Former “Bachelor” Joey Graziadei has been named champion of the “Dancing With the Stars” ballroom.
The reality star and pro partner Jenna Johnson beat U.S. Olympian Ilona Maher and pro Alan Bersten, who placed second in the final minutes of ABC’s eight-week competition.
“I feel like Jenna deserves this fully and this is all for her,” Graziadei said upon winning the Len Goodman Mirrorball trophy. “It means everything, this whole experience has been unbelievable, honestly. Ilona, you have been amazing this season. I love you. All of the finalists, the judges, thank you for bearing with us. I tried my best, I promise!”
Five semifinalist couples went into the finale. The other three were: Disney Channel alum Chandler Kinney and partner Brandon Armstrong, who came in third place; Olympic gymnast (a.k.a. “Pommel Horse Guy”) Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold, who placed fourth; and former NFL star Danny Amendola and Witney Carson, who placed fifth.
In a package reflecting on his time on the series, Graziadei said he felt he was “completely in over my head” when he started training and wasn’t sure he deserved to be in the competition. “The Bachelor” Season 28 star, who was the first contestant from the franchise to win “DWTS,” said he went from being nervous in Week 1 to “confident and excited” by the final dance.
As is usually the case with “Dancing With the Stars” contestants, he said the competition was “the most difficult thing” he ever had to do.
“The mental side of this competition has been hands down the most challenging thing I have done,” he said. “I have to go learn routines and perform them well in front of people within a week. The actual stress of that is crazy.”
Graziadei told Us Weekly that he “blacked out” upon winning and only remembers Johnson “screaming really, really loud” and hugging her. He also remembered last season’s winning pro, Val Chmerkovskiy, Johnson’s husband, coming onstage to hand them the Mirrorball.
“I remember this [trophy] was heavier than I thought it was going to be and that was about it. That’s where we’re at now. And now we’re here,” he said.
Maher — who became a social media sensation with her behind-the-scenes dispatches from the Paris Olympics — accepted the loss with grace, hugging her partner as confetti fell in the ballroom and later thanking fans on Instagram for following along.
“Thank you for everything, guys. You voting are the reason we got to 2nd place,” she and Bersten wrote in a joint statement. “Of course, it’s no first but honestly we won in many other ways. So lucky to have been partnered together and shared this amazing journey. We will remember this forever.”
For the finale, each pair performed a freestyle accompanied by additional dancers, as well as a “judges’ redemption” dance. Graziadei, a tennis instructor before his “Bachelor” days, performed a tennis-themed dance set to “Canned Heat” and a redemption cha-cha set to “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” making up for his lackluster go-round from Week 1.
Judge Derek Hough called the cha-cha “a punctuation mark letting everybody know that you are a top contender on this show.” The cha-cha earned the pair three perfect 10s from Hough and fellow judges Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli. Although their tennis freestyle didn’t “nail it” for Inaba, who gave them a 9, it earned them two perfect 10s from Hough and Tonioli.
“We put in so much work … everyone did, but it meant the world to obviously get this, and, you know, end it with an exclamation point,” Graziadei said Wednesday during his victory lap on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Graziadei also said that he’s “going to take a break from reality TV for a little bit” after back-to-back stints on the two ABC series.
Graziadei said “The Bachelor” and “DWTS” were both “amazing.” “I obviously got an amazing fiancée and now have a Mirrorball, so it was a great year for me,” he added, referring to his engagement to Kelsey Anderson.
Maher was tasked by Tonioli to perform a jive as her redemption dance — the same type of dance that made her cry during a previous week’s judging. The rugby player, who also famously performed a jazz number as Luisa from “Encanto” during the competition’s Disney night, delivered an upbeat jive set to “Shake a Tail Feather” that earned her and Bersten a 9 from each judge.
For her freestyle, the bronze medalist played up her femininity with a high-octane performance set to “Femininomenon” that Inaba said blew her mind and got them three perfect 10 scores.
Meanwhile, Live Nation announced Wednesday that Nedoroscik would be joining the Dancing With the Stars: Live! 2025 tour as a co-host, with Maher and other fan favorites joining the traveling dance show on select dates. The show will make several stops in California this spring.
The cast will perform in Redding, Santa Rosa, San Jose and Temecula on March 22, 23, 25 and 30, respectively. Between April 3 and April 5, the tour will stop in Santa Barbara, Indio and Los Angeles.
