Dancing with the Stars Finale

Posted By: admin On: May 21, 2008 Comments: ( 1 )

By: Alyssa




Well the time has finally come. We are at the end of the season and we are about to crown the winner of Dancing with the Stars. Will a woman when this season? We’ll find out soon enough. Wow - Samantha looks amazing in lavendar - love it! Cristian and Cheryl are all decked out in black - Cheryl has leather, but not sure if Cristian does. While we are watching yet another recap, I learned from my Helio Castroneves tracker (my Mom) that he was supposed to be in the audience last night, but his flight was delayed. He missed it! I bet he was sad. He should be there tonight though to give away his crown. Then he has to fly back to Indy to get ready for the Indy 500 race…soooo exhausting, but I’m sure he’ll keep his natural energy up - c’mon it’s Helio.

We get some backstage confessionals after the recaps, but nothing to write home about yet. All of them said the same - that they did everything they could and that was all they could give - yada yada yada. All are backstage with Samantha - Kristi says this has been a once in a lifetime opportunity. For Cristian it has been a journey - everything is possible if you work for it. For Jason this is so different, but it has been great, he’s found a new me. He isn’t going to keep dancing unless it is the right price. ha! And, they all have outfits on from previous dances by the way. And here we go, another recap with more backstage confessionals. Cristin asked Cheryl if he doesn’t win can he have one of her trophies - she said absolutely! Yeah right - she’ll be holding onto those for sure. Jason says he is glad to be in last place - NOT! ha! Kristi and Mark were just super excited to be on top.

“Love in this Club” is now being sung by Usher. I did say last week that if he sings this I will puke - well here I go. Get me a bucket. He is out dancing his Usher dance and it appears he might be lip sync-ing. My fiance doesn’t like his outfit and he thinks he isn’t lip sync-ing, but I think he is - his lips are barely moving and he doesn’t have that neck vein that comes out when one sings. I will say that he does have some nice smooth moves and a unique style of dance. I bet Mario is jealous. Look at those old ladies in the audience standing and clapping for “I wanna make love in this club” - you sluts! ha!

We now get to see past DWTS alums give their take on who will win. Trista Sutter, Lisa Rinna, Harry Hamlin, Mark Cuban, Drew Lachey, Wayne Newton et al all gave their input. Now, one couple will get that ax. Already? Geez - I’m not ready yet!!! Third Place goes to - (before they announce it - I’m guessing Jason Taylor will be 3rd place) let’s see if I am right - WOW! Cristian and Cheryl took 3rd place. My guess was wrong. The crowd is on their feet. Cristian looks upset. He thanked Cheryl and was glad he made the decision to stay in the competition. Tom thought he was nuts for staying in the competition at first, but now thinks he is pretty amazing. Cristian said Cheryl has been a real friend, a great support, and the best dance partner. We stroll down memory lane with behind the scenes stuff and their practices. Cheryl is crying, but trying to maintain. I don’t know why I have tears, but I do. They ended with them hugging stating “We’ll be friends always.” Cheryl says she loves him and she’ll miss him and his family so much. AWWW! I know some of our readers will be glad that he got 3rd place.

They are now dancing their fave dance of the season - the Paso Doble. They would have danced this for the judges had they stayed in the competition. He did less screaming in this and it looks like they made some modifications to deal with his one armness. It was still good though. They ended with a long embrace. Great job, Cristian de la Fuente - we give you props for making it to the final 3. That leaves us with Kristi Yamaguchi and Jason Taylor as the final 2. They will be performing their favorite dance of the season for one final judging and score.

We stroll down memory lane again starting from the beginning of Season 6. We remember Steve Guttenberg, Adam Carolla, Penn and the rest of the gang. It feels so long ago, doesn’t it? But they are all back to dance again for us. Penn and Kym are up first and he is wearing his sexy red boa. They ended weird with their backs to the audience - think they messed up. Monica and Jonathon dance their Mambo next. She looks embarASSed during this, but c’mon this is a tennis player who is sooo not graceful. She looks like she is getting pulled around by Jonathon. Poor girl! We still love ya, Mon’.

Steve “The Gute” Guttenberg and Anna Trebunskaya are dancing their Tango again. He is trying to hold back his smile, but it isn’t working. They put in a cute little lift. They did fantastic. It was nice to see him back. Steve’s worst moment is that he doesn’t say Wow anymore b/c everyone keeps saying that to him b/c he overused it so much. Ya think?

