Donny Osmond's dancing gets high praise in 'Dancing With the Stars' finals

As he awaits the results of viewer voting, Donny Osmond finds himself in an unfamiliar position on "Dancing With the Stars." He's not in last place.

The judges' scores from Monday's final round of competition put Osmond and his partner, Kym Johnson, in second place — behind Mya and ahead of Kelly Osbourne. The previous two weeks, Osmond was last when the scores from judges Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli were totaled.

But viewers votes (which count 50 percent) made the difference.

"They pulled us through," Osmond said.

On Monday, the judges gave Osmond and Johnson 85 points, just two behind Mya and Dmitry Chaplin. Kelly Osbourne and Louis van Amstel trail with 76.

At 51, he's not exactly elderly, but the subject of Osmond's age came up several times in Monday' program.

"I may be 20 years older than some of my competition, but tonight I'm going to show them that I'm still in my prime," he said. (Mya is 30; Osbourne is 25.)

First Osmond and Johnson impressed the judges with their cha-cha. "Donny Osmond — where did those hips come from?" Inaba asked.

Then he got high praise when the three pairs performed the same choreography side-by-side.

"Donny, at times I thought you were one of the professional (dancers)," Tonioli said. "Age doesn't mean anything!"

"That meant so much to me to hear the judges say that I kept up with the pros," Osmond said.

Finally, Osmond blew the judges away with his freestyle — a Broadway-style routine.

"That was truly and absolute show-stopper," Goodman said.

"Mr. Show Business at his best," Tonioli said.

"Welcome to the hall of fame of the freestyle," Inaba said

The latest "Dancing With the Stars" winner will be announced at the end of Tuesday's two-hour season finale (8 p.m., ABC/Ch. 4).

e-mail: pierce@desnews.com