Kelly Monaco 'DWTS' With Valentin Chmerkovskiy; Talk Of Their Romance [Finale Recap & Watch Video]
The "Dancing With the Stars: All-Stars" finale airs on Tuesday on ABC and one celebrity will finally take home the coveted mirrorball trophy after a difficult season of challenges thrown their way by the judges.
For the first time in "DWRS" history, the three finalists are all women: Melissa Rycroft, Shawn Johnson and Kelly Monaco.
But are Monaco and her partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy in a romantic relationship outside of the ones they portray in their dance routines?
In the first half of the finale, that aired on Monday, Monaco and her partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy opened up the show dancing the paso doble, their "repeat dance" of choice that they originally performed in week three of the competition. Though they did not kiss this time at the end of their routine like previously, the seductive dance got the judges calling out only compliments.
Len Goodman said it was Monaco's "best dance to date" and Bruno Tonioli said the routine was "fueled by passion" and "driven by desire." Judge Carrie Ann Inaba told Monaco "I am so proud of you. You've had to struggle the hardest to get here and tonight with the paso you absolutely showed you deserved to be here."
They scored their first 10's of the season and got a total of 29.5 out of 30.
For their freestyle dance, they brought out extra performers, gospel singers, and Monaco did aerial stunts while Chmerkovskiy serenaded her with a violin. They danced to "I've Had The Time Of My Life" from the film "Dirty Dancing."
Talking about the song choice, Monaco said "I think it sums up the past three months really well."
She added: "The most surprising thing for me out of this whole experience is the bond that I've made with Val. Just being able to have a friendship like that was unexpected and is just priceless. I don't want my journey with Val to end. Dancing with him has been one of the best experiences of my life."
After their romantic routine, Goodman said it was "spellbinding" and Inaba said the following:
"The truth is we've all been watching you as a couple grow, I dont know if it's a real couple, but we've watched that and it's played into your dancing. You told us a happy ending to a beautiful love story and I thought it was wonderful." They scored 29.5 out of 30 - a total for the night of 59 out of 60.
The show's co-host, Brooke Burke-Charvet, asked Monaco "our time is almost over here, give it up: is this show-mance? is this romance? I mean, everybody wants to know."
Monaco answered with "there is still another day of interviewing" and then Burke-Charvet added "they're gonna make us wait" until the Tuesday night finale. Watch the season finale of "DWTS: All-Stars" on Tuesday on ABC at 9 p.m. ET and see if Monaco takes home the trophy for a second time.
In a previous episode, when Monaco and Chmerkovskiy kissed on stage, Burke-Charvet asked Monaco "how was that kiss?" Shocked by the question, Monaco answered "A lady doesn't kiss and tell."
Monaco won the first season of "DWTS."
