Utahn wins 'Dancing' — but it isn't Osmond

Published: Wednesday, Nov. 28 2007 12:14 a.m. MST

For the second time in six months, Utahn Julianne Hough has made a sports figure the big winner on "Dancing With the Stars." She and her partner, race-car driver Helio Castroneves, were the big winners on the hit ABC show on Tuesday night.

The other Utahn in the final three, Marie Osmond, finished third.

The ever-ebullient Castroneves jumped up and down for joy, hugging Hough. "This is an incredible moment right now," he said, quickly thanking Hough, the "special person" standing next to him.

Last season, Hough partnered with speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno to win the, ahem, coveted mirror-ball trophy.

Castroneves and Hough narrowly trailed Melanie Brown (aka Mel B or Scary Spice) in the judges' balloting, but when that was combined with viewers' votes it put them over the top.

Hough joins Cheryl Burke as the only professional dancers to win "Dancing With the Stars" twice. (Burke partnered with Wayne Newton this season and was an early elimination.)

Osmond and her partner, Jonathan Roberts, finished at the bottom of the judges' ballots for the third week in a row, but for the first time the viewers' votes weren't enough to save her.

She described her experience on the show as a "Cinderella story."

"I am so pleased to be here at my age," said the 48-year-old, who went on to thank Roberts. "With everything that I've been here in the last 10 weeks, wow, he pulled me through it. And the fans."

Osmond had become a fan favorite. Between fainting during one episode and missing another because of the death of her father, she certainly had the sympathy factor going for her.

But Osmond may have been done in by her freestyle dance on Monday — arguably the weirdest ever in a "Dancing With the Stars" finals. Her attempt to mimic one of the dolls she designs looked like something from a comedy sketch on the old "Donny & Marie" show and did not impress the judges.

"This is the loopiest thing I have ever seen. It defies criticism," judge Bruno Tonioli said. "It's like Baby Jane and the Bride of Chuckie."

And Osmond's brassy retorts to the judges may not have endeared her to viewers. "I'm not buying it!" Osmond bellowed to judge Len Goodman before laughing maniacally. And, in an attempt to defend the failed dance, she bellowed, "I'm a doll designer. C'mon!"


E-mail: pierce@desnews.com

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