Dancing with the Stars: All Stars‘ brought back the best dancers from the past 14 seasons. The top two — Shawn Johnson & Derek Hough and Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani were both amazing. And even though Shawn and Derek got a perfect score in their last dance of the season, I think Melissa and Tony deserved to win!

Shawn and Derek have had plenty of moments in the spotlight — they frequently got perfect scores and were brought back on night two to perform for the judge’s encore dance.

I was almost sure Shawn & Derek would win after their last dance — they received a standing ovation from the audience, a perfect score from the judges and seemed to completely capivate the home viewer.

But then, Melissa and Tony took home the title of champion! I’m surprised, but I’m not disappointed. I thought both pairs did an AMAZING job all season. And I think Melissa and Tony arguably worked harder, overcoming injuries and trying to make up for Shawn’s gymnastic background (advantage).

We saw that playing by the rules does make a difference. Shawn and Derek chose to bend the rules by breaking form in their first dance on part one of the finale on Nov. 26. Their total judges score after three dances was 87/90 — the lowest of the three finalist couples.

Melissa and Tony earned a score of 88.5/90. With the judges scores counting for 50% of the vote and home viewers counting for the other 50%, that 1.5 point difference could have been the deciding factor between 1st and 2nd place.

In the poll we posted on Nov. 27, 45% of HollywoodLifers wanted Melissa and Tony to win, while almost 35% wanted Shawn and Derek.

I think Melissa and Tony deserve the win and I’m so happy for them!

Are you happy with the outcome, HollywoodLifers?

– Dory Larrabee

More Dancing News:

1. ‘DWTS’ Gilles Marini Dances ‘Gangnam Style’ In A Towel
2. Paula Abdul ‘Straight Up’ Amazing In ‘DWTS’ Performance — Watch
3. Taylor Swift On ‘DWTS’: She Looks So Flirty Performing In Short-Shorts

After being paired with the notoriously high maintenance Kate Gosselin on ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ dance pro Tony Dovolani admitted he had to take vacations and therapy! Whoa!

Apparently it’s not just Jon Gosselin who thinks Kate Gosselin is a handful! Her Dancing with the Stars pro, Tony Dovolani, is still reeling from the experience TWO YEARS later!

Kate Gosselin ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Return In The Works?? — Producers Want Her For DWTS All Stars Season

During an interview with Anderson Cooper, Tony joked around about his time with Kate on the dance floor, saying, “Wait, wait, wait. Anderson did you just call it dance? We didn’t dance!”

Anderson then asked him if he had to take “a long vacation” after he and Kate were eliminated.

“There was a a lot of therapy involved,” Tony said, smiling.

Judging from what we’ve seen on her reality show, interviews and more, we don’t think he was just kidding about Kate either, do you? She was that big of a nightmare!

More Kate Gosselin:

1. Kate Gosselin Has A Secret Kardashian Obsession
2. Kate Gosselin Limits Her Kids To One Christmas Gift Each
3. Kate Gosselin Doesn’t Get Kids On Christmas Day

Everyone knows bad luck is associated with the number 13. Ever since the new cast of Dancing With The Stars was announced, more than a few people have been scratching their heads over the participating celebs and wondering if there will be more failed attempts at two-stepping and injuries than past seasons! However, all questionable contestants and bad luck rumors aside, Good Morning America had the honor of announcing the toe-tapping duos and we gotta say, we think it’s gonna be good!Without further adieu, here are the pairs for next season:

Kristin Cavallari and Mark Ballas

Nancy Grace and Tristan MacManus

Rob Kardashian and Cheryl Burke

Chynna Phillips and Tony Dovolani

Elisabetta Canalis and Val Chmerkovskiy

JR Martinez and Karina Smirnoff

Ron Artest and Peta Murgatroyd

Ricki Lake and Derek Hough

David Arquette and Kym Johnson

Chaz Bono and Lacey Schwimmer

Hope Solo and Maksim Chmerkovskiy

Carson Kressley and Anna Trebunskaya

So BFFs, what do you think? Are you excited for season 13? Who will you be voting for? Sound off in the comments below!

