Dancing’s Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani Talk Mirrorball Win

It was the first mirrorball win for reality star Melissa Rycroft and professional dancer Tony Dovolani on Tuesday’s “Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars” and as America saw, the pair went wild.

“I think I Iost it completely. I don’t know what I did,” Tony told Access Hollywood after the show. “I think I jumped for joy. The next thing I know, Maks and Val had me above them.”

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Tony actually appeared to curse (although ABC censors didn’t let the words out on air) after being crowned, and Valentin Chmerkovskiy, who – with his brother Maksim Chmerkovskiy – hoisted Tony on their shoulders, said it was a victory well-earned.

“I’m so happy bro, I’m so happy for you,” Val said, hugging Tony as he joined our Access interview. “We went crazy backstage. This a perfect end for a perfect season for me. This is perfect. This is exactly what I deserve and exactly what he deserved this season.”

Val came in third, with his celeb for the season – Kelly Monaco (Shawn Johnson and Derek Hough took second).

After the show, Melissa said she finally understood why everyone wanted the “All-Stars” title so badly.

“It feels phenomenal,” she said. “I see why these champions wanted to win again, because it feels good, because you can tell that everybody really is happy for you. Everybody put the work in. We all know how hard it is to get here… We fought very hard and the fans got us here and for that, we are eternally grateful.”

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Feeling good now, Melissa revealed that moments before show co-host Tom Bergeron revealed they had won, the pair were ready to take second.

“I was looking over [at Tony] going, ‘It’s Shawn and Derek,’ and we were doing the, ‘Second place is great, it’s better than we did [in] Season 8,” Melissa recounted to Access. “At that point, when you hear your name called, it is surreal and unbelievable.”

And the win fell on a day that made it extra special for Tony.

“Today is my wife and my thirteenth anniversary. It’s the 100th year for Albanian independence, so for me, this means so much to win here, because America saved my life,” Tony said. “This ride has been so special… This cannot be matched.”

Jolie Lash

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