Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Actress Jennifer Grey won the championship of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” ballroom-dance contest, clinching the Mirror Ball trophy over Disney Channel star Kyle Massey and teen activist Bristol Palin.
The judges awarded Grey 118 points for her four dances during the two-night finale, out of a possible 120. Massey received 110, while Palin earned 104.
“Dancing With the Stars,” TV’s second most-watched show this season after CBS Corp.’s “NCIS,” pairs celebrities with professional dancers in weekly elimination rounds that weigh the public’s votes and judges’ scores equally.
The Nov. 22 show was the most-watched entertainment telecast this season, ABC said in a statement.
Judges’ Scores
The song was featured in “Dirty Dancing,” in which she starred opposite the late actor Patrick Swayze.
Jennifer Grey score totaled 58 on the two dances, to Massey’s 54 and Palin’s 52.
Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol exclaimed at the start of Tuesday's "Dancing with the Stars" 11th-season finale.
Conservatives and those who feel maternal instincts to girls next door were thwarted in their effort to vote 20-year-old Bristol Palin the winning slot on the ABC competition show; Jennifer Grey, 50-year-old star of "Dirty Dancing," was awarded the hideous-yet-coveted Mirror Ball Trophy.
Jennifer Grey won the first round Tuesday, in which the stars re-performed an earlier dance from the season, with a perfect score of 30 points, followed by Kyle with 26 and Bristol with 25.
Meanwhile, in social media land, fans of Jennifer Grey, Bristol and Kyle sent competing "iwaves" on the "Dancing With the Stars" Facebook page while the three finalists each rehearsed their final dance -- an InstaCha-Cha Challenge for the last dance, to a tune they'd only learned minutes earlier would be Pink's "Raise Your Glass," practicing in what Bergeron called The Dancing With the Stars Veal Cages backstage.
Judges got the final say Tuesday night. Viewer voting was closed, but each of the three finalists danced two times more and the judges' scores for those dances were added to their Monday judge tallies.
Jennifer Grey prevailed with her perfect scores from the judges and her clearly superior dance skills.
"Dancing" producers acknowledged Tuesday that a "record amount of activity" had overloaded the show's telephone and online voting systems Monday night.
Jennifer Grey went into Tuesday's finale in first place among the judges based on her two Monday dances; the actress and partner Derek Hough were showered with two perfect scores Monday for a total of 60 points.
"Are you planning on hosting a Team Bristol Monday Night Dancing Watch party?" conservative blogger Kevin DuJan asked on his blog Hillbuzz.org before the Monday show. "Join Network For Progress as we come together to raise awareness about one of the biggest threats America faces today ... Bristol Palin winning Dancing with the Stars.
Bristol's voting machine? Show host Bergeron's announcement that Bristol was voted in set off a brouhaha -- Brandy had received a perfect score for her tango that week. That show prompted some to question the credibility of the "Dancing" voting system, particularly when, in comments, people voting for Bristol began claiming they'd figured out how to game "Dancing's" voting system.
Labels: Jennifer Grey