Dancing with the Stars: The Finale!

Yes, Brooke and Derek, the leaders of this seventh season of Dancing with the Stars indeed walked away last night with the gaudy mirror-ball trophy. E and I were quite, quite disappointed that Warren and Kym came in second as their technique is extremely weak and we felt that Lance and Lacey really deserved at least second place as Lance is definitely the most improved dancer in the finals.

But Brooke and Derek started out strong from week one and they came in first 80% of the time throughout the entire competition. Really, they only had two weak dances out of the whole thing, one of them in the semi-finals. But their freestyle was agreed to be one of the best freestyle dances in the history of the program as they danced to Grease's "You're the One that I Want." Brilliant.

Last night, each of the three final couples danced their favorite dance from the competition: Warren and Kym danced their hustle, Lance and Lacey their jitterbug, and Brooke and Derek their Viennese Waltz. Of course, their dances followed dances by the majority of the eliminated dancers, with Misty and Toni unable to dance because of recent surgeries. It was a fun evening, full of great dancing and great music by both Alicia Keyes and Miley Cyrus (whose dad was on the show a few seasons back).

So now Brooke joins the past winners of Dancing with the Stars: Kelly Monaco, Drew Lachey, Emmett Smith, Apollo Anton Ohno, Helio Castronedes (spelling?), and Kristi Yamaguchi. And now Derek Hough gets to join his sister Julianne (who won twice with Apollo and Helio) and his best friend Mark Ballas (who won with Kristi) -- the only other professional dancers to win are Cheryl Burke (twice with Drew and Emmett) and Alec Mazo (with Kelly). So congratulations to Derek as well -- he's a wonderful teacher and a great dancer.

So congratulations to Brooke and Derek -- they earned their win last night on Dancing of the Stars! With Brooke's win this season, and Kristi Yamaguchi's last season, the ratio of female winners to male winners is catching up: three women winners to four men. Go, ladies! Let's see if we can tie it up next season!