Ally Brooke pulled out all the stops in the season 28 finale of “Dancing with the Stars.” The Fifth Harmony singer wasn’t always the favorite of fans (she landed in the bottom two on three occasions), but she worked her butt off in the last two weeks of the competition, performing a wildly ambitious Charleston during the Semi-Finals and then an equally acrobatic freestyle in the Finale. Watch it above.
One of Brooke’s best moments on the show was her rumba to “Dreaming of You” by Tejano singer Selena, and she continued to embrace her Latin American roots by performing her final number to Cuban legend Gloria Estefan‘s “Conga.” Her pro partner Sasha Farber packed the freestyle with tons of lifts and tricks that reminded me a bit of Kelly Monaco, who improved throughout the first season and ended with her own acrobatic final number. Bruno Tonioli thought Brooke’s performance was a “showstopper.” Carrie Ann Inaba called it “explosive” and said she had “never seen anything like that.” And Len Goodman admired how “the music was recreated in every movement.”
Brooke’s freestyle got 10s across the board, giving her a total of 30 for the dance and a perfect score of 60 for the night, putting her on top of the leaderboard yet again and cementing her as the season’s highest scoring dancer. However, she still didn’t get the viewer votes she needed to win the Mirror Ball Trophy. She finished in third place, which matches Farber’s all-time best performance on the show (he also finished third with Tonya Harding in season 26). It also matches Brooke’s former band mate Normani, who finished third in season 24.
Did you think Brooke had the night’s best freestyle? And do you think she should have won the Mirror Ball Trophy? Vote in our polls below.
