This season's Dancing With the Stars winner is Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson! At the age of 17, Johnson is the show's youngest competitor and she just barely beat actor Gilles Marini and his partner Cheryl Burke for the mirror ball trophy.
The competition was fierce indeed — right down to the last minute. Johnson and her partner Mark Ballas edged out Marini, "the front-runner and judges' favorite, by less than one percent of the viewers' votes."
Less than one percent! Wow. So who were you rooting for? Are you glad the mirror trophy is now in Johnson's hot little hands? Or did you want Gilles (or Melissa!) to win?
Photo copyright 2009 ABC, Inc.
Moncler
Laura Biagiotti
Coast
I absolutely loved her free style dance--talk about entertaining!
1I was torn between Gilles and Shawn. I would have been happy with either of them winning. Melissa deserved her 3rd place.
2her freestyle was the best out of the three but i thought Gilles was the better competitor throughout the season...
3Gilles was by far the best dancer.
4Gilles was the better dance and by FAR the sexiest of the two.
He should have won it.
5Amen SunnyBunny!
6Shawn was good but look at the reactions on hers and Marks faces- they were even shocked!
I would have been happy with either Shawn or Gilles. I gave my votes to Shawn this week because of her awesome freestyle, though! I supported Ty Murray all season, once he was kicked off I just voted for who I liked the best. Shawn and Mark seemed genuinely surprised!
7i was happy with it. i wanted shawn or melissa to win. i would have been even more happy if gilles would have come in 3rd.
8Yes! Shawn ftw!
9Definitely happy. I enjoyed watching Shawn way more than I did watching Gilles. And even technique-wise Shawn was better.
10towards the end, gilles dances seemed to be the cheryl show. shawn is such a cutie pie and she did soo well, so i am happy.
i like melissa, but i liked her more b/c of tony. i really wanted him to win...he is a great dancer and doesn't have a trophy yet!!
11i'm happy that shawn won but i would have loved it if melissa won instead
12Shawn rocked her freestyle, so she totally deserved it!
13I have heard alot of people tried to call in their votes for Gilles,but couldn't get through.Ifeel a great injustice has been made to Gilles,who danced with such class,style,sass,and passion with all his heart,and a hurt shoulder for 11 weeks.He danced with perfection,never bragging on the scores he received.Gilles truly wanted to win for all of us,for Cheryl,but mostly for his daughter who he wanted to give the trophy to not his self. This is the most heartwrenching thing ive ever seen on Dwts.Someone said there was a rematch on season 1.I and alot of others feel there should be a rematch for season 8 also.Many people said they will not be watching Dwts any more,I for one will not be either.The winner should be for who danced the best all season with all their heart and soul and that's Cheryl and Gilles amen to that.Eden
14GILLES DESERVES TO WIN HANDS DOWN
15such a disappointing result! gilles is the best ever on dwts ! he & cheryl were the best ever! with the chemistry, dances, and emtion and all, such a bummer really!
16No one can top cheryl & gilles,,,they are simply the best, the most amazing couple in dwts history...too bad abc & america(patriotic ones) chose a winner in shawn who doesn't deserve to win,,,,so awkward and stiff and lackluster, no emotion and her age isn't an excuse
17Gee, 4 anon comments about the same thing. Not suspicious at all!
18And for what it's worth, I wanted Melissa to win, because her partner Tony is an amazing choreographer and deserves a win. It's the first time he hasn't been paired with a complete dud.
19The results were a TOTAL DISSAPOINTMENT.
20Gilles Marini should have won, hands down.
So am I happy with the winner? NO. a BIG NO.
a 1% difference? Oh come on! That is just BS. ABC just totally screwed with Gilles and Cheryl.
I do not plan on watching the ABC channel aka disney unless they do something about this.
