By Claire Barickman Editor-in-Chief and Camryn Harakal Sports and Social Media Editor
The wildly successful season 33 of ”Dancing With The Stars” has come to a close, and with it an extremely entertaining finale. Coming into the finale of “Dancing With The Stars,” there were five remaining couples instead of the typical four, which has become a common theme in the last two seasons. The final couples were NFL player Danny Amendola and Whitney Carson, Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten, “Bachelor” star Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson, TV star Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong, and Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedorosick and Rylee Arnold.
Throughout the three hour special there were a wide variety of dances performed by current and former pros, eliminated stars, and season 32 Mirrorball winner Xochitl Gomez and her partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy. The highlights of these dances include Anna Delvey’s sassy return to the dance floor referencing her iconic “nothing” moment from earlier in the season, the chemistry filled dance between this seasons iconic showmances Brooks Nader and Gleb Savchenko and Jenn Tran and Sasha Farber, and of course Xochitl and Val’s dance to “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan.
The first round of dances for the night was the redemption dances. This round allows the stars to get a second chance at their worst scoring dance style. First up was Stephen Nedorosick, whose positive energy on the stage is contagious. Their redemption dance was the quickstep, and they danced to “I’ll Be There for You” by The Rembrandts. Stephen’s assignment was to work on his musicality and focus on his rhythm, which he definitely did in this dance. His positive energy shines through on stage and makes his dances very enjoyable to watch. He received a 29/30. Next up was Joey Graziadei with a cha-cha to “Can’t Stop the Feeling” by Justin Timberlake. Joey’s technique and confidence has improved every week, and his main suggestion was to show the judges what he can do to take this style to the next level. Though this wasn’t his most eventful dance, his performance was still very impressive. His technique, timing, and lines were very well done, and proved that he is worthy of being in the finale. They received a 30/30. The next star was Danny Amendola, who has shocked judges with his power and strength all season. They performed a tango to ”I Had Some Help” by Post Malone ft. Morgan Wallen, and he was told to improve his posture and have greater control of his movements. Throughout the dance, his timing and lifts were very well done. However, his technique is a bit behind the rest of the contestants. They received a 27/30. Ilona Maher was next up. She got assigned a jive to the song “Shake A Tail Feather” by Ray Charles & The Blues Brothers. Her assignment was to fix all of the mistakes she made last time, which were mostly timing mistakes. This jive was so fun to watch. Not only did she fix her mistakes that she made, but she made this dance her own. Her personality and confidence really shines through in more upbeat dance styles, including the jive. Alan and Ilona’s chemistry makes these dances so personal, which allows them to connect with their fans. They received a 27/30. Next up was Chandler Kinney, who may be the youngest star on this season, but certainly did not disappoint the audience with her dance. Chandler was given the jive, and her assignment was to maintain a high energy throughout the whole performance. Chandler’s jive to “APT.” by ROSÉ & Bruno Mars showcased her ability to keep up with fast and difficult choreography, while also having high energy throughout the whole performance. They received a 30/30, closing out the redemption round.
The second round of the night was the freestyle round, the most anticipated dances of the season. The freestyles, unlike other dances that are performed in the show, have no true rules. This allows the pro dancers to choreograph dances that incorporate multiple styles of ballroom and Latin into the freestyle. The freestyles are often a reflection of who the celebrity dancer is as a person and highlights their skills. This season was no exception to the incredible choreography and heartwarming tributes to the journeys that all the stars went through this year. The first couple up for the freestyle round was Stephen and Rylee, who danced a beautiful tribute to “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay. This dance was absolutely phenomenal. At just 19 years old this was Rylee’s first time ever choreographing a freestyle and she did it incredibly. Their dance incorporated many details that highlighted who Stephen is including having a pommel horse that they began the dance on, and a moment for Stephen and his teammates to show off their gymnastics skills. The dance received a perfect 30 (10,10,10) and was their first of the season.
Following Stephen and Rylee on the dance floor was Joey and Jenna, who danced a tennis inspired freestyle to “Canned Heat” by Jamiroquai. While this dance was a fun and unique way to highlight Joey’s job as a tennis coach before the “Bachelor”, this dance was just a tad bit underwhelming compared to Stephen and Rylee’s. Joey and Jenna still did an incredible job and received a 29 out of 30 for their score (9,10,10).
Danny and Whitney followed up with a “Barbie” inspired freestyle to the songs “PINK” by Lizzo and “I’m Just Ken” by Ryan Gosling. This dance was the most underwhelming of the freestyles of the night. To start off Danny wasn’t even in the first 30-60 seconds of his own freestyle and on top of this the dance was filled with mostly crazy tricks and lifts which is no surprise seeing that that seemed to be Whitney’s strategy the whole season to hide Danny’s lack of actual dance ability. Despite this lack of dancing on Danny’s part the pair still managed to get a 29 out of 30 (9,10,10).
The fourth couple to perform their freestyle was Ilona and Alan who danced to “Femininomenon” by Chappell Roan. The start of their freestyle was by far the most creative and highlighted both the journey that Ilona has made as well as her humor, she even quoted her iconic “Been better Carrie Ann” as she began the dance. This dance was both beautiful and powerful and did a perfect job at capturing her journey on DWTS. Ilona and Alan received their first perfect 30 (10,10,10) of the season and it was very well deserved.
The final couple up was Chandler and Brandon who performed a historic all black freestyle to “Hellzapoppin” by Eyal Vilner Big Band and “Move On Up” by Curtis Mayfield. The duo had a wonderful tribute to all of the black dancers that came before them. The dance started out black and white to replicate the style of the Nicholas Brothers dances and then the show switched back to color as the duo moved into the “modern” part of their tribute. Overall their dance was spectacular and a beautiful way to honor those who came before them. Chandler and Brandon received a perfect 30 for their dance (10,10,10).
The final standings of the night based on scores was, Chandler and Brandon with 118, Joey and Jenn with 117, Ilona and Alan with 114, Stephen and Rylee with 112, and Danny and Whitney with 110. However these were not their final standings after the fan votes, Danny and Stephen stayed in fourth and fifth place while Chandler moved down to third. The final two couples were Ilona and Alan and Joey.
and Jenna. The couple that ended up winning the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy was Joey and Jenna. The final rankings were a hot topic on social media following the results, however we feel that these rankings made sense based on their popularity especially because Ilona has a massive social media presence.
Season 33 was the most popular and successful season that “Dancing With The Stars” has had in a long time. Voting records were being shattered each and every episode as the show and its contestants acquired thousands of new fans. More than anything, this season reminded us how dance, no matter how trained or untrained the dancers may be, can bring millions of people together.