‘Dancing with the Stars’ finale rankings: Should Melissa Rycroft be the winner?

Going into the season finale for “Dancing with the Stars,” we’re looking at a situation we would have never imagined before the start of the season: we have three female contestants in the finale for the first time ever, and they include two winners and a third-place finisher. We never thought that Kelly Monaco would have the scores to make it this far, nor did we think that Melissa Rycroft would have the fanbase to topple the likes of Emmitt Smith or Gilles Marini, who bested her back in season 8.

Yet here we are at what is one of the more interesting matchups in history. There may be an obvious favorite here among the three dancers, but are they the write winner? This, more than anything else, is what we are hoping to debate now.

3. Kelly Monaco and Val Chmerkovskiy (last week: 4) – No offense to Kelly, but it really does not feel like her odds of winning are very good at all right now. Her scores have been consistently lower than the other two dancers, and it feels in part that she is getting carried in part thanks to her chemistry with Val. We have no doubt that they will entertain Monday night, but it is probably going to take a ballroom miracle for the season 1 champ to be the very first two-time champ.

2. Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani (3) – We try to stay unbiased generally when we rank any show, mostly because it really doesn’t matter who we like so much as how certain contestants are going to perform. Here’s the complication when it comes to Melissa: we want to root for her so bad, even to the point where we do want to proclaim our allegiance. Why? She’s the best technical dancer of the bunch, she’s never won, and this is a vote as much for Tony Dovolani as anyone. Tony has danced more seasons than any other pro on this show without a Mirrorball Trophy to his name, and he has been forced to work with such people over the years as Kate Gosselin, Martina Navratilova, and Kathy Ireland. This isn’t to say that these are bad people, but the man has never been able to work with someone who is both a great dancer and has a large following save for Melissa and Stacy Keibler way back in season 2.

1. Shawn Johnson and Derek Hough (1) – For now, it is best to rank the overwhelming favorite at the top. These two are fun, extremely talented, and they have enough of that rebel streak that voters get excited. Right now we’d be willing to say that there is a 75% chance that Shawn becomes the first two-tine winner, and Derek can wrap up what be his last season on the show with a win.

Who do you think will win “Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars”?