Just because a person does a good freestyle, DOES NOT mean they deserve to be champions of DWTS. Gilles was 18 points ahead of Shawn, he was hands down the better dancer. Shawn had good technique and that was about it. Gilles had EVERYTHING it takes to be a winner. Technique, performance, entertainment factor and the hottest chemistry with his partner. Shawn winning this season is the most unjustified win in the history of the show. Cheryl and Gilles were robbed, Shawn winning over them is a joke.
21Gilles should have won. He consistenly danced well all season.
22Gilles Marini deserved the title. Shawn gymnastic training was unfair to all the others.The competition is about ballroom dancing not about who can jump higher....
23ABC has control over the whole show and they will not allow to contest how the results are reached.. Nothing is going to change in that repect..ge.
Gilles should have won. He was the best from day one.
24It is sad that Gilles didnt win. He deserved to win.. To tell us that less than 1% difference?.. Their names were already engraved.. Who are they joking..I t was fixed.. common, if we can only be honest for once we all know Gilles was the best.. Freestyle should not be the determining factor for winning, otherwise all of the contestants should have all free style in order to win... well.. one less viewer fot that show.
25Gilles was the most consistant throughout the competition and he has no prior experience at all. Gilles deserved the win and he lost by less than 1%! He was ROBBED! His dancing was phenomenal!
26Is everything fixed. I thought that was only in boxing. Shawn was good, but Gilles was outstanding he was the cut above prime. If the majority saw who the true champion is, then have a rematch. Gilles and Cheryl are not afraid, so bring it.
27The DWTS show has lost a lot of its credibility with this result. Even with biased voting favoring an Olympic gold medalist it is hard to believe that a majority of the voters really believed in their hearts that Shawn was a better dancer than Gilles. Cheryl and Gilles might be the best couple on DWTS in its history. The final score should be cumulative over the entire season. A freestyle that is loaded with gymnastic moves is no longer a dance. Each season there are more crazy things put in the freestyle. I wouldn't be surprised if someone brings out a trampoline next. After weeks of learning the fundamentals of ballroom dancing, the winner is determined by how many flips they include in their routine.
28There is not any question who was a far better Ballroom dancer? Gilles definitely should have been the winner. There was only 1 freestyle dance and the rest was BALLROOM. Gilles far outweighed everyone in each Ball Room category: SALSA,WALTZ,CHA-CHA,RUMBA?,PASO DOBLE,FOX TROT!!!! Pardon me for saying, Shawn dances as if she were doing gynastic, stiff, rough and power. There was nota any fine lines and/or grace in her ballroom dancing. Yes, she did well in Free style why because it does not require any technique.
Gilles had been stripped from taking the Mirror Ball Home. He was far a better dancer than Shawn. And this is the TRUTH!!! The professional judges praised him, but unfortunately their votes did not count at all. Again it was based on fans and CAPITALISM. ABC and AT&T earning revenue on text votes at $0.99. Imagine if 350,000.00 voted that will be $346,598.01.
This Show should be called Dancing with the Capitalists
29Gilles was the clear winner of the DWTS DANCE competition.
30Shawn won the Little Miss Sunshine competition.
Gilles, without any doubt, is the best dancer in the whole seasons of DWTS. I felt he has been robbed of the trophy. Even my 5 year old is wondering why the trophy was not handed to Gilles. The problem with the show is the judges were totally useless. They were supposed to judge based on who is the better dancer. Instead, they marked everybody equally, made sure Gilles and Shawn got the same score. I am not sure how the judges could live with themselves and sleep at night by the injustice they rendered Gilles. I like Shawn but she is not a better dancer than Gilles. They should not exercise the voters if they rig the result of the show. I called using my cell phone and I got one call through. The second time I redialed I was told that I can vote anymore. How many voters were not able to vote for Gilles? My family members and friends said the same thing. They failed to vote 5 times for Gilles. Others said the phone was busy during the alloted time. Was it intentional on the part of ABC? We will never know.
31Gilles deserved to win.. I dont believe on that 1% difference, it's impossible. But Shawn is already the winner. We can't change that. What Gilles&Cheryl have earned from this are-- respect and admiration from millions of people who watched the show. In the eyes of most people, G&C are the REAL WINNERS!
