been cleared to dance and she's going to perform. I hope she's OK.


Christina Aguilera is in the ballroom, performing a number from the new film Burlesque.

Our pairs get two more chances at scores from the judges. There will be two rounds.


Here's round one. Each pair selects their favorite dance of the season. The pairs will be ranked by the judges rather than getting scored individually.


Kyle and Lacey dance their Tango. They scored 23 on this dance, which I thought was the point at which Kyle really started to improve his technique and combine it with his charm as a natural performer. I think he's a bit heavy with his feet in this dance, but his posture is quite good. He also has control of his balance. He is dancing with much more confidence now. I liked the performance. He attacked the dance without letting it get away from him, and was a strong lead for Lacey. Len praised his energy and attack. I think Kyle has always been able to bring attitude and charm to his performance. But over the last few weeks he has added refinement and poise. Judges say 9,8,9 for a total of 26.  It looks like Carrie Ann and Bruno ranked them 2nd, while Len ranked them 3rd.


Bristol and Mark dance their Tango. They scored 23 on this dance, and I thought that was low even with the penalty for breaking hold. This was during Rock Week. I don't get why Bristol insisted on breaking hold again. They should probably have focused on improving the dance, rather than thumbing their nose at the rules. I did like this dance the first time they performed it. I thought this time, she loosened up and showed more personality. But I just think it's just a bad idea to blatantly plan to break the hold when you have a chance to correct it. She had a chance to demonstrate with this dance that she had mastered the technique and attitude. I think she performed well, but I would put her third because of that slap against the rules. Judges say 8,9,8 for a total of 25.  It looks like Carrie Ann and Bruno did rank them 3rd, while Len ranked them 2nd.

Jennifer and Derek dance their Viennese Waltz. They scored 24 on this dance on the season premier. There was so much emotion in that very first dance, which was performed to a song from Dirty Dancing and ended up as kind of a tribute to Patrick Swayze. Damn. They had a little footwork bobble, but they danced through it. It looked like she might have caught her foot in her dress. But then again, they may have needed to be a little careful because of her back injury. Still, the dance was as lovely as it was the first time they performed it. It had the same kind of emotion I remember. It was still sentimental, but it also had an ethereal quality to it. I'm sorry this is coming to an end because I have so enjoyed watching her dance. Judges say 10's across for a total of 30.  All three judges ranked them first.


Here's the updated leader board:

90 Jennifer and Derek
82 Kyle and Lacey
77 Bristol and Mark

While our three final couples prepare for their instant dances, we get the parade of eliminated celebrities.

And aren't we lucky? We get a vocal performance from David Hasselhoff, with a little bit of Cha Cha Cha danced with Kym and a couple of other pros dressed as Baywatch lifeguards.

Rick and Cheryl, dressed in Lakers colors, have a dance off with Kurt and Anna, dressed in Cardinals colors. It's an epic Paso Doble battle. That was fun.

Margaret gets to dance a little with Dmitry and Damian, before dancing her Cha Cha Cha with partner Louis. And then Florence gets a bit with Dmitry and Damian too before dancing with partner Corky.

Mike returns to dance with Karina and two other pros, and apparently he had to do it shirtless. Whatever.

Brandy and Maks return with their Quickstep, denying Bruno's request to do a free style. I think it's better that they did this dance instead. Regardless of what some might say, they just didn't earn the opportunity to dance a free style.


Christina Aguilera returns to perform her song Beautiful. I really like this song. Her dancers signed some of the lyrics. That was really nice.

Now we get to round two, which is an instant Cha Cha Cha. I'm glad they brought this back. I think it really brought out the best in every celebrity. Each pair dances their own Cha Cha Cha choreography to Pink's Raise Your Glass. They drew numbers for the order of performance.

First up are Kyle and Lacey. Cha Cha Cha suits him so well. I'm a little surprised by the choreography though, because for a good 15-20 seconds at the beginning, he didn't do much dancing at all. That was kind of disappointing actually.  I expected more excitement. The performance was enjoyable, although I wouldn't say it was one of his best. Judges say 9,9,10 for a total of 28.


Next we have Jennifer and Derek. I liked the way they entered the floor. Jennifer was spot on, just like the first time I saw her do this dance. They did classic Cha Cha Cha steps and did them well. Derek managed Jennifer's injury situation and she pushed through it. I'm so sad that this was the last time I'll see her dance. Judges say 9,9,10 for a total of 28.


Last up are Bristol and Mark. This was a good dance for her to finish up with because I thought that of all the up tempo dances, she managed Cha Cha Cha the best during the season. I thought she never really demonstrated musicality in most of the up tempo styles, but she did a good job with this final performance, although she did make some mis-steps just at the end. Judges say 9's across for a total of 27.


