‘Dancing With the Stars’ Crowns Season 24 Champion

Kellie Freeze May 24, 2017, 9:13 am

In a star-studded grand finale that rivaled a concert spectacular, Dancing With the Stars announced the champion of its 24th season. Former NFL star Rashad Jennings sashayed away with the Mirror Ball Trophy, along with his professional partner Emma Slater. Jennings and Slater bested Fifth Harmony singer, Normani Kordei and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy, who finished third, and former MLB star David Ross and his partner, Lindsay Arnold, who was the season’s runner-up.

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The 2 1/2 hour grand finale included a final dance for the three final pairs, for which they had just 24 hours to prepare. This 24-hour fusion challenge doesn’t really count towards the contestants’ final scores, as the judges are usually generous.

Rashad Jennings and Emma Slater pose with their Dancing With the Stars Mirror Ball Trophies.

Viewers were also treated an outstanding opening number that featured all 12 of this season’s couples, along with judges Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba and Julianne Hough, and hosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews.

Other highlights from the night included musical performances from Academy Award-nominated actress Hailee Steinfeld performing her latest single, “Most Girls,” OneRepublic performing their latest hit, “No Vacancy,” alongside a dance by Sharna Burgess and Gleb Savchenko, and Lady Antebellum performing their hit song, “You Look Good,” alongside a dance with Witney Carson, Hayley Erbert, Artem Chigvintsev and Gleb Savchenko. TLC also performed their hit song “Waterfalls.”

Former DWTS champ Nicole Scherzinger and Colt Prattes also treated the crowd to a dance from ABC’s upcoming Dirty Dancing remake. Scherzinger plays “Penny” and Prattes stars as “Johnny” in the musical event that airs Wednesday, May 24.

It’s a shock to many that Cordei wasn’t crowned as this season’s champion, but the stunner falls in line with the theme of this season’s shocking eliminations. Front-runners Heather Morris and Olympic Champion Simone Biles both made premature exits in the ballroom competition that relies on judges scores and votes from the general public.