‘Dancing With The Stars’ Season 34 Finale Crowns New Mirrorball Champs After The Remaining Couples Come Out Swinging With An Explosive Freestyle Round

SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from the Season 34 finale of Dancing with the Stars, including who won the mirrorball trophy.

Dancing with the Stars has crowned another mirrorball champion.

Season 34 concluded on Tuesday night with a massive three-hour finale that saw the remaining five couples compete in three separate dance rounds: freestyle, judges’ choice, and the instant dance challenge. It’s been an intense 11-week journey to get to the final show, which also included an homage to all the contestants who have been eliminated along the way.

That’s right, all the eliminated couples from Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas to Jenna Johnson and Corey Feldman were back in the ballroom for one last dance. After the flashy opening number, they got straight into the competitive dances.

There’s a lot of ground to cover tonight, so let’s get into it.

JUDGES’ CHOICE

For this round, the judges assigned each couple a dance style they haven’t performed yet.

Social media personality Alix Earle with Val Chmerkovskiy. Earle has had quite a few big nights already this season, but Chmerkovskiy says he doesn’t think the influencer has peaked just yet. Carrie Ann Inaba assigns the couple a samba, which they’ll be dancing to “Hip Hip Chin Chin” by Club des Belugas. Earle spoke highly of working with Inaba in rehearsals this week, describing her teaching style as “relentless” — but in a good way! She said she tried to take in all the critiques she could, and it seems like if paid off. “It was just brilliant,” Inaba told her, with Bruno Tonoili adding: “You were not good. You were incandescent!” SCORE: 30 out of 30

Reality TV star Dylan Efron and Daniella Karagach. After starting the competition toward the bottom of the leaderboard, Efron never thought he’d be making it all the way to the finale. But, that day has come, and Tonioli assigned he and Karagach a paso doble, which they’re dancing to “Stampede” by Alexander Jean ft. Lindsey Stirling. The moment his shirt comes off, you know it’s going to be a good one. “Michelangelo himself could not have sculpted a better shape,” Tonioli says admiringly. He was too speechless to say much more. Inaba says his hands got a little flat (which earned her some boos), but to be fair Derek Hough agreed. SCORE: 28 out of 30

Actor Elaine Hendrix with Alan Bersten. Derek dropped into training to task Hendrix and Bersten with a rumba to “Take My Breath Away” by Jae Hall. It’s sort of a miracle that the actress made it this far, considering the injuries that have plagued her this season, so she’s ready to leave it all out on the dance floor. “That was exquisite. It truly was,” Derek tells her after the routine. The other judges were on the same page with only positive things to say about her first dance of the night. SCORE: 30 out of 30

Wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin with Witney Carson. Irwin claimed the top of the leaderboard last week, so he’s got to keep the hot streak going for the finale. He and Carson have been assigned a quickstep to “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” by Jet, courtesy of Derek. Irwin suffered an injury during rehearsals, and he’s a bit worried that going too hard on this dance might leave him unable to dance the other two rounds, but he doesn’t want Carson to go easy on him, either. Quite the dilemma! Turns out, he had nothing to stress over. “Robert, the quickstep king!” Derek declares after the routine. SCORE: 29 out of 30

Olympic gold medalist Jordan Chiles with Ezra Sosa. The final dance of the first competitive round, these two will be performing a paso doble to “Breakin’ Dishes” by Rihanna. Inaba delivers the news and spends some time with the couple in rehearsals to make sure Chiles is prepared. She and Sosa ended the night last week with a perfect score, so they’ve got to bring it once again for the finale, especially since this marks Sosa’s first time making it all the way to the end. Inaba didn’t love it, but her counterparts disagreed. “You just go for it with so much determination, darling, you’re great,” Tonioli told her. SCORE: 29 out of 30

INSTANT DANCE

This is a new challenge, and each couple will find out their dance style and music just five minutes before they step onto the ballroom floor. The celebrities will rely on muscle memory more than anything else, since the pros won’t have time to truly choreograph.

