'Dancing With The Stars' Crowns Its Season 19 Winner
"Dancing With the Stars" has come to a close and it's down to the three finalists for the win. On Monday Nov. 24, Alfonso Ribeiro and Witney Carson were on top of the leaderboard with a perfect score of 80, followed by Sadie Robertson and Mark Ballas who got 78, and Janel Parrish and Valentin Chmerkovskiy who got a total score of 77.
Here's a recap of the Nov. 25 grand finals night:
The finalists will be dancing one more time— a fusion of two dance numbers which they've performed this season. But before that, Bethany Mota and Derek Hough danced their freestyle again for the encore dance.
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Other pairs from the season were back to perform one last time. Randy Couture and Karina Smirnoff danced the Foxtrot, Jonathan Bennett and Allison Holker, Betsey Johnson and Tony Dovolani, and Michael Waltrip and Emma Slater also performed. Later, Ribeiro and Carson brought back "The Carlton" dance to the delight of the audience.
Throughout the night, musical guest performers were also on hand to add glitz to the evening. Nick Jonas performed his latest single, "Jealous," Jennifer Hudson sang "Go All Night," and Meghan Trainor performed a medley of her hits.
For the finals, the three remaining pairs only had 24 hours to prepare for their fusion challenge.
Robertson and Ballas: The pair performed a Samba and Quickstep fusion, which got a perfect score from the judges. Len Goodman said, "Yours is a Cinderella story. You came to the ball having never danced. You are leaving a dancing princess."
Parrish and Chmerkovskiy: The duo danced the Paso Doble and the Foxtrot. "These two know how to build up drama! You two together are amazing!" raved Bruno Tonioli. Carrie Ann Inaba called it "elegant, passionate and riveting." The pair also got a perfect score of 40.
Ribeiro and Carson: The pair danced their final routine, a Cha-Cha and Argentine Tango. "We love watching you because your love for dance shows. You are like a glitter ball," said Inaba. Julianne Hough said that the dance was "super clean". They too got a score of 40.
Third place went to Parrish and Chmerkovskiy. Looking at her partner, Parrish said, "You were my trophy during the entire season."
Second place went to Robertson and Ballas. "I just want to say I'm so thankful to God who has brought me so far in this competition."
And Ribeiro, who mentioned that he has waited 10 years for a moment like this, was declared the champion of Season 19.
"I cannot believe this! I've wanted this forever," said Ribeiro, tears running down his face. Carson said, "He deserves this so much. He's one of the most hard-working people I know."
