Dancing with the Stars

Olympian Shawn Johnson and her pro partner Mark Ballas became newest championship duo of "Dancing with the Stars" on Tuesday night, triumphing over Gilles Marini with Cheryl Burke and Melissa Rycroft with Tony Dovolani in the season eight finale! Johnson, at 17 the youngest-ever competitor on "Dwts," was breathless from excitement while claiming the coveted mirrorball trophy. "This has been the best experience ever," she exhaled. After the judges' scores were combined with viewer votes to determine the winner, host Tom Bergeron declared the event "our closest-ever finale" -- with less than one percent difference separating champion Shawn from second-place finisher Gilles. For his part, the French actor was graceful in defeat, saying, "I'm so happy for Shawn and Mark. [Cheryl and I] love them so much." Former "Bachelor" star Melissa thanked the fans for their support after placing third. The three finalists each performed one last dance for a final judges' score, which
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Gymnast champ Shawn Johnson is also a champ in the ballroom. The Olympic gold medalist narrowly beat actor Gilles Marini as the winner of the eighth season of "Dancing With the Stars."
At 17, Johnson became the youngest contestant ever to join the show. Partnered with professional dancer Mark Ballas, she was handed the disco ball trophy after her thumping the "Sex and the City" actor with just less than 1 percent lead, the closest margin ever in the history of the show.
This is Ballas' second win. He was partnered with another Olympic gold medalist, figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, when they were named winners of the sixth season of the show.
It might have been a sweet victory for Johnson, who missed her prom earlier this month, but for Marini, this might just be the most disappointing loss. He and two-time champ partner Cheryl Burke had scored more highest-scores for the week than any other contestant.

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"Dancing with the Stars" season 8 has reached its final on Tuesday, May 19, revealing the winner which is Shawn Johnson, an Olympic gold medalist, and her partner Mark Ballas. They won with 1% votes more than the second place finisher's, Gilles Marini and his partner Cheryl Burke, after combined with the judges' scores.
On the first night (Monday, May 18) of the two-night finale, each couple performed two dances - a paso doble set to the same song, Pink's "So What", and the anything-goes freestyle. Both Shawn and Gilles scored 58 from the judges for their two performances.
Shawn and her partner, Mark, only scored 28 out of 30 for their paso, but apparently the judges were amazed by their freestyle and granted them full score for their second performance. In opposite, Gilles and Cheryl got perfect score for their first performance. But their freestyle apparently was less satisfying for the judges as Carrie Ann thought
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