And the Mirror Ball Goes To...

Season 32 of Dancing With The Stars came to a close on Tuesday night with an epic three-hour finale. After 11 weeks of dancing, a new champion was crowned.

This season of the reality series was different for a couple reasons. First, thanks to an unconventional television season, the series returned to ABC for the first time in a couple of seasons. Second, this season was a loving tribute to long-time judge Len Goodman, who passed away earlier this year. In fact, for the first time, the final trophy was re-named to the Len Goodman Mirror Ball Trophy.

How Dancing with the Stars honored longtime judge Len Goodman

For more than a decade, Goodman was a fixture on the judging panel for the popular reality series. The impact of Goodman, and his loss, was part of the whole season. The show didn’t fill his judges’ chair out or respect. There was a dance tribute to Goodman during Week 5, which celebrated the Most Memorable Year.

In addition, throughout the season, the judges—Bruno Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba and Derek Hough—consistently referenced Goodman, especially when handing out perfect 10 scores. That included remembering him during the finale as the show handed out the first trophy named in his honor.

The finale also featured a first as five competitors made it to the final round. The scores and votes from the semi-finals, held a week earlier, were added to the tally. The final group included actors Alyson Hannigan and Xochitl Gomez, singer Jason Mraz, Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix and Bachelorette star Charity Lawson.

The finale gave each of the finalists a chance to re-do their worst dance of the season and to showcase their range with a freestyle performance. All that led up to the final rankings for the five in the final.

Hannigan and her partner Sasha Farber finished fifth, with Lawson and partner Artem Chigvintsev in fourth place. Third place went to Madix and her partner Pasha Pashkov. The second-place spot went to Mraz and his partner Daniella Karagach.

That left Gomez and her partner Val Chmerkovsky as the winners. Gomez was the only competitor to record four perfect scores on her four dances in the semi-finals and finals. The 17-year-old actress, best known for her starring role in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, became the first winner of the Len Goodman Mirror Ball Trophy.

All in all, I really enjoyed this season. There were great performances, fun theme nights and a lot of special events and performances. I can’t wait to see what the show does moving forward.

Did you watch this season? What did you think of the finale and of Gomez as this season’s champion? Share your reactions in the comments!