On Monday night, Dancing With The Stars crowned it’s season 29 champion, and the two hour finale gave us a nice long season send off with plenty of retrospectives, and a winner that will give us plenty to debate in the coming weeks.

In the end it was Bachelor star, Kaitlyn Bristowe, who took home the mirrorball trophy. With Nev Schulman, host of Catfish, coming in second. Rapper Nelly coming third, and One Day At A Time actress, Justina Machado coming in fourth.

Bristowe was a consistently strong performer throughout the season, along with Schulman which made the final seconds of the show particular suspenseful. Social media had plenty to say with support splintering four ways after the decision was made. Given the tone leading up to the decision, we knew the winner wouldn’t make everyone happy.

Let’s break down the other winners and some of the losers from season 29

Winners: (in addition Bristowe)

Derek Hough: His performance during the finale alone was enough to get him on the list, but he remained the most popular judge with viewers. Derek’s likeability remained remarkably high throughout the season with his constantly positive and contagious attitude.

Skai Jackson: If the contest were determined by social media buzz alone, she would have been the run away winner. The Disney Channel star was so easy to root for and delivered some wonderfully emotional moments. Fans were calling for her tonight even after she was eliminated.

ABC: The network and by proxy, The Mouse (ABC is owned by Disney), should be happy. The program doesn’t face an easy path to popularity going up against Monday Night Football and “The Voice” week in and week out. They continue to dominate the online conversation and it’s crossover push with the Bachelor/Bachelorette remains a formula for success. The product isn’t perfect, but it’s still good.

Honorable mentions: Nelly, who’s had two big nights on ABC after the AMAs last night. Jeannie Mai, for defeating her illness to return for the finale. And Cheryl Burke for soldiering on after her injury earlier this season.

Losers:

Tyra Banks: Season 29 will be remembered for a few different things. Really, the main recurring story was the unpopular hosting change that said good by to Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews and hello to Tyra Banks. While Banks was plenty qualified and on paper seemed like a strong choice, she never won over the audience. If she stays on, she’ll have a lot of work to do.

The Virus: The Coronavirus has gotten shows cancelled. It has shutdown broadway. And it has forced the shows that have survived to seriously change the ways it has done things. Dancing With The Stars delivered despite the challenge and they won this fight. Congratulations to everyone!

Me: I’m the loser at the end of this season. This is a great show to blog about and I do miss it. If you’re new here, do check in with my Bachelor/Bachelorette stuff every Tuesday night!

See you next season!