Laurie Hernandez becomes youngest victor ever on ‘Dancing With the Stars’

Laurie Hernandez has compared winning the Dancing with the Stars mirrorball trophy to earning an Olympic gold medal.

Calvin Johnson Jr. – who definitely deserved the season’s most-improved award – also earned a ideal 40 on Tuesday with partner Lindsay Arnold for his jive/quickstep mix-up.

Tuesday night’s finale kicked off with an opening number performed by all 13 of this season’s couples, followed by special performances by Andy Grammer, Vanilla Ice, and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds.

There were also plenty of holiday themed routines to get us excited for the most wonderful time of the year.

The votes from November 21 were combined along with the judges’ points from the “24-Hour Fusion Challenge” to determine the victor.

James and Sharna’s romantic Viennese waltz/foxtrot got lots of love from the judges and straight 10s. But there were also a lot of tough competitors that she and Chmerkovskiy were up against.

Watch the couple’s dances from last night below. But they worked hard to impress the judges; moreover, they received massive support from the fans. “When I see you dance like that, it’s completely understandable why you’re here”, judge Len Goodman said after Hinchcliffe’s final dance.

She continued: “Because of you, I’ve grown as a person the past 11 weeks”. Calvin Johnson may still have a chance, but we believe it to be more of an long shot rather than one we should be looking at seriously. The duo also got four flawless 10s from the judges.

“Honestly, they feel like they are tied with each other!” Laurie said in an interview after the DWTS finale. During their final rehearsal, Laurie told Val she didn’t want to say goodbye. Every couple came out and nailed it tonight, and you were no exception. Bruno Tonioli immediately jumped from his seat to rave about Laurie and Val.

Laurie Hernandez has becme one of America’s sweethearts with her victory with Team USA in the 2016 Olympics.

With another great season of DWTS in the books, what was your favorite performance?