entertainmentdissected

The new champions of ABC’s Dancing With the Starsnaturally are all smiles- Olympian Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas edged out favorites Gilles Marini and CherylBurke to take the season eight trophy. (picture courtesy of AP/Jason DeCrow) 

French heartthrob Gilles Marini came THIS close to snagging the mirrorball for Dancing With the Stars’ eighth season.

In what could be viewed as an upset, Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson and partner Mark Ballas instead waltzed off with the gold (well, actually glittery silver) mirrorball trophy, in the series’ tightest competition ever. Host Tom Bergeron revealed that less than 1 percent separated Johnson/Ballas from runners-up Gilles Marini and Cheryl Burke.

Can’t say that either Johnson or Marini didn’t bring their all to the last nights of competition: On Monday night, they tied with a 58 out fo 60 for their two dances, and then last night, they each scored a perfect 30 for their dance of choice (Cha-Cha-Cha for Johnson, Argentine Tango for Marini). Even third-place finishers Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani scored a 30 for their Salsa (after earning a total of 56 the prior night). 

With a tie in judges’ scores, viewer votes made up the difference in the razor-thin race. Had judges’ scores from the entire competition played a factor, Marini more than likely would have taken the title, as he clearly fared the best overall throughout the season. For 16 dances, Marini had an average judges’ score of 28.1, while Johnson averaged a 26.9. Rycroft was right behind, at 26.8.

Burke probably is a little disappointed that she and Marini did not win, as it would have made her the professional with the most victories. At two wins, she’s in a three-way tie with Julianne Hough and Ballas. However, Burke (who’s competed in every season barring the first) has competed in four finals, easily more than any of the other pro. Tied with two finals a piece are Dovolani, Hough, Ballas, Kym Johnson, Edyta Sliwinska and Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Furthermore, Burke has earned more perfect 30s (11) than any other professional; runner-up is Hough (nine), followed by Chmerkovskiy (eight).

Emerging as the winner of the professional dancers competition was Anna Demidova, who now has a guaranteed spot as a pro for season nine. She beat out Mayo Alenan, who she danced with during the first two rounds of the competition.

Seventeen-year-old Johnson’s win marks the third time an Olympian has won the mirrorball- short track speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno won season four (paired with Hough) and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi triumphed in season five (partnered with Ballas). Incidentally, Ohno showed up at one of Johnson’s rehearsals during the past week, and reminded her that every Olympian who had competed on the show ended up winning the trophy; that may have given Johnson the push she needed to win the competition.

With Dancing crowning its champion, that leaves American Idol’s coronation,which airs tonight. Finalists Adam Lambert and Kris Allen competed one last time Turesday night on the FOX series, with Lambert probably faring better. The guys performed three songs: their favorite from the season, a song chosen by producer Simon Fuller and the eventual winner’s first single (titled “No Boundaries,” co-written by Kara DioGuardi).

In round one, Lambert went with “Mad World,” which drew rave reviews the first time around, and did again- though Simon Cowell found it to be too theatrical this time out. He awarded round one to Allen, who chose “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and left Cowell admitting his initial skepticism about Allen being in the finals- but, following that performance, he was convinced America made the right choice.

Round two easily went to Lambert, who brought Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” into another stratosphere. Allen and a few other guitarists sat and strummed to Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” which was fine enough, but lacking excitement for such a grand event.

Unsurprisingly, the last round was the least memorable. “No Boundaries” is a typical Idol-winner track, with plenty of mountains and dreams, and all it really did was showcase who has the bigger voice- which was never in doubt, Mr. Lambert. The song probably went beyond Allen’s vocal comfort zone, though he still managed an OK rendition of the rather mediocre (at best) track. DioGuardi hoped that people would vote on Allen’s season and not that last song.

Idol comes to its season eight conclusion tonight at 9 p.m. EST, and host Ryan Seacrest already warned DVD users that the show will go long, so set your programmers accordingly.

Who will it be? The flamboyant glam rocker or the reserved, Christian cutie? If Danny Gokey votes went to Allen, don’t be surprised to see Lambert finish as runner-up. No matter the result, though- the dude is going to be an unabashed star.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS