‘Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars’ finale review: Did Melissa Rycroft pull it off?
It has been an interesting season of “Dancing with the Stars” the past few months, largely because there were so many surprises, strong dances, and even some exciting twists in the second half of the year that really managed to elevate the show beyond just what it has been over the past few years. However, there was still one question left standing: who was actually going to win this crazy adventure in the ballroom?
Before the show, we have to admit that we more or less wrote off Melissa Rycroft, given that her scores were the lowest on Monday and she had consistently been the weakest performer of the past several weeks. However, it was still anyone’s game when you factor in fan bases … but before we reveal that (and after we skip over the useless first hour of the show), let’s take a look at the “instant dances” that all three of our ladies performed.
Kelly Monaco and Val Chmerkovskiy – Her instant jive was fun, and it really did show how far these two have come over the course of the entire competition. Kelly had more against her at the start of the season than anyone else, mostly in that it had been the longest for her since being on the show, and she also had a rather busy schedule. Score: 28.5
Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani – Would the judges take advantage of the opportunity to try and level the playing field, that way the public vote is really the deciding factor? Our bias at this point for Melissa probably keeps us from being completely and totally level-headed here, but it’s hard to play the conspiracy card here at all given that by the time her dance (plagued mostly by a weird song) was over, she still had the highest overall score between the two nights. Score: 28.5
Shawn Johnson and Derek Hough – In going back to conspiracy corner, the show often makes their final star of the night the winner, mostly because it keeps things building from one routine to the very end of the show. We expected Shawn to get a perfect score here to level the playing field here, and as easily as it would be to complain here, she deserved it. It was the best instant dance of the night by a good margin. Score: 30
As we predicted, Kelly was in third place after the votes came in, and then we had the season 8 clash of the titans all over again. Both were worthy; but on this season, it was Melissa and Tony’s time. Both of them finally have their first Mirrorball Trophies!
What do you think about the winner for the season, and did this “All-Stars” round with all of its twists and turns end up satisfying you? We want to hear some of your thoughts below.