‘Dancing With the Stars’ Announces Its 22nd Winner
When it comes to reality TV competition, there seems to be no beating Nyle DiMarco.
The 27-year-old, who won Season 22 of America's Next Top Model in December 2015, was also officially named the winner of Season 22 of Dancing With The Stars with partner Peta Murgatroy last night (May 25). The couple beat out UFC fighter Paige VanZant and partner Mark Ballas, who came in second, and ABC personality Ginger Zee and partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy, who came in third.
"This is such an amazing feeling," Murgatroy said after the presentation of the Mirror Ball trophy. "This whole thing has been so incredible, and [DiMarco] — I owe everything to him. He's incredible."
"I really think it's important that we worked hard," DiMarco, who is deaf, said in a follow-up interview. "I think we had that disadvantage, but there is no disadvantage; you use it to your advantage...Honestly, I'm shocked. I feel great."
DiMarco and Murgatroy, who were the highest-scoring team on seven different weeks of the show, worked out a system through which Murgatroy demonstrated moves at their intended speed and planted a series of silent cues into each performance. This, DiMarco told Time in April, was more than enough to compensate for the fact that he couldn't hear music.
"Whatever Peta does and shows me how to dance, I’m able to pick up all those small, little details,” he said. “Peta brings out the performance. She’s a performer. I feel like I can see the music and can see how the character of the music actually flows. For me, that’s music to my eyes."
Think DiMarco deserved the DWTS win, or were you pulling for one of the runners-up? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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