Who Won Dancing With the Stars

Every TV season for the last eight years has ended with the question: who won Dancing with the Stars? The premise, inspired by a highly successful British TV series, has grown into a worldwide phenomenon with tours, books, and more, and shows no signs of stopping.

The theory behind Dancing with the Stars is simple: celebrities, some with movement experience and some without, are partnered with professional ballroom dancers. They undergo a high-pressure weekly crash-course in some form of ballroom dance, and then present that dance before judges and record TV audiences on each live weekly show. The judges give feedback and rate the dances, but the real judges are the viewers, who phone in to vote on which performance was best each week.

The following week, the dancers find out who the lowest scoring couple was…and that couple is eliminated from the competition. At the end of the season, the celebrity who won Dancing with the Stars has prize money donated to the charity of their choice. In many ways it is the perfect TV show: low cost, high audience, competitive, non-violent, artistic, catchy, pleasing to the sponsors, and socially responsible no matter who wins. For that matter, by showing stars like Hélio Castroneves (a Formula 500 champion who was the Autumn 2007 champion) dancing, it helps combat the stereotype that dancing is not a manly occupation.

Actually finding out who won in past seasons is as easy as checking out the Wikipedia entry for the winners, and every season is listed:

1. Summer 2005 Kelly Monaco (celebrity) won with Alec Mazo (pro)
2. Winter 2006 Drew Lachey (celebrity) with Cheryl Burke (pro)
3. Autumn 2006 Emmitt Smith (celebrity) with Cheryl Burke (pro)
4. Spring 2007 Apolo Anton Ohno (celebrity) with Julianne Hough (pro)
5. Autumn 2007 Hélio Castroneves (celebrity) with Julianne Hough (pro)
6. Spring 2008 Kristi Yamaguchi (celebrity) with Mark Ballas (pro)
7. Autumn 2008 Brooke Burke (celebrity) with Derek Hough (pro)

Looking at the statistics this way doesn't really convey the excitement of the show – except for a few special cases. For example, football fans may be surprised to see that Heisman-trophy winner Emmitt Smith was a champion, and further surprised when they find out that his performance was voted one of the best all-time dances by judges and audiences alike. Racing fans will not be surprised to learn that Hélio won with an energetic performance that ended with his hands lifted in victory as if he'd just passed the finish line.

You'll also notice some names repeated; Cheryl Burke was a champion two seasons in a row, as was Julianne Hough, and her brother Derek won in 2009. This turns the pro dancers themselves into celebrities, with their own fan base, and viewers voting for the professional dancer regardless of the celebrity he or she is partnered with. Julianne Hough, no longer with the show, is now pursuing a solo singing career. The producers have also capitalized on the popularity and celebrity appeal of the pro dancers by instilling a rivalry between recently engaged dancers Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff, who are competing against each other in the Spring 2009 season.

The best way to get in on the excitement is to check out the Dancing with the Stars website for the latest updates, fan boards, and special behind-the-scenes videos on the web.

The popularity of the show, with its drama (such as Marie Osmond fainting on stage) and comedy (such as the occasional "wardrobe malfunction" on live TV), have spawned many spin offs from the show – including workout DVDs, books, and versions of the show in over 29 countries worldwide. The Dancing with the Stars Tour performs for sold out audiences, and even the original format of the show (Britain's Strictly Come Dancing) attracted 13 million viewers in 2008, and shows no signs of slowing down.

Regardless of who wins each time, Dancing with the Stars remains an excellent example of the arts and popular culture coming together in a positive way.

• Photos of Ballet Dancers
• Dance Studio Equipment
• Pictures of Limbo Dancing

• Dance Steps to Thriller
• Popular Line Dances
• Famous Choreographers
• Country Line Dance Steps
• Famous Ballet Dancers

• Main Page
• ABC Dance Wars
• Learn How to Slow Dance
• Printable Dance Steps
• Diversity Dance Group