Dancing With the Stars crowned its Season 32 winners as Xochitl Gomez and Val Chmerkovskiy were named the show’s winning partners.
The Marvel actress and her professional dance partner claimed the first-ever Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, named in honor of the late DWTS judge.
The dancing duo defeated five other contending couples, including singer Jason Mraz and his professional dance partner, Daniella Karagach.
Competitors performed two dances during the evening, with one of their numbers a freestyle and the other a redemption dance coached by a DWTS judge.
Ultimately, Xochitl and Val achieved the most votes out of all the talented dance couples.
Following the finale, the duo reacted to their win, calling it a “huge honor” to have won the show’s latest installment.
Gomez and Chmerkovskiy react to DWTS 32 win
The DWTS Season 32 finale featured some tense final moments as two couples awaited the final announcement. In the end, host Alfonso Ribeiro announced that Xochitl and Val won, defeating Jason and Daniella.
Confetti rained upon the winners as they were hoisted on others’ shoulders and held onto the Mirrorball Trophy together. The credits quickly rolled.
There wasn’t much time for victory comments during all the celebrating as the show closed out, but Val and Xochitl spoke with Entertainment Tonight about their win.
“It’s a huge honor,” Val said, adding, “Len was a champion of ballroom dance… He was very much pushing ballroom dance to the forefront of the show and therefore into millions of households.”
“And so, for me to hold this trophy in his honor, this season in particular, I was very much motivated by the idea of passing my ballroom education and torch to this young, incredible talent. And I think that Len would have been proud of that,” Val told ET.
The show closed with an “In memory” graphic of Goodman, who had been part of DWTS for 17 years and sadly passed away earlier this year.
Val reacted to Xochitl’s ‘disrespectful’ post-win remark
It was all love for Xochitl and Val, as the 17-year-old Marvel star gushed about all the support they’d received during their run-up to the Mirrorball victory.
“We’ve had so much love, from everyone, to the crew and to the cast and then people outside of just fans, you know? It’s just been so much love,” she told ET, adding, “And that is what made me really love this whole experience.”
On Wednesday’s Good Morning America, the winners appeared to provide further comments about their exciting win. Xochitl indicated she hadn’t expected to make it this far, with Val joking that was “disrespectful” toward her dance partner.
The show’s finale revealed that Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix and Pasha Pashkov finished in third place. The Bachelorette’s Charity Lawson and dance partner Artem Chigvintsev were fourth, with actress Alyson Hannigan and Sasha in fifth.
During the show’s finale, Val and Xochitl performed a Foxtrot, coached by DWTS judge Bruno Tonioli. The duo achieved a perfect 30 score for the performance.
Their second dance was a freestyle, with the audience launching a “Xochitl” chant and judges praising them on the performance ahead of another perfect 30 score.
DWTS co-host Julianne Hough revealed that the duo received four perfect scores in the last two weeks, making it less surprising they claimed the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy.
Dancing With the Stars Season 33 is TBA for ABC and Disney+.