After 10 weeks of competition, Dancing with the Stars crowned it’s first-ever all-stars winner Tuesday night. The three finalists – Kelly Monaco, Shawn Johnson and Melissa Rycroft – went into the show with two of their three final performances under their belts. Rycroft’s two performances on Monday night left her in first place with a perfect score of 60. Monaco followed behind with 59 points, and Johnson landed in third place with 57 points.
The final performance involved each finalist getting less than 1 hour to put together a routine for a dance style. Scores from their “instant dance” would then be combined with Monday night’s scores and fan votes to determine the last two eliminations.
Monaco, who won the first season of DWTS, was the first to be booted from the running for the mirror ball trophy. It came down to Johnson and Rycroft, who previously competed against each other on season 8. The season ended with Johnson winning and Rycroft taking third place, but this time around the roles were reversed. Rycroft and her partner Tony Dovolani were crowned the winners, and Johnson and her partner Derek Hough took second place.
The win is Dovolani’s first. "I've paid my dues, but it was worth 14 seasons to get someone like Melissa. It was worth it for this moment, this unbelievable moment, this incredible ride. All the stars have to align sometimes and tonight they did! This moment I have to share with all of our fans. We thought we were going home week one!” he told Us Weekly after the show.
"We just wanted to do our best and leave some kind of impression, but never thought that we'd be the champions, never thought we'd be the last ones standing. I wish we hadn't underestimated ourselves, but at the same time, it kind of makes us even more proud of what we've accomplished. Once this dies down, I'm going to look back and reflect on what we've done because it feels pretty incredible,” added Rycroft.
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