So here is our final leader board:


118 Jennifer and Derek
110 Kyle and Lacey
104 Bristol and Mark


That's it. The dancing is finished. The scores and votes are in. Now it's results. Here we go.


Finishing in third place...Bristol and Mark.


Finishing in second place...Kyle and Lacey.




That means the Fabulous Mirror Ball trophy goes to...Jennifer and Derek!


YES!

Of course you know I'm thrilled with this result.  She was my favorite before she ever took a step on the ballroom floor.  I split votes early, but that didn't last very long.  And now I'm a happy DWTS fan!

The only thing that would make me a happier DWTS fan?  I think you know.

Please please please please please!  

Can Valerie Bertinelli come dancing???

Please?

Later gang!

18 comments:

  1. Anonymous says:

    Yay! Jennifer has come a long way since Dirty Dancing!

  1. DrillerAA says:

    All is well with the world.
    The only thing that would make me a happier DWTS fan would be the return of Derek's sister, Jennifer... but not at the expense of Chelsea Hightower.

  1. Anonymous says:

    Sounds like you had a wonderful evening. But what kind of cake. As i promised, no spoilers from me. I fell asleep somewhere in the middle.

  1. It was a beautiful evening and a great way to end the season. I just wish Bristol and/or mommy didn't keep pushing the "haters" line rather than accepting responsibility for her performance. She really did improve all season and it was a chance for an insecure little girl to come out of her shell which would have been better for her than getting sucked into the left/right talking points.

  1. Travis, I am so glad that Jennifer and Derick won. The world is as it should be.

    Thank you and Pam for always watching and keeping us updated through your blog.

    I would love to see Valerie dance too.

    Happy Thanksgiving to your family.
    Pam

  1. Akelamalu says:

    I had a feeling Jennifer would win. :)

  1. Barb: I just hope her back injury isn't too serious. It would be a shame to rediscover her passion for dancing but not be able to do it anymore.

    Driller: I'm with you on that one. I did miss Julianne.

    GGG: It was a great evening. We had my favorite, Boston Creme CAKE from our local Safeway.

    Jamie: Yeah, I could have done without the "big middle finger" comment she made. Somehow that put a bit of a ruin to the idea that she has learned grace under pressure. But she's still so young in so many ways, and it certainly can't have been easy to read and hear the things people were writing and saying about her and her family.

    Pam: Indeed it is...at least it is for the DWTS world.

    Akelamalu: I did too, but one never knows about the fans.

  1. Coco says:

    I watched the dancing show for the first time and it was really cool ... well, most of it (was that REALLY Knightrider, or an escapee from Tussaud's?).

    VB is one of my childhood idols - I have to agree that she'd be interesting to watch on the dancing show. From our lips, I guess?

    Thanks for the play-by-play. I likely wouldn't have watched if not for your blog posts.

  1. Linda says:

    I think that they should most definitely put your Valerie on the show; I have a sneaky feeling she'd wow the audience as she's always had a wonderful personality and smile.

    I really didn't like the way that politics played into this season and all; it just seems like it's a darned shame that so much attention was paid to Bristol's mother rather than to Bristol.

  1. Do you plan to watch Skating with the stars? I saw it advertised the other day and thought of you.

  1. I don't watch "DWTS," but I just might (MIGHT) if they got Valerie Bertinelli on the show.

  1. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, sir. I'm glad that Bristol didn't win. I don't watch the show, but I was sad to see it was basically hijacked by politics. Glad that the ones that should have won ended up winning regardless.

  1. Julie says:

    It was truly an exciting event. I KNEW you were going to talk about Valerie! Sure hope she gets on there soon!

  1. Coco: I still think it's a show you would enjoy.

    Linda: That's why I tried to treat her like any other celebrity contestant.

    Charles: While I enjoy figure skating, I think we'll take a pass on that show.

    Southern: I believe many gentlemen of a certain age might feel the same way!

    John: I wish the wingnuts from both sides would have just let it be.

    Julie: I must talk about Valerie! It's time for my seasonal campaign to get her on the show!

  1. I'm glad it turned out the way it should have. I haven't had the chance to watch the recording I made of the finals, but I wanted to read your recap since I had already heard the news. Now I'm recording Skating with Stars, just for kicks and giggles. *snort*

  1. I was wondering if you're going to be watching "Skating with the Stars"?

  1. Songbird & Lana: I'm not watching the skating program. Although I do enjoy figure skating, somehow this doesn't show doesn't actually appeal to me.

  1. Thanks for the recaps Travis...

    Glad Jennifer won for your sake. I always liked Kyle...but was never really around enough to vote.