Derek Hough’s Last Blog of DWTS Season 18

What an amazingly classy guy. From TV Guide:

I had a gut feeling that Maks and Meryl were going to take it, and I said that to Amy, so we knew. Based on the packages and the tone and the way they put everything together, I had a feeling they were winning. I think everyone did. I’m so happy for them. It was well-deserved. Meryl is a beast and was so consistent all season long. I couldn’t be happier for Maks. I told Maks the night before, “I’m genuinely really happy for you and would love to see you win.” Obviously, I would be happy to see Amy win because of what she represents, but knowing Maks for such a long time and him having been part of the show for so long, truthfully, it was nice to see him experience the show it was meant to be experienced. All season, in a way, was about Maks’ journey, which was wonderful to watch. Being a friend of his and seeing that was great.

I really loved our freestyle. That was such a culmination of Amy’s story this season. When I heard the music we were going to use, it was perfect for what it stood for. It was, “I dare you to love / I dare you to cry / I dare you to run / I dare you to try / I dare you to fall / and lay on the ground / I dare you to feel / I dare you to be here now.”

That’s exactly what this entire season has been about for Amy and me: not being afraid and really going for it. I wanted that last note we hit to be positive and a challenge, and to dare people to try and see what happens. That’s what Amy’s been saying by what she’s been doing on the show. Everybody asks me, “Where do you get all your ideas?” It really comes from the music. Whatever pops into my head when I’m listening to something is how it starts. I just envisioned Amy spinning in the air, ascending and being transcendent of dance. I looked into the rope thing and I asked my friend, “Hey, is this possible?” He was like, “Yeah, it’ll take a couple weeks to teach her that.” And I was like, “Well, we have an hour.” And it’s all back muscles, which was what she was having problems with, so it was wild to see her up there. It was just incredible. And for her to let go and do it with one hand was awesome.