Dancing With The Stars: Kaitlyn Bristowe and pro partner Artem Chigvintsev win Mirrorball Trophy

Kaitlyn Bristowe and her partner Artem Chigvintsev won season 29 of Dancing With The Stars on Monday’s action-packed finale.

‘The winners and new champions are Kaitlyn and Artem!’ show host Tyra Banks, 46, announced, audibly gasping as she read their names, while the pair reacted in shock.

Kaitlyn, 35, reeled in disbelief, and Artem, 38, collapsed to the floor, then they rose and hugged each other, swinging around and around.

‘How do you feel?’ Tyra asked Kaitlyn, but the winner could only shriek, eventually mustering up enough composure to grab the Mirrorball Trophy with Artem.

‘They can’t even hear me, they’re so excited!’ Tyra yelled, as she failed to get their attention.

Along with Kaitlyn’s win, Catfish host Nev Schulman, 35, placed second; rapper Nelly, 45, came third; and actress Justina Machado, 48, was fourth.

The competition between Kaitlyn and Nev had been neck-and-neck throughout the finale, as both dancers earned double perfect scores two weeks in a row.

Justina was right behind them, tying them for first on the final leaderboard with 60 points to Nelly’s 57.

For Kaitlyn, a ballerina’s daughter who once won a scholarship to study with a dance company, the win was deeply meaningful.

She’d always loved dance and even had a career dancing as a pro football cheerleader, but had given it up after starring on the ABC reality shows The Bachelor and The Bachelorette in 2015.

‘This is your chance to finally tell all of the people who said you would not be able to be a dancer, ”Actually I am”,’ Artem told Kaitlyn before their final performance.

‘Actually I am,’ Kaitlyn repeated, getting ‘goosebumps’ as she did so. ‘On a very big stage.’

The win was just as big for Artem, who had not been on DWTS last season and said he only found out he wasn’t being asked back a few days before filming started.

On Monday, he won his first Mirrorball as a new father to son Matteo, age three months, and newly engaged man, to former WWE star Nikki Bella, 37.

The finale opened with dancers performing to the strains of Irene Cara’s What A Feeling, from the 1983 movie Flashdance.

Tyra then emerged in an unbelievably voluminous blue dress, which she later traded for a peacock-colored frock with gold star headdress, then a sheer bejeweled ensemble.

She announced that the pairs would repeat an old dance for the show, and do one freestyle.

Kaitlyn and Artem got the finale started with a reprise of their Week 9 Argentine tango to Britney Spears’ Toxic, once again earning 30 points for it.

‘What a perfect dance to remind people that you deserve to be here, and that you are a true contender for that Mirrorball Trophy,’ judge Derek Hough, 35, told Kaitlyn. ‘We held you to a high standard, and you’ve met it.’

‘This is now one of my top three favorite dances of all time,’ judge Carrie Ann Inaba, 52, revealed, as Bruno Tonioli, 64, said he thought the pair did it better than the first time.

Kaitlyn was thrilled, and told the judges: ‘This is the hardest I’ve worked at anything because of the passion behind it… It truly is a dream.’

Her subsequent dance with Artem was a saucy freestyle to the song Sparkling Diamonds, from the 2001 film Moulin Rouge.

It earned the pair another perfect score and the admiration of Carrie Ann, who said she had very high expectations of the dance, and added, ‘Thank God you met them!’

Nev and Jenna Johnson, 26, reminded the judges how much they loved their Week 7 paso doble to Swan Lake, and nabbed their second perfect score for it.

For Nev, a major ballet fan, the dance had always been special—and before it, he said he planned to leave ‘every single drop of life in my body right there on the floor.’

He had made a deal with Jenna to shave his chest if they reached the finale and he followed through, flexing his bare chest for a newly dramatic intro.

Carrie Ann called Nev’s work ‘perfection,’ and announced, ‘Whenever you come out on this dance floor, I know it’s going to be amazing.’

‘I feel like you kind of Catfished us all,’ Derek agreed. ‘When they first made the announcement, I’m like, ”Oh cool, Nev Schulman.” And now I’m like, ”NEV SCHULMAN!” You can dance!’

