Las Vegas Weekly

May 20, 2009 · 9:26 AM

Photo Gallery: Shawn Johnson wins DWTS trophy by narrow margin

By Robin Leach

Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas celebrate their win on Dancing With the Stars.

Photo: ABC TV

At just 17 years old, Olympic gymnast and gold medalist Shawn Johnson has become the youngest winner of Dancing With the Stars, and for her professional dance partner Mark Ballas, it became his second win in the eight seasons of the top-rated ABC show.

A record vote by TV viewers brought Shawn and Mark less than 1 percent ahead of the runners-up Gilles Marini and his partner Cheryl Burke, who will be at Lavo in the Palazzo on Friday celebrating her birthday.

“This is amazing. It’s unbelievable. I started out with nothing 11 weeks ago, and Mark brought everything about dancing out of me in that time,” said a visibly emotional Shawn backstage moments after the win. “This has been the best experience ever and in a way even beats the gold in Beijing. I’d trained for that all my life. I’ve grown so much with this show, and I’d never danced before. We worked so hard and came so far.”

Shawn, who is a junior in high school, now adds the prized mirrored disco ball trophy to her Olympic medal collection. The couple jumped aboard a 10 p.m. red-eye jet for New York to appear on Good Morning America this morning. Mark won Season 6 with Olympic figure skater and gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi … hmmm, are we noticing a trend here?

DWTS host Tom Bergeron noted that the less than 1 percent separation made it the tightest scoring of all eight seasons. “It was the best season ever, and we really had the three best dancers here in the final,” he said. Click HERE for the results story we posted moments after last night’s show had been broadcast live from Hollywood on the East Coast.

It was neck and neck down to the final five minutes of the two-hour telecast, with all three finalists scoring perfect 30s, but then Melissa Rycroft and partner Tony Dovolani were ousted, leaving it a voting tie between Shawn and Gilles. After Tom announced Shawn’s surprise win, Gilles commented: “I’m so happy for them. They worked so hard to get there. Shawn is only 7 years older than my son, and he didn’t really understand why I lost. Cheryl took me all the way to the finals, and with all the great projects knocking at the door, maybe I can win an Oscar or an Emmy. It’s possible.”

Cheryl commented: “This was the most competitive final of all the seasons. It was so close and difficult. I’m so happy for Shawn -- she is amazing -- but Gilles is a winner, too. It was a perfect ending with all three finalists getting perfect 30 scores.”

Shortly after the show ended, I spoke with Playboy beauty Holly Madison, who had returned to dance her samba again with partner Dmitry Chaplin after being ousted earlier in the season.

Holly told me: “I’m so happy for Shawn. It was a great win. All three finalists were great, but everybody loved Shawn. We became friends, and it was amazing to watch her improve so much each week. She was so disciplined and determined, it was as if she was going for the gold all over again. The fact they all got perfect 10s, and it was the closest race ever, really made it exciting.”

Holly, who managed to slip in a generous plug for her new Peepshow appearances coming up as of June 22 at Planet Hollywood here, added: “It was fun to be back. When that confetti came showering down at the end, it was like being back in a graduation party. Our samba this time was so much fun and so much better because there was no pressure having to think of how the vote would go.”

The Girls Next Door star was in a limo headed for Burbank Airport and a late-night flight to Las Vegas. “This is it. I’m moving in!” she laughed. “I’m a local as of Wednesday morning. Las Vegas becomes my new home this week. We have the promotional photo shoot for our Peepshow shows, and later we start the new reality show. I can’t wait to move in and get started with a whole new life there.”

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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