PureDWTS Season 23 Finale Part 1 – Media, Scores, And Interviews

What a great night of dancing last night. And just think…there is more tonight!! Yay!! 🙂 With that said, I just want to take a moment to thank you all for following us all season. You are the tops. Whatever you do though….don’t go away in the off season. John has a new commentary post we’d like your feed back on coming up tomorrow. We also have an “end of the season” questionnaire coming soon….and then there are the new Pro and Celebrity Wish lists, new rumors for next season, coverage of the new tour, and keeping up with the Pros as always, and so much more. So, stick around. 😉

Ok, let’s review the scores from last night…

Redemption Dance:
Laurie Hernandez and Val Chmerkovskiy (Paso): 9-10-9-10 from the judges for a total of 38.
James Hinchcliffe and Sharna Burgess (Foxtrot): 9-9-9-10 from the judges for a total of 37.
Calvin Johnson, Jr. and Lindsay Arnold (Viennese Waltz ): 8-9-9-9 from the judges for a total of 35.
Jana Kramer and Gleb Savchenko (Tango): 8-9-9-9 from the judges for a total of 35.

The Freestyle Challenge:
Calvin & Lindsay: 10-10-10-10 from the judges for a perfect 40.
Laurie & Val & Maks: 10-10-10-10 from the judges for a perfect 40.
James & Sharna: 10-10-10-10 from the judges for a perfect 40.
Jana & Gleb: 9-9-9-9 from the judges for a total of 36.

As you can see, Laurie and Val are only one point ahead of James and Sharna. I have some thoughts on this, but, I will put them in Courtney’s new Power Rankings post coming later. 😉

Onto some Media, recaps, and interviews. First see Glamour, ABC7, and People for a few recaps. Then don’t miss seeing Entertainment Tonight for a recap and a new interview with Jana and Gleb. I love Gleb and Jana’s smiles. I’m really proud of them and how they powered through all season and I couldn’t be more thankful that Gleb is back dancing on our version of Dancing With The Stars. He didn’t disappoint. Here they are with E Online….

Glen and Jana also talked with Fox. I’m so glad Gleb challenged her every week like he did and I think she learned and healed a lot from it. Here’s her performance of “Circles” tonight. I love that song.:

Afterwards, co-host Erin Andrews asked Savchenko what he had said to Kramer after their troubled performance, set to Sia’s “Unstoppable.”

“I said, ‘I’m sorry,’ ” the emotional dance pro replied.

But Kramer told reporters backstage that after Savchenko had apologized to her, she said to him, “It’s okay. The amount of times that I’ve messed up—I even did a little mess up in the routine, too, but it’s okay. We had an incredible journey. It’s not about the last thing. It’s about the whole package and we had standing ovations and perfect scores [all season]. We killed it.”

Savchenko agreed, saying, “We killed it every week—came out there, different characters, different routines. It was challenging. We never took a week and said, this week we’re going to go easy because we know we’re going to be through.”

He said to Kramer in front of reporters, “Every week I pushed you over your limit.”

Kramer, who scored a 35 out of 40 for their first dance, a tango, and 36 for the freestyle, was eliminated based on viewer votes and scores from last week.

Gymnast Laurie Hernandez, race car driver James Hinchcliffe, and former football player Calvin Johnson Jr. proved that athletes still have the edge on “DWTS” as they wound up the final three to compete in Tuesday’s grand finale.

But Kramer insisted upon leaving in fourth place, “I’m so happy, honestly. We did everything we wanted to do. I shared every story I wanted to share which is why I signed up for the show. I danced with an incredible partner and I had a blast. It’s something that I’ll never forget…there’s nothing to really be sad about.”

The singer who relived her relationship hell on “DWTS” will be performing her single, “Circles,” on the Tuesday show where the winner will be crowned — and then plans to bask in life with her baby daughter Jolie: “I cannot wait for that mommy time.”

Stormy’s DWTS All Access coverage:

Keep checking back. We may add more later. Thanks for reading. xxx ~Vogue

ETA: A few more interviews….