HollywoodLife.com grilled the celebs Nov. 21 at the American Music Awards for their thoughts on Dancing with the Stars finalist, Bristol the Pistol!

Former Dancing with the Stars cast mates showed their support for teen mom Bristol Palin, despite her being heavily scrutinized for being a poor dancer. No matter how good Jennifer Grey, Kyle Massey and Bristol perform, the choice is ultimately up to the viewers. Will they vote for the best dancer, or the person they can relate to the most?

Here’s what celebs said about Bristol:

Dancer Tony Dovolani:

• On Bristol making it to the finals: “She has nothing to be ashamed about.”

• His personal pick: “I want Kyle to win. He’s been showing the most enthusiasm and having the most fun out there.”

Dancer Karina Smirnoff:

• “Everyone has been really harsh with Bristol, and they’ve said she doesn’t deserve to be in the final. When we had Evan [Lysacek] and Nicole [Scherzinger] last year, people said it wasn’t fair because they were dancers. Now we have a non-dancer, and maybe there were better dancers, but the show has never just been a dance competition. It’s a popularity and personality contest, so I think this season’s finalists are completely different from each other, we have the graceful Jennifer. We have Kyle who is Mr. Personality, he is always happy. Then we have Bristol who has had the best journey and the best story. It will all depend who does the best freestyle, that will be the best performance of the night. They all have something different.

Skating with the Stars judge & Olympic gold medalist Johnny Weir:

• His personal pick: “I’m going to leave it in America’s hands. I love Jennifer Grey. I love Dirty Dancing. I want her to win. I think she’s the best. She’s so classy. I love her.”

And we saved the best for last: Brandy! When we asked her for her thoughts on the Bristol controversy, she gave the most shocking answer of all: total silence! I think that speaks for itself.

— Jenn Murray

The dancing partner of Audrina Patridge, eliminated earlier in the season, says Bristol has what it takes to go all the way!

Many may be outraged by Bristol Palin‘s appearance in the finals of Dancing With the Stars, but not dancer Tony Dovolani! Tony caught up with HollywoodLife at the KIIS FM Gifting and Broadcast Suite on November 19, 2010. “I’m excited for [Bristol]. Everyone always says to me, ‘How can we get an everyday average person on the show?’ And I feel like she represents that. I’m glad that she made it to the finals, I congratulate her.”

As for her chances of winning Tony said, “Why wouldn’t she have a chance to win? To me, I hope the person that deserves it the most wins.”

Before heading out, Tony picked up some great gifts including Sketchers and black suede over-the-knee Pastry boots for his wife.

Bristol and partner Mark Ballas will go up against Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough and Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer in the finals Nov. 22.

Reporting by Sarah Rose Attman

From Carrie Ann and Maksim’s two minute hug to the Palin’s refraining from joining in any audience dances, HollywoodLife.com has a behind-the-scenes look at Dancing with the Stars Nov. 9 performances!

Ever wonder what happens when the cameras aren’t rolling on the Dancing with the Stars set? Well, thanks to a source that was at CBS Studios in Hollywood Nov. 9, HollywoodLife.com has the full report on all the happenings and behind the scenes scoop!

*Cheryl Burke and Derek Hough started out the night with a 50s-themed dance that was pre-taped for next week’s episode. Watch out for their romantic lip lock during the number – it’s super hot!

*Being in the DWTS live studio audience is a blast! The warm up guy got the entire audience on the floor (with some help from DWTS pro Tony Dovolani, Kyle Massey and even Brandy). They all led the audience to a dance to YMCA, which was conveniently changed to “DWTS.” All of the celebs families, including the Warner’s, Norwood’s and Massey’s, were getting their groove on. However, Bristol’s family refrained from joining in the fun – guess they must be worse dancers than Bristol!

*Kyle Massey was so happy to be there. His presence lit up the audience and he actually was the one celeb that sneaked as many chances throughout the night to watch the show in the crowd, instead of hiding backstage.

