Dancing With the Stars Finale Recap: Did the Right Dancer Win Season 32?

Heading into Dancing With the Stars’ season finale, Xochitl Gomez and Val Chmerkovskiy were the clear favorites among TVLine readers — not only for who would win Season 32, but who should win Season 32.

Xochitl was among a record five finalists competing on Tuesday’s season ender, alongside Ariana Madix, Jason Mraz, Alyson Hannigan and Charity Lawson. But before the Len Goodman Mirrorball trophy could go to any of those hopefuls, Dancing had a three-hour (!) broadcast in store for us, packed with two closing routines from each couple, plus a whooole lotta filler. Did we need 30 full minutes to recap all of this season’s best performances? We did not! But we got it anyway!

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Each remaining duo first performed a redemption dance, in which they got to re-attempt a style they flubbed earlier in the season, followed by the long-awaited, there-are-no-rules-here freestyle round. Here’s how those final performances and scores shook out:

Alyson Hannigan and Sasha Farber
Redemption Salsa: 25 out of 30
Freestyle: 28 out of 30 (including their first 10 from Bruno!)

Jason Mraz and Daniella Karagach
Redemption Foxtrot: 30 out of 30
Freestyle: 30 out of 30

Ariana Madix and Pasha Pashkov
Redemption Samba: 29 out of 30
Freestyle: 30 out of 30

Charity Lawson and Artem Chigvintsev
Redemption Tango: 29 out of 30
Freestyle: 30 out of 30 (holy cheerleading stunts!)

Xochitl Gomez and Val Chmerkovskiy
Redemption Foxtrot: 30 out of 30
Freestyle: 30 out of 30

For my money, the evening’s most delightful routine may have been the Christmas-themed performance led by co-hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough, which brought the unexpected returns of pro Witney Carson (who sat out this season after giving birth to her second child) and previous Mirrorball winners Hélio Castroneves, Rashad Jennings and Hannah Brown. The sight of Hélio Castroneves does not typically make me emotional, but here we are.

Then, it was at last time for the results. Your Season 32 champions are… Xochitl and Val! Jason and Daniella were this season’s runners-up, Ariana and Pasha nabbed third place, Charity and Artem finished in fourth and Alyson and Sasha landed in fifth place.

With that, I hand it over to you! Were you happy to see Xochitl and Val win? Drop a comment below with your reactions!

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