There was nothing surprising about the Dancing With the Stars finale. Actually, I take that back. Fans of Mario Lopez might say that Emmitt Smith’s win was shocking! But leading up to the announcement, there was nothing but the expected recap segments, encore performances, messages of love from family and friends, and, (the best part) the return of all of the season’s contestants.

Even Sara Evans, who left the show because of her messy personal life, returned for a final performance. The losers performed dances that they had already done before. (Unfortunately, we had to see Shanna Moakler do a ballroom dance to Kris Kross’ “Jump, Jump” again. Oh, brother!) The celebs even wore clothes we had seen before. Nothing exciting there.

Tom Bergeron also asked the past contestants questions about their experience on the show. Most of their answers were funny and witty. But my favorite response was when Tom asked Vivica A. Fox if she keeps in touch with her partner Nick Kosovich. The Hollywood diva answered with a very dry “No.” It seems she is the only one who didn’t fall in love, find a lasting family friend, and all of that other sweet, mushy stuff.

When the announcement was made that Emmitt Smith was the winner, we could see the look of disappointment on Mario and Karina’s faces. They barely smiled, if at all. You could tell those two wanted to win it bad. All of the neutral answers they gave in interviews before the finale was nonsense. They wanted to win it. They thought they should win it.

Emmitt and Cheryl were thrilled. Cheryl was emotional and they hugged for what seemed like five minutes. The crowd was on their feet. It was such a sweet moment, I admit that my tears came to my eyes. Being the gentleman that he is, Emmitt made a great speech complimenting Mario and Karina.

The finale ended with the eliminated contestants and family and friends swarming around Emmitt and Cheryl to congratulate the new champions of Dancing With the Stars.

VOTE: Did the right man win?