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A new champion has been crowned.
On Tuesday night, Dancing with the Stars wrapped up Season 31 — the first ever season to air exclusively on Disney Plus — by handing the mirrorball trophy to a teenager.
A teenager who proved herself VERY much worthy, that is, considering she earned TWO perfect scores on the finale… and also won the fan vote.
Indeed, a job very well done, Charli D’Amelio!
“Oh my gosh, it happened so fast!” the social media sensation told reporters after earning the title. “I couldn’t even really comprehend what was going on, and then they put me in the air. I was like, ‘What?’”
The 18-year old and partner Mark Ballas earned the same number of points on the finale as The Bachelorette star Gabby Windey and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy.
However, as mentioned above, D’Amelio earned more votes from viewers than Windey, which, in turn, earned her the championship.
“I think we’re both still a bit staggered,” admitted Ballas after the confetti came pouring down. “It’s like she’s still shell-shocked.”
The memorable evening also featured two retirement celebrations:
Professional Cheryl Burke took the dance floor for a final performance after announcing her retirement following 26 seasons — and Len Goodman, who confirmed his own retirement last week and who was honored with a tribute video and his own mirrorball trophy.
After “one of the closest finales in the history of the show,” however, hosts Tyra and Alfonso announced that the winner of Dancing with the Stars season 31 was Charli and Mark.
“Thank you so much for the opportunity, thank you Mark for becoming my new best friend,” Charli said after winning, adding to her mom Heidi:
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“It was such a 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 sort of stardom as a teenager in her and her older sister Dixie D’Amelio’s Hulu reality series, The D’Amelio Show.
“Dance wasn’t something that I found fun anymore,” she said on the People Every Day podcast in September.
“It was something that was more just, I did to do it and it was over when it was over and I didn’t look forward to it anymore.
“And with Dancing With the Stars every week, I’m hearing from other people that I finally look like I’m having fun.”
Moreover, appearing alongside mom Heidi as the first mother-daughter competitors on the series also gave Charli the opportunity to step outside of her comfort zone.
And she made the most of it, clearly.
“I do a lot of stuff with my family. And I wasn’t sure how this was going to go,” she said after the finale.
“But it was so amazing having my mom be a part of this competition, but then also having her come and watch me was really cool.
“And to see her dance tonight, it was just all a great experience and I think we both got a lot out of this show for ourselves and that was really awesome.”
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