A new champion has been crowned.
On Tuesday night, Dancing with the Stars wrapped up Season 31—the first season to air exclusively on Disney Plus—by handing a teen a mirrorball cup.
A teenager who proved himself VERY worthy, considering he got TWO perfect scores in the finals… and also won the fan vote.
Truly, very well done job, Charli D’Amelio!
“My goodness, it happened so fast!” social media sensation to journalists after getting the degree. “I couldn’t even really understand what was going on, and then they picked me up. I was like, ‘What?’”
The 18-year-old and partner Mark Ballas earned the same number of points in the final as The Bachelorette star Gabby Windey and partner Val Chmerkovskiy.
However, as mentioned above, D’Amelio garnered more viewer votes than Windey, which in turn earned him the championship title.
“I think we’re both still a bit reeling,” Ballas admitted after the confetti trickled down. “Looks like he’s still shaken.”
The memorable evening also featured two retirement celebrations:
Professional Cheryl Burke took to the dance floor for her final show after announcing her retirement after 26 seasons – and Len Goodman, who confirmed his retirement last week and who was honored with a tribute video and his own mirrorball trophy.
However, after “one of the closest finals in the show’s history”, hosts Tyra and Alfonso announced that the winners of Dancing with the Stars season 31 would be Charli and Mark.
“Thank you so much for the opportunity, thank you Mark for being my new best friend,” Charli said after the win, adding her mother Heidi:
“It’s an honor to be able to do this with you.”
D’Amelio is one of the most popular personalities on TikTok.
She has been outspoken about the pressures of this kind of fame as a teenager on her and her older sister Dixie D’Amelio’s Hulu reality series, The D’Amelio Show.
“Dancing isn’t something I find fun anymore,” she said on the People Every Day podcast in September.
“It’s something more fair, I did it to do it and it’s over when it’s over and I’m not looking forward to it anymore.
“And with Dancing With the Stars every week, I hear from other people that I finally look like I’m having fun.”
Also, appearing alongside Heidi’s mother as the series’ first mother-daughter competitor also gives Charli a chance to break out of her comfort zone.
And he made the most of it, obviously.
“I do a lot of things with my family. And I’m not sure how it’s going to go,” he said after the final.
“But it was great to have my mum be a part of this competition but then having her come and watch me was really cool too.
“And to see her dance tonight, it was an amazing experience and I think we both got a lot out of this show for ourselves and it’s been pretty great.”
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