(Spoiler alert: This article reveals who won “Dancing With the Stars” Season 31 on Nov. 21.)
On Monday night’s “Dancing With the Stars” finale, a new winner was crowned and the competition bid farewell to both judge Lane Goodman and pro dancer Cheryl Burke, who have both been with the show since its debut in 2005.
The four final couples – Charli D’Amelio and Mark Ballas, Wayne Brady and Witney Carson, Shangela and Gleb Savchenko, and Gabi Winde and Val Chmerkovskiy – competed to take home the Mirrorball trophy with the Redemption Dance, in which they performed a dance. Exhibited. earlier in the season in hopes of getting high marks, and a final freestyle in which he left it all on the dance floor.
All the freestyles earned perfect scores, but Charlie and Mark’s joyous, kick-up-your-heels Hollywood-inspired number was the final move to claim the Mirrorball. The 18-year-old social media star was the frontrunner throughout the season and she and Mark were the first couple to earn 10s.
In second place were Gabby and Val, whose freestyle rendition of the musical “Chicago” was a smoldering cell block tango. Bruno Tonioli declared, “I find you guilty of being deathly hot!” Lane praised Tango despite the wardrobe malfunction. “I wanted to give you one last one,” Val joked.
Wayne and Brittany’s awesome “Soul Train”-esque freestyle had Carrie Ann Inaba proclaiming, “You got us!”
But the real showstopper was Shangela in a fab-you-loose freestyle with partner Gleb (aka “Natasha”), also in drag. “It just happened in this ballroom,” Tyra Banks said as the crowd went wild. Lane was so busy he forgot to vote, he said. “We’ve never seen anything like this before on this show,” Derek Hough complimented the number, which featured dancers dressed as crispy fried chicken legs. He added, “I couldn’t imagine a better way to end Season 31.”
“Drag is everywhere,” said a breathless Shangela after his performance. “People who want to live their life authentically are everywhere. And baby, we promised you a show. We got you a show.
Earlier in the evening, he addressed the weekend mass shooting at an LGBTQ club in Colorado Spring that left 5 dead and 13 injured, calling it a “terrible tragedy” and offering his condolences to those affected.
The season’s previously eliminated celebrities were also part of the finale: Selma Blair, who began lean in week 5 to focus on her health, was reunited with partner Sasha Farber to perform a floor-rolling contemporary routine. which they had planned to do that night. Jordin Sparks, who went home in week 7, sang “No Air” live to accompany the dance. He, Selma and Sasha hug at the end.
Burke danced his final routine to “Copacabana” with fellow pro Louis Van Amstel and choked up when Tyra called him “a living legend.” She thanked “every single person for believing in me… thank you for letting me be the greatest artist that I could be.”
Goodman was remembered as the toughest judge to judge in a video package in which she gave scores of less than 2. When co-hosts Tyra and Afonso Ribeiro presented him with his mirrorball, he was thrilled. “It’s fantastic,” said Goodman. “It is my pleasure to be a part of ‘Dancing with the Stars’. I’ve had such a wonderful time and it’s absolutely the cherry on top.
