Shawn Johnson
Shawn Johnson won with the smallest margin of victory in Dancing with the Stars history, so it was fitting she was also the smallest dancer. Armed with a killer Paso Doble, and a perfect freestyle and cha-cha, Johnson triumphed over season-long front-runner Gilles Marini by less than one percent. "It's slowly starting to sink in. I couldn't believe we did it at first," Johnson tells TVGuide.com. The gymnast is the third Olympic champion to add a Mirrorball trophy to his or her list of accomplishments, but does she plan to return to winning medals? Find out about her post-Dancing plans, as well as her thoughts on her last dances and near wardrobe malfunction.
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Melissa Rycroft, Gilles Marini, Shawn Johnson
Sixty-eight percent of TVGuide.com voters believe that Shawn Johnson will take the Season 8 Dancing with the Stars crown. But to hear the Dancing cast tell it, it's really anybody's game at this point.
"I think this season it's more of a toss-up than any other one," pro Chelsie Hightower, who was eliminated in fourth place with partner Ty Murray, tells TVGuide.com. "I honestly don't know who will win. Shawn and Melissa [Rycroft] have really big fan bases and for whatever they lack, I'm sure Gilles [Marini] gets a lot of women's votes."
The final three will face off on Monday with three dances — literally, in one case. In a Dancing first, the pairs will dance back-to-back-to-back in a Paso Doble Punch-Out featuring the same song. "It will really show everybody's uniqueness and their strengths because it'll use the same music," Johnson tells TVGuide.com.
So what are their strengths? Let's size them up.
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Gilles Marini
Dancing with the Stars finalist Gilles Marini may next go dancing in the sheets, with a recurring role on ABC's Brothers & Sisters.
"They're talking to me about it, and it's very close to being possible," the Frenchman tells TVGuide.com.
Marini cannot divulge much about the role he's eyeing until the deal is done — an ABC rep, in fact, maintains that he has not been cast on Brothers & Sisters — but suffice it to say that he would be ...
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Chelsie Hightower, Ty Murray
Ty Murray's Cinderella story came to an end on Dancing with the Stars this week after getting booted one week shy of the finale. The bright side? He stayed 10 weeks longer than most expected him to, out-charming, outwitting, but not necessarily out-dancing, his competition. "I think [partner Chelsie Hightower and I] probably brought a bigger fan base than what people expected to start with," he tells TVGuide.com. That fan base unexpectedly propelled them past Lil' Kim — but that didn't surprise them at all. See what else the twosome has to say about their long run, what their finale dance will be and if that rumba solo for Jewel paid dividends.
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Showing no signs of the rib injury that forced her to miss one show of Dancing with the Stars, Melissa Rycroft staged a massive comeback the following week, nabbing a perfect score of 30 for her samba. "[The injury's] definitely been manageable," Rycroft told TV Guide Network. "We're going on week three now, so it's definitely getting better. It's only going to get better. The patch [with medication] is working, so I'm not concerned at all."
Find out what else the former Bachelor contestant has to say about her samba, and hear from her partner, Tony Dovolani, as he plots to track down booted Lil' Kim's "bionic booty."
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Shawn Johnson, Mark Ballas
She's guest-starred on The Secret Life of the American Teenager, but Shawn Johnson's acting skills will really be put to the test on Dancing with the Stars Monday when she tackles the intense paso doble. "I'm a little nervous because I'm not a very angry person," Johnson tells TVGuide.com. Her work doesn't stop there as she also has the perky quickstep on her plate. After the jump, see what else the Olympic champ has to say about her progress, who she's in a Twitter war with and what she thinks about injured stars getting judged on their rehearsals.
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Cheryl Burke, Gilles Marini
With Julianne Hough out of the picture, Cheryl Burke now has a better chance of making Dancing with the Stars history as the first pro to win three Mirrorball trophies. But don't think she was excited to see her fellow two-time winner eliminated. "We're all really close and we're sad to see her leave," Burke tells TVGuide.com. Spoken like a true champ. See what else Burke, who will dance the foxtrot and rumba Monday with Gilles Marini, has to say about her competition, her new projects and when Marini will strip down again.
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Jewel, Melissa Rycroft
Jewel has a message for Melissa Rycroft and any injured Dancing with the Stars celebrity: If you don't dance, you should leave, the songstress says.
"Being a rodeo and bull-riding fan it's hard for me to get used to someone who is injured still getting a score," the singer writes on husband Ty Murray's MySpace. "I think the rule ...
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It was a bittersweet night for Dancing with the Stars' Julianne Hough and her boyfriend/partner Chuck Wicks after the pair got booted for their cha cha cha. TV Guide Network caught up with the couple right after they got the bad news to ask them how the experience changed their relationship. The two country singers also revealed what's next in their respective music careers and Wicks' plan for his ballroom shoes.
Watch the video after the jump.
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Melissa Rycroft sat out Monday's Dancing with the Stars after suffering a hairline fracture in her rib, but is expected to continue with the competition.
The former Bachelor contestant re-aggravated an injury she sustained during practice last week. She missed her jive with partner Tony Dovolani, as well as the team mambo.
"Complications will prevent ...
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