TV

On the one hand, it was the most predictable, even inevitable of outcomes. All season, the judges have lavished praised on the ice-skating Olympic champion who became the series' highest scoring competitor during her sixth-season run. As head judge Len Goodman observed after her dance, "you've been the most consistent performer not just this season, but any season."

But this is Dancing with the Stars, where the emphasis has always been on the stars, not the dancing. And it was testament of the show's celebrity-popularity-contest foundation that there was any question (I won't go so far as to say suspense) about the outcome as the show churned through its two-hour build-up to the revelation. Cristian de la Fuente, dubbed by the show a "one-armed hero," was quickly and thankfully dispatched to sit with his fellow ejectees in the audience, leaving the stage to Kristi and "gridiron god" Jason Taylor.

Jason was his big, bald, graceful self through his encore performance of the quick step. He finally got his perfect 30, and while the audience clearly loved him, even he seemed to know his second-place fate. "Kristi may be the judges' champion," said Len. "But you're the people's champion," as Jason and Cristian hoisted her onto their (massive) shoulders and paraded her about the dance floor.

She may have been a ringer, she may have had unfair advantage, the producers may have had their thumbs on the scale (there's absolutely no transparency to the voting process so, really, who knows what the viewers' vote outcome was). But by the end, Kristi danced over and blew away all conspiratorial grousing. She was the best dancer -- by far -- and the rightful winner. The only loser of the evening were the viewers who had to sit through two hours of tedious filler to watch ten minutes of actual content.

And so, for the first time in five seasons, a woman won Dancing with the Stars. "You've broken the curse," exclaimed host Tom Bergeron.