We get more recaps - the Mango with Jonathon and Steve Guttenberg, the neck drama with Derek, the tears of Marissa when Carrie Ann said it was boring, the flying 10’s, Adam and Julianne leaving, speaking of which - they are back and he is dancing the Paso Doble with his unicycle. He is incredibly violent in his moves this time. ha! They do a nice lift this time around. It was very entertaining that is for sure. Adam goes off about all colors, religions, etc. all going for the Mirror Ball trophy and that is “why the terrorists hate us.” He begins it with “That’s why the terrorists hate us!” and I thought - oh great -open mouth insert foot, but he ended with “God Bless the USA!” The crowd loved it as did Julianne. He also pimped his radio show and Julianne’s album that dropped today. Coincidence that it drops today? I think not!

The ballroom kids finale is up next - The votes have been cast and the champions are Brandon and Brit after much promotion from Benji Schwimmer (from So you Think You Can Dance - winner 2 years ago). The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders presented them with the trophy and Brandon was just sooo happy! They got a mini mirrorball trophy. Now, more recaps. We relive Marlee’s disaster and getting upset as well as Priscilla’s disappointment of a dance, Kristi’s cute little jive, and Shannon Elizabeth’s less than sexy Rumba and her meltdown in the confessional, etc.

Priscilla Presley and Louis Van Amstel dance their tango right now. She looks smashing and Louis is now a US citizen - good for him. He pulls out a rose at the end and gives it to her. I don’t think they did that last time. It was really good. We didn’t get to chat with them (Tom says later) because now we get to see the bond between Jason and Cristian - the bromance. We see Cristian giving Jason a kiss on the cheek, hugs and Jason wrapping his arm. Cristian’s dream from day 1 is to be in the finals with Jason. Awww..his dream which has been so badly crushed right now. haha! It was a cute little package that was supposed to be for the wrap party, but it wasn’t. It was shown to all of America.

Marlee Matlin is dancing now and she is in her tiger outfit looking amazing as usual. She did amazing. She was so proud and I bet it felt good to come back to dance one last time and leave on a high note. Tom asked about the public reaction - people have been so supportive and people have been inspired by her, but she said everyone has inspired her includng Fabian. The final 2 are backstage practicing their routines. I bet they are so nervous.

It appears we are back from commercial and Tom and Samantha are not prepared. I also saw some blond Derek Hough hair out on the floor so it appears Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough are up next and yes, they are up next. Derek is playing up the audience. They dance the Quickstep and it looks awesome. Guess they’ve had lots of time to practice considering the rumors of them living together. Who knows if it is true or not, but I think they are cute together. Shannon hangs on Tom because she is so out of breath. Tom is speechless. Shannon thanks the judges this time around. Derek picks her up like he is carrying her over the threshhold and spins her around. The crowd loves it. He carries her off backstage. How cute.

More and more recaps and some cat scratchin’ your eyes out tiffs between Bruno and Len, some fake butts, Cristian and Cheryl’s injury, Kristi falling down the leaderboard, some Mario who we haven’t seen very much of tonight on the recaps. Mario is up next and they are dancing the Mambo and Tom said that it looked like Karina could take her second Mario to the finals, but her Poopie pooped out! haha! They did amazing as usual. Loved it even more the second time around. We’ll chat with them in a little bit.

Samantha is across the stage with former champions - Drew, Kelly Monaco, and Helio who is looking SOOOOO CUTE! Helio plugged the Indy 500 this weekend - he said he doesn’t know who will take the trophy tonight, but he’ll be taking the trophy this weekend at the 500. haha! I’ll be there sitting right across from the pits. Julianne Hough will be there too singing the National Anthem. Helio got her the gig - how sweet of him. Now, commercial break…

Marissa and Tony are up next - our loudest competitor according to Tom - hehe! They dance the Paso Doble too - very popular dance tonight. Boy, she has just improved so much from the beginning. So proud of her! Tom asked her about her self image now - she feels so sexy and more confident ever now. Tom said Tony won’t have to wax anymore while Marissa stroked his chest. haha!

Now we see the Football player against the Olympic Skater package. The judges tells us why each one might win the Mirrorball based on Masculinity, Technique, etc. They are standing face to face and Jason is soooo tall and Kristi is so tiny. This matchup is cute. Samantha is backstage with both of them. Kristi is taking deep breaths so they are probably up first. Jason said he has tons of respect for her - he grew up eating wheaties and watching Kristi win the gold and Kristi says she has the most respect for him - he’s a true gentleman.

