DWTS Winner 2016: Who Won Dancing With The Stars Season 23 Title?

Everyone did fairly well throughout the whole season, and this season was the first time ever that three athletes – Calvin Johnson, Laurie Hernandez, and Indy Car driver James Hinchcliffe – were in the final three.

The DWTS episode also saw eliminated contestants Vanilla Ice and Babyface Edmonds perform holiday classics, while Jana Kramer sang her new single, Circles. Finally, Olympian Laurie Hernandez, who has a gold and silver medal and seems to want another trophy for her mantel, dances with Valentin Chmerkovskiy.

Eventually, with just the two dancers left, it was announced that Laurie Hernandez and Val Chmerkovskiy were this season’s Mirrorball winners, which wasn’t too surprising since Hernandez had been the frontrunner nearly the entire season. The last round of the competition featured the 24-hour fusion challenge.

“Honestly, they feel like they are tied with each other!” Laurie said in an interview after the DWTS finale.

Hernandez was at the top and best performer throughout the season.

Find out who won the Mirrorball trophy below along with photos and video highlights on Tuesday night’s Dancing with the Stars finale.

She continued: “Because of you, I’ve grown as a person the past 11 weeks”. Clearly we are all winners tonight with that news. James and Sharna received four ideal 10s from the judges. I never would have thought at the start of this that Sharna and I would be standing up here finishing second in this competition.

Fans can see Hernandez dance again on the just announced DWTS tour, host Tom Bergeron announced on the finale.

James Hinchcliffe showed more improvement than anyone in this season, only behind Hernandez by a point or two. Julianne thought the dance was ideal, from content to kicks to flicks and said no amount of rhinestones could shine as bright as he does. Ultimately Laurie and Val were announced the winners, which they were elated to learn.