Dancing with the Stars: Season Four, "The Finale"

He’s won gold, silver and bronze medals, now he has a mirrorball trophy to add to his collection.  Apolo Anton Ohno and partner Julianne Hough were named season four champions of Dancing with the Stars last night, edging out finalists Joey Fatone and Laila Ali.

With one more chance to wow the judges, the three finalists each chose what they thought was their best performance of the season to serve as their last dance.  Only the judges scored these dances, which were then combined with Monday’s scores as well as America’s votes.

The finale opened with all of season four’s eliminated contestants back for a spin on the dance floor.  Slipping on their favorite costumes, Paulina, Shandi, Leeza, Clyde, Heather, John, Billy Ray and Ian all took a turn highlighting their best dances.

A brief look at the history of DWTS showed us its beginnings over the pond in the form of Come Dancing and later its revival, Strictly Come Dancing.  After a hard sell to TV networks in the United States, DWTS became the little show that could in the summer of 2005.  It has since spread from a sneaky smash hit to a global franchise.

A trip down memory lane of DWTS winners past, including interviews with Kelly Monaco, Drew Lachey and Emmitt Smith, also filled some of the two-hour finale block along with a professional dance to Bjork’s “It’s Oh So Quiet” and a spoof DVD infommerical by Jimmy Kimmel.  Then it was on to the final performances.

Bringing back their perfect-score Paso Doble, my favorite pocketsize couple once again took home all 10s.  The Paso Doble was a perfect choice for Apolo and Julianne since it highlighted their two greatest strengths: amazing chemistry and Apolo’s ability to tackle technicality.  

Joey and Kym took a chance, deciding to revisit their Star Wars Tango in an effort to showcase Joey’s progress throughout the season.  The dance that received all 8s on its original performance took home perfect 10s this time around.

Also choosing to take the harder route, Laila and Maks brought back their not-so-perfect scoring Mambo.  Despite being a crowd pleaser, the Mambo reinforced the fact that Laila didn't seek the same level of difficulty in her dances as Apolo and Joey. Nevertheless, in typical form, the judges once again handed out straight 10s.

Shortly after her final performance, Laila was revealed to be the third place finisher.  Not masking her disappointment, she jokingly declared, “I’m pissed.”  And added, “Joey’s great; Apolo’s great.  It doesn’t matter who wins now, especially because I didn’t!”

Pitted against one another as “The Personality” and “The Olympian,” Joey and Apolo survived the ridiculously drawn-out pause before the big announcement.  With everyone on pins and needles (no surprise who I was keeping my fingers crossed for!), Apolo and Julianne were named champs.  And perhaps they’ll be celebrating their win on and off the dance floor since Julianne recently broke off her engagement.  Wouldn’t it be nice to see Apolo in the audience next season instead of Mario Lopez?!