In what turned out to be not so big a surprise at all, Emmitt Smith wins Dancing with the Stars. From the very beginning of the show, Mario Lopez was the clear favorite, Emmitt one of the long shots. They cast some sort of athlete every year — Evander Hollyfield, Jerry Rice, and now Emmitt — only Emmitt was clearly the best of them. By judging both final dance competitions identically (both Mario and Emmitt received a 59 combined on three dances) the judges basically turned it into a popularity contest. Mario was probably the better dancer. But the audience liked Emmitt more. He smiled more. He had more fun.
I think most importantly, though, is that the audience liked Cheryl better than they liked Karina. Cheryl's the champ from last year. People know her. She also looked…well, nicer. Every week Kerry would commented that she just didn't liked Karina's face. She looked mean, like she was too competitive and wasn't having a very good time.
So, there you go. One of the token athletes finally won it. It turned out better than I expected, really, from what I originally saw the list. Jerry Springer was actually great to watch. Sure he was the comedy act, but in a good way. The whole "waltz and my daughter's wedding" thing was nice, and when he got all choked up when it was finally time for him to leave, he showed some real class.
So why oh why do the producers have to keep fixing the final show? During the first season everybody screamed fix when Kelly Monaco, nearly eliminated in the first week, came all the way back to get a perfect 30 score in the final week, even though she tripped a few times. They did it again this season. It's like they gathered in a room and said, "Ok, how can we make the last show end up a high note?" You could have called that 59 for both dancers in your sleep. I mean, really — Emmitt gets a 9 from Bruno for a shaky lift in the last dance, but Mario's "Ok, now I put Karina across here, pause, now I lift her up, pause, now she puts her hands down, pause…" lift was supposedly perfect, and the best dance of the season? Nope, not buying it. The excuses the judges found to take away points were too forced for me. Somebody told them "Ok, Len, you find some reason to take a point from Emmitt, and Bruno, you find some reason to take a point from Mario." I suppose it makes for a better finale, but it's just so obvious it's a little insulting.