Xochitl Gomez became the much-anticipated winner of ‘Dancing With The Stars‘ Season 32, along with her dance partner Val Chmerkovskiy. The three-hour grand finale was nothing less than a treat to the viewers’ eyes.
Featuring several emotional performances from the five remaining finalists – including Alyson Hannigan, Jason Mraz, Ariana Madix, and Charity Lawson – the finale was a spectacular show. All the participant couples graced the show with dazzling performances — with all dance styles including the freestyle routine and a redemption dance.
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Xochitl Gomez Talks About ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Journey
Several other eliminated cast members including Harry Jowsey, Mira Sorvino, Mauricio Umansky, Lele Pons, and Barry Williams also graced the stage with the finalists.
The second position in the finale was bagged by Jason Mraz and his dance partner Daniella Karagach. Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix and her partner Pasha Pashkov stood third in the competition.
The woman of the hour, Gomez, meanwhile reflected on her journey on the show from the time she first stepped on the stage to hold the trophy that she could not have imagined would be hers one day.
Talking about her journey on the show, Gomez said the show made her push herself out of her comfort zone for the first time. The actress has been a part of many movies including Benedict Cumberbatch starring ‘Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness‘ and Netflix’s ‘The Baby-Sitters Club‘.
However, she said that performing live on stage is an altogether different experience as compared to scripted acting. She said ‘Dancing With The Stars‘ gave her a chance to be herself rather than portraying a fictional character.
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“The Show Allowed Me To Be Myself”: Xochitl
“This project felt different in the sense that I wasn’t having to play a character. I was just being myself,” she told Rolling Stone. “It kind of brought me back to my experience doing theater. I did a lot of musical theater growing up, youth musical theater. It was very much friends just getting together and messing around, and as much as this show feels like that it’s also very strict,” she said.
Gomez also said that the show was rather strict, and reminded her of her days in the youth musical theater. “I wanted to do a lot of research into what the show was, what it was like, what other people’s experiences were like,” Gomez said.
“I know a few people like Riker [Lynch] and Justina [Machado], who’ve been on the show and they talk very highly of it. Reading Val’s book, it was very funny, but it also gave me pretty good insights on Dancing With the Stars in general,” she added.
Her dancing partner Val praised Gomez, asserted that despite the challenges, Gomez emerged turned out to be a quick learner and a great student.
“Xochitl is an amazing talent, but she’s also a really focused student, so when she goes home on her quote-unquote ‘day off,’ she’s still watching tape, she’s still watching her videos, she’s still going over her stuff, and she comes in ready the next day,” he told the Rolling Stone.
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