32Ughh I'm still annoyed Shawn won. Hands down I thought Gilles was the better dancer and I am tired of these Olympic Gold Medalists winning. Shawn is now the 3rd and all the seasons have been in a row....perhaps its time to ban Olympians
33Ok, Shawn did not deserve this win. Gilles was robbed 100%. Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened with this show. I do not want some corny meaningless dance off like they did in season one. I would like to see the problem corrected.
In all fairness, there is too much put into the viewers hands. Giving the viewers 50 percent of the result is totally insane. We obviously have too much power in the results of this show. Lets face it, we voted for George "Dubya" Bush, not once, but twice. We can't get that right, do they really think we can get the outcome of a dancing competition correct?
Anyone that voted for Shawn voted based on popularity only. Honestly, she shouldn't have even been in the final three. It should have been Lil Kim,Gilles and Melissa. Exceptional gymnast,dancer no. Sorry, JMO.
34IF YOU WEREN'T ABLE TO get all you votes into the tally for the finals on DWTS, AND YOU WANT TO COMPLAIN AND DEMAND THEY FIX THIS SNAFU VAV FUTURE SEASONS; it can be done. I have direct mailing addresses of the president of ABC and the top producer of DWTS. Let's complain about the predictably inadequate voting system set up to collect C&G's votes. More than 1% votes didn't get counted is the thing. If all votes had been in the tally, C&G would have won. Contact me via message at didytak1941@yahoo.com. We can make sure this fiasco is not repeated,at least not for these preventable causes.
35GILLES HANDS DOWN!
36gilles & cheryl should have won! shawn & mark doesn't deserve it, yes she is cute but NOT the best dancer!
37The result made a mockery of the entire season. Shawn was mediocre, at best. Gilles was mesmerizing throughout the entire season. The only remotely entertaining dance Shawn did was her freestyle, which had very little to do with actual dancing. Gilles is in a class all his own. Melissa should have been 2nd and Lil Kim 3rd. Shawn shouldn't have even been in the finals and wouldn't have been if she were not an Olympian...
38I have the ideal contestant for next season on DWTS. He is an 8th grader with some dancing ability and a large fan base. His main advantage though is that he is a contortionist. He is just good enough a dancer to get into the final three with the help of his fans. He will win the final by folding his legs behind his head and dancing his freestyle on his hands with plenty of flips for a perfect 30. ABC will be overjoyed at the upset. His cuteness will also get him a new show on the Disney channel.
39Talent Scout, I just had to say, I'm cracking up. I love the sarcasm! lol
Unfortunately, I have boycotted Dancing with the stars until they get it right and I will have to miss the 8th grader next season....of course, I'm sure he will win. lol
40Gilles and Cheryl were consistently the best throughout the season.
41They will always be winners to me.
Even Shawn knows she didn't deserve the win. You can tell by the look on her and Marks face.
42Shawn and Mark fans,
We know you're power voting in this poll. Going up to 72% in less than 24 hours? Yeah, right. Gilles is the winner in every sense of the word and no amount of power voting on this poll is going to change the fact that he was a far superior dancer and more deserving of the trophy.
43I agree with the previous post about power voting online for Shawn. I checked this poll on buzzsugar daily for the first week it was out and voting was consistently running 2 to 1 in favor of Gilles. This is more representative of public opinion since there were no sudden jumps in the vote totals for any of the three choices during the first week. To me this indicates that there was no significant power voting during the first week of the poll. I like Shawn and think that she was a good dancer just not the best. Unfortunately a determined group of teenagers power voted online on DWTS and it was enough to slightly overrule the real majority opinion. Many people older than teenagers only vote on DWTS via phone and if they can't get their vote in because of busy lines they just give up. They don't have the free time to power vote on the computer.
44Post New Comment
Please share your opinion with our community, but make sure it is on topic and follows our Community Rules. We moderate comments and prohibit personal attacks, threats, spam, lewd images, or the promotion of your personal website.