Nov 25 2008
Shocker! Brooke Takes the Title
As anticipated, Derek Hough and Brooke Burke took the title on Dancing With the Stars’ finale Tuesday evening. Here, they hoist up their mirror ball trophy in celebration. (picture courtesy of ABC-TV/Associated Press)
Tonight’s showdown for Dancing With the Stars’ seventh season championship ALMOST ended in a surprise.
The three remaining couples- Brooke Burke/Derek Hough, Lance Bass/Lacey Schwimmer and Warren Sapp/Kym Johnson- took to the dance floor for the last dance, dancing what they believed to be their season’s best. Host Tom Bergeron then announced that Bass and Schwimmer were out of the running for the title.
Some gasps likely were let out among viewers and those in attendance. After all, Bass/Schwimmer in recent weeks had emerged as a possible threat to Burke and Derek Hough. So when the pair was eliminated, even Burke had a momentary look of concern- could the big man Warren Sapp pull an upset?
Fortunately, that didn’t happen, once the scores from Monday and tonight were combined with Monday’s viewer voting. Nothing against the self-proclaimed Fat Man, but Burke by and large was the best dancer this season, stumbling just once (in last week’s semi-finals).
Had the entertaining and charismatic NFL tackle won the competition, it just wouldn’t be right- remember Taylor Hicks winning American Idol? Same notion.
When time came to announce the winner, Burke was in a dandy position with the judges- for both nights, she scored a combined 88 out of 90 from the judges, outdistancing her competitors by seven points (Bass) and eight points (Sapp). And, in the end, she received enough support from the voting public to earn her rightful trophy.
Burke’s win marked partner Hough’s first victory, after witnessing sister Julianne win two championships. Unfortunately for Schwimmer, she couldn’t take the title in her first season competing, like Julianne Hough and Cheryl Burke had done before her.
All of season seven’s contestants returned to dance for the finale, including Cloris Leachman, who undoubtedly was the series’ most colorful- and wacky- participant to date.
Season eight begins in March- whether it lives up to its predecessor’s entertainment value depends on whether producers want to up the ante and find someone to challenge Leachman’s shtick, or Sapp’s irresistibility (the latter, which judge Bruno Tonioli gushed). They may want to, since they could have difficulty finding a contestant to challenge Burke’s impressive technical skill.
Even Carrie Ann Inaba once commented how Burke was on her way to possessing talent on the level of the show’s professional dancers. Whoever emerges as season eight’s champ, there’s no doubt the shadow of Brooke Burke will be lingering…