*Kurt Warner totally knew he was going home and was visibly sad throughout the whole process. There were a couple times that Bruno was watching some videos and talked privately to the other judges about how much he loved Kurt. All the judges were very sad to see Kurt go, they kept talking to each other and mentioning that each of them loved how nice he was, and how he was such a class act.

*Speaking of disappointment, the audience was bummed when it realized both of John Legend’s performances were actually pre-taped and he wasn’t in the studio. The magic of TV!

*Carrie Ann Inaba was visibly annoyed and rolled her eyes after watching the video package that showed Maksim being overly dramatic and calling out the judges. She was mad at him, but after the show completed, they both embraced and hugged for a good two minutes as Carrie Ann spoke calmly in his ear. It was nice to witness them both reconcile their differences.

*Brandy‘s daughter started crying the second Brandy was in the bottom two. Brandy saw this happening and almost started crying herself. She kept saying “don’t cry” in a comforting manner toward her daughter.

We can’t believe how much drama happens when the cameras aren’t rolling! Do you love reading about the behind-the-scenes scoop?

Kirstin Benson with reporting by Russ Weakland

In photo after photo, video after video of Tony with partner Audrina Patridge, he radiates happiness and tons of confidence that he’s got a shot of winning the competition with his new partner.

What a Dancing with the Stars makeover from last season, when he was paired with Kate Gosselin and the theme for the pair was tears, tension … and Kate’s two left feet.

Now, Tony and Audrina are in second place after two weeks of competition and Audrina has been described by normally-acerbic judge Bruno Tonioli as a “beautiful show pony.” Bruno also gushes that Audrina’s “got everything this competition needs!”

But more than that, videos of Audrina and Tony practicing reveal two dance partners clapping hands, smiling, laughing, and attacking their challenge with gusto. “You’re really good,” Tony tells Audrina. She “works so hard … she picks up things so quickly,” Tony tells the camera.

“I’m so excited, we’re doing the cha-cha!” squeals Audrina. “I really trust Tony and I let it fly.” She also adds that she’s not going out at all with friends so she has no distractions from her DWTS work.

By contrast, poor Kate had the hard combo of a divorce, eight children, an out-of-shape body and no natural affinity for dancing to deal with! She was totally stressed, rather than enthused by her DWTS challenge.

“Nothing in dancing is natural to Kate,” Tony revealed last season to DWTS fans. And he moaned to Kate herself, “Why don’t you pay attention to my teaching?”

“He feels like I undermine him as a teacher,” Kate admitted, after she complained that he wasn’t teaching her in a way SHE could learn.

“I’m a little baffled right now — I’ve never been questioned about my teaching,” an exasperated Tony admitted in rehearsal. And then, he even told Kate, behind the scenes, “I quit” — as she burst into tears.

Let’s just say, ladies, that it wasn’t a marriage made in heaven – hmm!

But now, hooray for Tony, whose reward this season is Audrina. Take a look at our pics and videos and you’ll see what I mean! Good luck Tony and Audrina!

– Bonnie Fuller

Courtesy of ABC, The CW (inset)

And who better to predict this season’s winner than Mystic Falls’ resident witch?

If you’re wondering who will take the Mirror Ball home on the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars, beginning tonight (Sept. 20) on ABC, look no further than Audrina Patridge! ”I think she’s going to do really well,” The Vampire Diaries star Katerina Graham, 21, tells HollywoodLife.com exclusively. Katerina got to know Audrina, 25, on the set of their upcoming movie Honey 2, and Katerina has nothing but nice things to say about the Hills hottie-turned-ballroom babe.

“She’s a sweet girl,” Katerina tells us. “You can’t tell how [The Hills stars] really are when you watch them, but I met her and she was one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met. Everyone I’ve talked to has felt the same.”

As far as Katerina’s concerned, Audrina is totally ready to take on her competition. Fellow dancers beware!

“[Audrina] supported me on my dance project, so I’ll definitely be rooting for her,” Katerina tells us. “She’s going to kick ass.”

— Andy Swift