Social media personality Alix Earle with Val Chmerkovskiy. The couple was assigned a cha cha to “Where Is My Husband!” by Rae. She comes out swinging, delivering a dance that’s hard to believe wasn’t prepared in advance. “First of all, blown away, because that was fantastic,” Inaba said. SCORE: 30 out of 30

Reality TV star Dylan Efron and Daniella Karagach. Efron blindly chose a foxtrot for this performance, which they’ll perform to a TikTok favorite song, “Ordinary” by Alex Warren. In rehearsals, he says he’s hoping for the foxtrot because he feels pretty comfortable in frame, so he’s got to bring it now that he’s gotten his wish. Let’s just say, he pulls it off. “I don’t think you know how amazing that was!” Inaba tells him. Derek added: “We were just sitting here going like, ‘What am I looking at?!” SCORE: 30 out of 30

Actor Elaine Hendrix with Alan Bersten. These two drew a quickstep to “You Can’t Hurry Love” by The Supremes. The last time she danced a quickstep was during Disney Night, and she got pretty good feedback, so at least there’s that. She had quite a few foot folds and missteps, but the judges agreed those were minor, and they were more impressed with how she kept up with the dance despite it all. It is one of the hardest dances to perform, let alone with no preparation! SCORE: 27 out of 30

Wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin with Witney Carson. Irwin is tasked with a cha cha to “Cake by the Ocean” by DNCE. By the look on his face when the dance style is revealed, this one could go either way. He last performed a cha cha on Disney Night, and it was one of his lowest scores of the season, so this could be a redemption round for Irwin. He says in rehearsals that this is the one dance that’s never really made sense to him, and it sort of shows in this performance, but the personality that he brings to the dance really sells it anyway. “I was nervous for you for that one, but my guy, the rotation…the performance…it was honestly so incredibly impressive,” Derek says. SCORE: 30 out of 30

Olympic gold medalist Jordan Chiles with Ezra Sosa. Closing out this round, these two are assigned a tango to “I Like It” by Alesso and Nate Smith. The last time they danced a tango, they got eights across the board, so this is their chance to bring that score up and show off how much Chiles has improved since then. “There’s not much to say other than I couldn’t have thought of a better dance for you for that challenge,” Derek says. SCORE: 30 out of 30

FREESTYLE

This fan-favorite round is back, of course. The pros got to choreograph this dance however they wanted, which allows them to play to their celebrity partners’ strengths while also challenging them more than ever before.

Social media personality Alix Earle with Val Chmerkovskiy. Dancing their freestyle to a mashup of “Maneater” by Nelly Furtado and “Sports Car” by Tate McRae, Earle and Chmerkovskiy want to highlight how much they’ve elevated each other this season. She comes out swinging with one of her fiercest performances of the entire season. She truly looked like a pro. It’s a far cry from the shy performer that first met Chmerkovskiy just about three short months ago, which she says is exactly what she was going for. “Thank you so much for letting us witness that,” Derek says. Tonioli chimes in to tell her she’s a “dominatrix unleashed!” SCORE: 30 out of 30

Reality TV star Dylan Efron and Daniella Karagach. These two are tasked with a freestyle to “Something in the Heavens” by Lewis Capaldi. Efron says that, for the first few weeks, he was not proud of himself after his performances, but now he’s finally feeling like he’s accomplished something worth his pride. Karagach wants to showcase “the energy of dance” to illustrate how Efron has fallen in love with performing during this competition. “I though this dance was the perfect representation of what Dancing with the Stars is,” Inaba says. SCORE: 30 out of 30

Actor Elaine Hendrix with Alan Bersten. For their final competitive number, Hendrix and Bersten are performing their freestyle to “Opening: I Hope I Get It” from A Chorus Line. The actress says this process has taught her to believe in herself, and she’s going to keep on dancing long after the show is over. Their performance is adorable, and it’s so good that it even makes Carrie Ann Inaba cry. SCORE: 30 out of 30

Wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin with Witney Carson. The crocodile wrangler is dancing to a mashup of “Black and Gold” by Sam Sparro and “The Nights” by Avicii for his final performance of the season. Irwin says he wants this dance to be a big giant “thank you” to America, and he also really wants to make his dad proud one last time. “Mate, that was a 24-solid-gold-karat performance!” Tonioli exclaims. SCORE: 30 out of 30

Olympic gold medalist Jordan Chiles with Ezra Sosa. These two closed out the season with a freestyle to “Motivation” by Normani, but no matter what happens, they’re just happy they’ve each gotten a best friend out of this experience. Chiles has really come into her own over the course of the show, and she’s ready to bring that energy to her freestyle. She brought the house down with that energizing showstopper, which featured an appearance from Normani herself. “That is the best freestyle I have ever seen in 20 [years]!” Inaba said. SCORE: 30 out of 30

AND THE WINNER IS…Robert and Witney!

For posterity’s sake: Fifth place went to Elaine and Alan, fourth went to Dylan and Daniella, third was Jordan and Ezra, and Alix and Val were in second place.