The 'Good Morning America' weather anchor takes the dance floor on Monday night to dance two routines, including a freestyle that gets a perfect score.
- May 24, 2016
AceShowbiz - Ginger Zee is not giving up when she is so close to the Mirror Ball trophy. The ABC News chief meteorologist danced through pain on night 1 of "Dancing with the Stars" season 22 finale Monday, May 23, after injuring her pelvis last week during rehearsals.
The 35-year-old and her partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy first danced a contemporary that combined some of their past routines, but mostly centering on their dance from Most Memorable Year Night. Len Goodman loved the lifts, while Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba praised their strategy to do medley of their best dances. Ginger earned 28 out of 30 points.
"Back spasms are unfortunately a challenge we had to face, but we don't want to make any excuses," Val said of their challenge after the routine. "This is our last week, and we have to give it all we've got."
Ginger also danced a freestyle that paid homage to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It seems that her back spams limited her motions, but the judges were very nice. "You've come out with this second dance and it was fun, pain is temporary, glory lasts a lifetime," Len said. Ginger got a perfect score of 30.
Ginger & Val were competing against Paige VanZant & Mark Ballas as well as Nyle DiMarco & Peta Murgatroyd who also danced twice each. Nyle & Peta danced a quickstep that was a throwback to their "Mask" routine. Bruno and Carrie Ann loved the content, but noticed that Nyle lost a little bit of precision. Len thought "it was a little hectic in places which made you lose a little control." The model earned 27 points.
He earned 30 points for his freestyle that was created by a contemporary choreography ringer. The number was stunning and daring. "That was beyond dancing, that was a work of art. It was perfection at every level," Bruno gushed, as Carrie Ann called it the best dance she has ever seen in 22 seasons so far.
Paige and Mark danced a salsa from week 2, when Mark was injured and couldn't perform, for their Redemption Style. Carrie Ann and Bruno loved it, but "grumpy" Len said there wasn't enough hip action for a salsa. The judges gave her 29 points.
Paige got a perfect score of 30 for her freestyle that was about overcoming bullying. The number was emotional and beautiful, bringing people including Mark to tears. "That was really a triumph," Bruno declared, "you brought me to tears."
With a total of 118 points (including their scores from last week's dances), Paige currently tops the leaderboard. She and the other two finalists will dance once again tomorrow for the 24-hour fusion challenge, before the winner is revealed.