Usher is back. He is singing a jazzy version of “Yeah“. Looks like he is lip syncing again so that he can concentrate on his dancing. He is just out here taking up the entire dance floor. Forget the professionals dancing while the entertainment sings - it is all about Usher tonight. Some tappers come onstage and Usher taps with them. Nice! Didn’t know he had it in him. This is song is much more appropriate for the ballroom and I must say I did enjoy this performance more than the first. Plus the way this song was sang didn’t sound anything like the original which is a good thing for Dancing with the Stars.

We get some green lazer lighting with the names of past winners - who will join that list tonight? Both couples come out and the crowd is on their feet. They all wave to the audience and stand up on stage. Kristi and Mark are up first and we see them meeting for the first time and her journey through the competition. Kristi thanks Mark for opening up this ballroom world to her - she wants to keep dancing. They are dancing the jive now. Their first jive where Mark has his dorky glasses on and is acting nerdy. Is my Mom on the couch screaming and clapping right now? Probably!

Len said she is the most consistent of any season - even with her foot going in her “frock” and he thought she was going to pull her ‘knickers’ off. Bruno said she didn’t miss a beat and she was consistent. Carrie Ann said they set the standard since day 1 and she grew throughout - she thanked her for representing the ladies. I have a feeling both couples will get all 10’s so there is no room for the judges to impact the final decision. Kristi said she was trying to hold back the tears from the start and is crying because it is over. Her scores are all 10’s for a perfect score again. If you add that to her other scores she gets a 90 out of 90 and Samantha thinks that this is the first time in history. Is it? I think it might be.

Next is Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinska and we see their journey including the pink tutu moment. Jason thinks football made him a better dancer and hopes dancing will help make him a better football player. Edyta thinks this has been one of the best experiences of her life. Jason says he has conquered his fear by dancing - awww! They dance the Quickstep again - the one I loved so much. They nail it - as Jason just tosses papers in the air and does his handstand over Edyta. He picks his papers back up so gentleman-ly like. He is super excited and happy. The crowd loves it.

Bruno said they moved like angels - 2 speedracers as well. Bruno thought it was their best performance. Carrie Ann said it was definitely a showdown tonight and his elegance of spirit shined through. Len said this season he came along unexpectantly and that Jason was the people’s champion and Kristi is the judges champion. His scores were all 10’s for a total of 30. Last time he got a 29 on the same dance and he turns around saying “hey Kristi, it does feel good. Wow!” haha! Cute. Jason’s combined score is an 81 out of 90.

Tom is chatting with the kicked off stars and getting some plugs and he starts with Priscilla and asks her how she did it being so shy - she identifies with Jason and is long winded. Tom tries to cut her off and he did so much better than Samantha. Mario says it was pure fun and takes his hat off to the people who doesn’t dance at all. Tom points out Shannon Elizabeth crying again and asks her “what the hell is going on now?” and she says she is highly emotional at everything and she’ll cry at the winner. I hear ya, Shannon - I’m a sappy crier too! Commercial break and it is 5 till 11 so they are really dragging this out to the very end. Obviously!

We’re back and the winner will be crowned. Kristi is standing where Helio stood when he won it. Will she win it? Jason looks a bit nervous and Kristi looks calm. That’s a change. I’m glad that Edyta is in the finals - I really am. Mark looks nervous too - and here Tom is drawing it out. Mark and Kristi won it and Mark is sooooo happy. He picks her up and is holding her sooo tight that she looks uncomfortable. Mark is supppper excited that he can’t even stand it. They thank everyone who makes the show happen.

Jason and Edyta are interviewed and Jason said he never thought he’d do the show or even get to the finals. He said Kristi is so deserving and he thanked everyone too. Tom gives Kristi and Mark the Mirrorball Trophy and they hold it high. Here comes the paper confetti. Jason and Cristian hoist Kristi up on their shoulders. Derek hoists up Mark on his shoulders and Jonathon looks like he is freakin out making sure the Mark doesn’t fall. haha! Kristi hugs her hubby and parents. Well, predictable or not - our girl Kristi won it. ‘Bout time it went to a girl. You go girl!

Thanks to Bridget for another season writing for www.starsdancingontv.com. Make sure you visit us here often even in the off season because we are always keeping track of our stars and professional dancers when the show isn’t on.