Former “Bachelor” Joey Graziadei has been named champion of the “Dancing With the Stars” ballroom.
The truth star and professional companion Jenna Johnson beat U.S. Olympian Ilona Maher and professional Alan Bersten, who positioned second within the last minutes of ABC’s eight-week competitors.
“I feel like Jenna deserves this fully and this is all for her,” Graziadei stated upon successful the Len Goodman Mirrorball trophy. “It means everything, this whole experience has been unbelievable, honestly. Ilona, you have been amazing this season. I love you. All of the finalists, the judges, thank you for bearing with us. I tried my best, I promise!”
5 semifinalist {couples} went into the finale. The opposite three had been: Disney Channel alum Chandler Kinney and companion Brandon Armstrong, who got here in third place; Olympic gymnast (a.okay.a. “Pommel Horse Guy”) Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold, who positioned fourth; and former NFL star Danny Amendola and Witney Carson, who positioned fifth.
In a package deal reflecting on his time on the collection, Graziadei stated he felt he was “completely in over my head” when he began coaching and wasn’t certain he deserved to be within the competitors. “The Bachelor” Season 28 star, who was the primary contestant from the franchise to win “DWTS,” stated he went from being nervous in Week 1 to “confident and excited” by the ultimate dance.
As is often the case with “Dancing With the Stars” contestants, he stated the competitors was “the most difficult thing” he ever needed to do.
“The mental side of this competition has been hands down the most challenging thing I have done,” he stated. “I have to go learn routines and perform them well in front of people within a week. The actual stress of that is crazy.”
Graziadei instructed Us Weekly that he “blacked out” upon successful and solely remembers Johnson “screaming really, really loud” and hugging her. He additionally remembered final season’s successful professional, Val Chmerkovskiy, Johnson’s husband, coming onstage handy them the Mirrorball.
“I remember this [trophy] was heavier than I thought it was going to be and that was about it. That’s where we’re at now. And now we’re here,” he stated.
Maher — who turned a social media sensation along with her behind-the-scenes dispatches from the Paris Olympics — accepted the loss with grace, hugging her companion as confetti fell within the ballroom and later thanking followers on Instagram for following alongside.
“Thank you for everything, guys. You voting are the reason we got to 2nd place,” she and Bersten wrote in a joint assertion. “Of course, it’s no first but honestly we won in many other ways. So lucky to have been partnered together and shared this amazing journey. We will remember this forever.”
For the finale, every pair carried out a freestyle accompanied by further dancers, in addition to a “judges’ redemption” dance. Graziadei, a tennis teacher earlier than his “Bachelor” days, carried out a tennis-themed dance set to “Canned Heat” and a redemption cha-cha set to “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” making up for his lackluster go-round from Week 1.
Decide Derek Hough known as the cha-cha “a punctuation mark letting everybody know that you are a top contender on this show.” The cha-cha earned the pair three good 10s from Hough and fellow judges Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli. Though their tennis freestyle didn’t “nail it” for Inaba, who gave them a 9, it earned them two good 10s from Hough and Tonioli.
“We put in so much work … everyone did, but it meant the world to obviously get this, and, you know, end it with an exclamation point,” Graziadei stated Wednesday throughout his victory lap on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Graziadei additionally stated that he’s “going to take a break from reality TV for a little bit” after back-to-back stints on the 2 ABC collection.
Graziadei stated “The Bachelor” and “DWTS” had been each “amazing.” “I obviously got an amazing fiancée and now have a Mirrorball, so it was a great year for me,” he added, referring to his engagement to Kelsey Anderson.
Maher was tasked by Tonioli to carry out a jive as her redemption dance — the identical kind of dance that made her cry throughout a earlier week’s judging. The rugby participant, who additionally famously carried out a jazz quantity as Luisa from “Encanto” through the competitors’s Disney night time, delivered an upbeat jive set to “Shake a Tail Feather” that earned her and Bersten a 9 from every choose.
For her freestyle, the bronze medalist performed up her femininity with a high-octane efficiency set to “Femininomenon” that Inaba stated blew her thoughts and received them three good 10 scores.
In the meantime, Stay Nation introduced Wednesday that Nedoroscik could be becoming a member of the Dancing With the Stars: Stay! 2025 tour as a co-host, with Maher and different fan favorites becoming a member of the touring dance present on choose dates. The present will make a number of stops in California this spring.
The solid will carry out in Redding, Santa Rosa, San Jose and Temecula on March 22, 23, 25 and 30, respectively. Between April 3 and April 5, the tour will cease in Santa Barbara, Indio and Los Angeles.