Behind the scenes, Jenna said, ‘As a pro dancer on this show, you dream of having a partner like Nev. I have felt like this is the most fulfilled I’ve ever been.’

The duo’s freestyle to the 1952 musical Singin’ In The Rain had a sweet Hollywood magic, and they kicked it up a notch by dancing in water, Nev’s limbs extended like a pro.

‘It was show-stopping,’ Bruno emphasized, as the duo got their second perfect score.

‘You can’t pull off Gene Kelly or Singin’ In The Rain unless you’re a leading man,’ Derek pointed out. ‘And Nev, my friend, you are a leading man.’ 

Derek performed a solo routine that also paid tribute to Gene Kelly in that film, along with Fred Astaire in Funny Face and several other of his dance heroes.

Justina and Sasha Farber, 36, chose to recap their fun Week 1 cha-cha to Aretha Franklin’s Respect, with Justina at one point singing part of the song into a microphone.

‘Justina!’ Derek shouted, clapping. ‘You are exploding with charisma, and you have all season long! You are gorgeous, sensational to watch—so much fun!’

‘Justina, the diva Latina!’ Bruno cried. ‘You know how to shake those tail feathers. You were almost too hot to trot tonight!’

The actress’ freestyle, to Jennifer Lopez’s Let’s Get Loud and the Gipsy Kings’ Bamboleo, had great spirit and nodded to dance pioneers like her One Day At A Time co-star Rita Moreno, 88.

‘That really was a celebration of the Latin spirit!’ Bruno said, as Justina got another perfect score. ‘The warmth, the passion, the joy—the zest for life… It was a tonic for your soul.’

Nelly and Daniella Karagach, 28, revisited the joyful samba they did in Week 5 to DeBarge’s The Rhythm Of The Night, which scored them 27 points.

‘Your journey has been the most fascinating for me, and gives me the most joy,’ Carrie Ann told Nelly. ‘You remind us that dance is about so much more than technique.’

Derek noted that the show was about ‘moments,’ and called Nelly ‘a moment-maker,’ adding, ‘When I ask people outside the show, ”Hey, who you rooting for?” A lot of people say ‘Nelly!”’

Nelly shared that he was going to auction off his shoes from the season for a non-profit called The Teen Project, which runs a sanctuary for sex-trafficked teenagers.

For the freestyle portion of the evening, Nelly and Daniella did a sexy, kinetic gangsta mashup to Biggie Smalls’ hit Hypnotize, getting a perfect score.

‘We are in the presence of hip-hop royalty,’ Bruno raved. ‘It was like, ”Is this Empire: The Musical”?’

Nelly also sang live, performing hits like 2001’s Ride Wit Me and 2002’s Hot in Herre.

At the end of the show, the celebrity dancers were honored via video by family and friends.

Justina was celebrated by actresses Roselyn Sanchez, 47, and Eva Longoria, 45, who said DWTS should just ‘give her the Mirrorball already.’

Nev was agog when famed ballerina Misty Copeland, 38, popped up on his video, saying, ‘Oh my gosh, Nev, do you want to come to American Ballet Theatre and be my partner?’

‘Hey Nelly, I wanted to say congratulations and good luck,’ singer Tim McGraw, 53, told his ‘Over And Over’ duet partner. ‘All those dance moves I have taught you have really paid off.’

Singer Kelly Rowland, 39, crooned, ‘Nelly, you got all the moves, and you know I’m so proud of you’ to the tune of Dilemma, her 2002 tune with the rapper.

In another segment, celebrities who’d left this season’s DWTS cast offered updates on where they’d been since the show, with Monica Aldama, 48, having her Navarro, Texas, cheer team show off their Latin ballroom moves, and Anne Heche, 51, dancing in elevators.

At the end of the show, Tyra read off the names of the dancers in order of their places, and Nev and Kaitlyn huddled close with their partners, each closing their eyes and breathing deeply as they were named the final two.

When Kaitlyn and Artem’s names were read, the room exploded and confetti rained down, as the season 29 winners literally jumped for joy.

Kaitlyn’s victory made it back-to-back wins for stars of The Bachelorette on the ABC dancing competition show.

Hannah Brown, 26, won season 28 in November 2019 with pro partner Alan Bersten, 26.   

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