Las Vegas Weekly

November 25, 2008 · 8:40 PM

It’s the end of Season 7 — and amid new news of Toni Braxton’s heart surgery, the DWTS trophy goes to …

By Robin Leach

The victors hoist their trophy.

Photo: ABC TV

It was the finals night of Season 7 for Dancing With the Stars, and amid the laughter of returning stars came startling news that our former hometown singer Toni Braxton had undergone surgery for her heart muscle problem yet again -- and was unable to dance! She did promise she would be fully recovered in time to go out on the upcoming DWTS tour that hits The Orleans Arena here in Las Vegas on Dec. 29.

Photo: ABC TV

Host Tom Bergeron with the three final couples on Dancing With the Stars.

Tonight’s show also included a vicious roast by savage comic Jeffrey Ross, who was the first to be tossed this season. He brutally lambasted Warren Sapp and picked on Lance Bass and Brooke Burke. Jeffrey didn’t mince words, saying Lance reminded him of American Idol's Clay Aiken, and that “fat and bald” Warren had bigger and better boobs than some of the girls who danced! He conjectured that a lovechild between Brooke and Lance could come from the womb and the closet at the same time!

Photo: ABC TV

The final three couples on Dancing With the Stars.

Despite the acidic zingers, everybody waited on tenterhooks for the one final dance number to get the judges’ last scores. Viewers’ votes from Monday night’s show were totaled with tonight’s live judges points for the final result.

The show began with a recap of Monday night’s “Samba Smackdown” and the freestyle round. Before Alicia Keys sang “I Need You” as the first guest of the night, feisty 82-year-old actress Cloris Leachman went off in that wild orange-and-yellow outfit on a “man on the street" video interview package, desperately seeking answers as to why she was kicked off the show. In another video spoof, she later starred with Corky Ballas in the movie trailer for DWTS: The Senior Years -- Coming to a Retirement Home Near You. They did eventually get around to dancing a tango, which the judges described as “ awful!”

Photo: ABC TV

Lance Bass and Lacey Schwimmer.

Next up was the return of all the booted stars, including our Vegas friends Kim Kardashian with the mambo to the music of “ Baby Got Back,” and Braxton, who followed doctor’s orders not to dance because of the recent surgery. Injured Olympic volleyball gold medalist Misty May-Treanor also was not permitted to dance with our Wynn Le Reve choreographer Maksim Chmerkovskiy because of foot injuries -- but she was allowed to walk for the first time. However, former Las Vegas Academy musical student Julianne Hough, now a budding country recording artist, did dance the “I Love Lucy” jitterbug one more time with Hannah Montana partner Cody Linley.

Now to the nitty gritty! Former NFL star and Super Bowl champ Warren Sapp and partner Kym Johnson were up first, and in the “favorite dance choice” elected to reprise their hustle from five weeks ago. One of the judges crowned him the people’s champion, although not the judges’ favorite! However, Warren nailed down three 9 votes for a 27 out of 30 score, which, added to last night’s totals, gave him 80 out of the possible 90!

Then it was time for Lance and Lacey Schwimmer, who danced the jitterbug that won them perfect 10 scores last week. However, this time around their panache and flair won them 28 out of 30, so they wound up in the lead with 81 out of 90, pipping Warren and Kim by just one point.

Photo: ABC TV

Host Tom Bergeron with an elated Kym Johnson and Warren Sapp.

Now it's all down to Brooke and Derek Hough, and they chose to repeat their Viennese waltz from Week 3. Somehow Broke managed to even incorporate a blown kiss to her daughters at the end of the routine and, with judge Carrie Ann Inaba in tears, they scored perfect 10s again for a perfect total of 30 and ended the contest with 88 out of 90.

As the viewer votes were totaled with the judges scoring, the first surprise came: Lance and Lacy were ousted, in a surprise unexpected count, and wound up in third place. It stunned the studio audience and left Brooke and Warren as the final twosome! It meant in the final moments that long-favored favorite Brooke Burke would win, as predicted, or Warren would pull off another Super Bowl-type victory!

First, though, to add to the night’s suspense, came “Fly on the Wall,” performed by teen queen Hannah Montana herself, singer Miley Cyrus. DWTS host Tom Bergeron delayed the final announcement as long as possible, until moments before the show wrapped with the news that Warren had been declared the runner-up -- and, as we all predicted from the very first week, that Brooke Burke was the new champion. I picked Brooke but never guessed Warren would beat out Lance at the last moment -- but that’s showbiz!

Congratulations to Brooke, because she put the list of female winners at three (she joins Kelly Monaco and last season's champion, Kristi Yamaguchi), pulling within one of the four guys (Drew Lachey, Emmitt Smith, Apolo Anton Ohno and Helio Castroneves), who won in a streak from Seasons 2 to 5! The 37-year-old model-actress and her professional partner, our Julianne Hough’s brother Derek, had dominated the entire run of the dance contest.

Their Monday night freestyle routine set to "You're the One That I Want" from Grease wowed fans and judges alike. "That, I think, was the best freestyle I've ever seen," head judge Len Goodman told her as they gave her yet another perfect score of 30 for the routine. The former host of Wild On from the E! network and CBS' Rock Star came in first place eight out of 10 times during the run of the show and received the top 10 judges’ score 16 times, almost never slipping less than 28 out of 30 each week!

Check back here later for all the dramatic photos of the final show -- and get ready for who will be dancing early next year in Season 8! (Click HERE for last ngiht's highlights.)

Photo: ABC TV

Brooke Burke leaps from the judges' table as Derek Hough awaits expectantly.

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