Finale of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Season 32: Xochitl Gomez and Val Chmerkovskiy Win the Mirrorball Trophy
The 32nd season of the reality dancing competition show concluded on Tuesday. Xochitl Gomez and Val Chmerkovskiy are the winners of Season 32 of “Dancing with the Stars.”
In Tuesday night’s Season 32 finale, which was the first in “Dancing with the Stars” history to feature five couples, Gomez and Chmerkovskiy won the coveted Lane Goodman Mirrorball Trophy. Second place went to Daniela Karagach and Jason Mraz.
Chmerkovskiy has won the Mirrorball Trophy three times so far. In 2015, she shared the win with singer and actress Rumer Willis, and in 2016 with gymnast Laurie Hernandez.
Gomez, Ariana Madix, Jason Mraz, Charity Lawson and Alyson Hannigan danced on the dance floor for the last time before the winners were announced. She performed a freestyle dance and a redemption dance with her professional partners.
Redemption Round of Dancing with the Stars
During the Redemption Round, the finalists performed a pre-dance, chosen by one of the judges.
Hannigan opened the round with a lively salsa performance to Gloria Estefan’s “Get on Your Feet.” He and his professional partner Sasha Farber danced for the first time during the first week.
Judge Carrie Ann Inaba said before the competition segment of the show that Hannigan’s strength was attracting the crowd during her performance. After the dance, Inaba praised Hannigan’s bravery and confidence, saying that the actress had changed into a “different person” from the first week. Hannigan received a score of 25 out of 30 from the judges.
Judge Bruno Tonioli requested Mraz and “DWTS” pro-Daniela Caragach to recreate their foxtrot to Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon”. Tonioli claimed that Mraz’s ballroom dancing was too “stiff” when she initially performed it.
But Tonioli said the late Len Goodman “would have loved” it as Mraz hit the dance floor in the final and performed with Karagach for the second time. It reminded Tonioli of earlier Hollywood productions, such as performances by Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers. The judges gave the number three-tenths.
For her redemption dance, judge Derek Hough asked Maddix to re-enact her performance of the Samba from week two. The “Vanderpump Rules” star performed to the Spice Girls’ “Spice Up Your Life” on the dance floor with her professional partner Pasha Pashkov. Pashkov and Maddix both received a score of 29.
Lisa Vanderpump, a past contestant on “Dancing with the Stars” and star of the popular reality television series “Vanderpump Rules,” claimed before Maddix’s performance that this season “brought tears to my eyes.”
This season, Lawson, who had an average ballroom score of 8.5, danced the tango to Astor Piazzolla’s “Libertango” with professional dancer Artem Chigvintsev. After their impressive dance routine, Huff dubbed it “the best dance of the night so far”. According to Tonioli, it was “impeccably beautiful”. With her pro, the former “Bachelorette” received a score of 29.
Gomez and her professional partner, Val Chmerkovskiy, performed the foxtrot to “Unconditionally” by Katy Perry to conclude the Redemption Round of the competition. Gomez received a score of 30, placing her and fellow contestant Lawson on top of the leaderboard each week.
Round of Freestyle
Lawson and Chigvintsev kicked off the freestyle round with a lively dance to “Lose My Breath” by Destiny’s Child and “Suéltate” by Sam & Jarina De Marco featuring Anitta & BIA. Both of them received a score of 30.
Madix and Pashkov danced freestyle to “Level Up” by Ciara and “Run the World (Girls)” by Beyoncé during their last ballroom dance. Both got 30 marks.
Before her dance, Maddix expressed her gratitude for “ending the year on a positive note” with “Dancing with the Stars” despite the challenging year.
After their performance, Maddix told Pashkov, “I’m glad we ended with that performance, but I’m sad it was the last performance.” They spent a lot of time together in the program.
Mraz and Karagach delivered a dynamic freestyle to C2C’s song “Happy” featuring Derek Martin. The judges also gave this number a score of 30.
After her performance, Mraz commented that it felt “incredible” to end the season with her dance. She further added that this season, she “loved dancing” with Karagach.
“Sinner” by Jennifer Lopez and “Enchanted (Taylor’s Version)” by Taylor Swift served as background music for Hannigan and Farber’s freestyle.
Hannigan gave a great performance and Tonioli told her, “Honey, I celebrate you and what you bring to the show.” Hannigan described her time on the show as “life-changing”. Farber and he both scored 28.
Gomez and Chmerkovskiy danced to District 78’s “Que Calor” for their freestyle. Gomez was praised for her “artistry” as a dancer by Tonioli, who referred to her as a “natural, charismatic performer” at the beginning of the show. She was also dubbed the season’s most “charismatic dancer” by Hough. Both he and Chmerkovskiy scored thirty points.
Of her time spent with Chmerkovskiy this season, Gomez commented, “It has been so much fun working creatively with Val on these dances.” “Val has helped me enjoy this experience to the fullest.”
Every couple from Season 32 came back for a dance and more
Fun performances were also presented during the evening, such as the opening dance number to Candy Staton’s song “Young Hearts Run Free”, which was choreographed by Ray Leeper and included a return to the ballroom for all 32 seasons’ couples.
After that performance, the five finalists made their way onto disco balls and entered the ballroom.
Additionally, the winners of the Season 31 Mirrorball, Charli D’Amelio and Mark Ballas, returned to the ballroom to perform Rick James’s “Give It to Me Baby”.
Alongside previous “DWTS” winners Hannah Brown, Rashad Jennings, and Helio Castroneves, co-hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough joined in the dance to Mariah Carey’s “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town.” The performance was choreographed by dance experts Britt Stewart and Alan Bernston.
And Mraz went on stage to play his song “I Want to Dance”. Dance professionals from the “Dancing with the Stars LIVE 2024 Tour” joined them, and they gave a performance that was choreographed by Mandy Moore.
Xochitl Gomez Instagram
Val Chmerkovskiy Instagram
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FAQs
Who took home the 2023 Mirrorball trophy?
In the season 32 finale of “Dancing with the Stars”, Val Chmerkovskiy and Xochitl Gomez won the Mirrorball. The 32nd season of the reality dancing competition show concluded on Tuesday.
How many Mirrorball wins does Val have?
Chmerkovskiy has won the show a total of three times; In 2015, she shared the Mirrorball trophy with actress Rumer Willis and in 2016, she won it with Olympic gymnast Laurie Hernandez.
