In last night's thrilling conclusion to Dancing with the Stars season 7, host and model Brooke Burke and her partner Derek Hough swept through their competition to take home the mirror ball trophy. As I watched and live blogged the evening, I reflected on the past season and how naturally gifted Brooke Burke is as a dancer. My reaction when she won was that she really worked hard all season and deserved to win.

However, being a mathematically minded sort, I started to wonder this morning whether there were some behind-the-scenes shenanigans going on. Let me take you through my reasoning.

Every week, the results of Dancing with the Stars are based on a combination of the judges' scores and the votes from the viewing audience at home. The judges' scores are immediately made public after each performance, but nobody ever tells us the actual numerical values of the votes or even how many people voted. This always struck me as a little bit sketchy. I know that the producers of Dancing with the Stars wanted to have voting in order to introduce an unpredictability factor into their show, but by not disclosing the results of the vote, I'm always a little bit suspicious that they are skewing the results to match their desired outcome.

Case in point: the two-night season finale of Dancing with the Stars this week involved three sets of judges' scores (two from Monday night and one from Tuesday night) but only one round of voting (Monday night). That means that whoever tabulated the votes from Monday night knew exactly what scores each of the final three couples needed in order to win the title. Conceivably, then, the powers that be behind Dancing with the Stars could very well have instructed the judges to dole out the Tuesday night scores to secure the victory of their previously decided upon favorite.

Based on our very unscientific poll and showdown of who our readers wanted to win, Brooke Burke's victory was not necessarily a sure bet, even though she was the most technically proficient of the three finalists. However, the judges awarded her a perfect 30 in her Viennese waltz last night. This begs the question: did the judges give her such a high score because she otherwise would not have won the competition?

But I'm not going to worry about it too much. I am happy with last night's result because I definitely think that the best, most talented dancer won. Not only that, but it was another female celebrity, leaving the count nearly even at three female winners (Kelly Monaco, Kristi Yamaguchi and now Brooke Burke) versus four male winners (Drew Lachey, Emmitt Smith, Apolo Anton Ohno and Helio Castroneves). Plus, now that means that there are two Houghs who are Dancing with the Stars champions.



Read More:
Did Brooke Burke Deserve to Win Dancing with the Stars?
Season Finale Live Thoughts
Final Performance Rankings
Final Performance Live Thoughts
Fans Decide Who They Want to Win Dancing with the Stars
Why Warren Sapp Should Win
Warren Sapp's Five Best Dances
Why Brooke Burke Should Win
Brooke Burke's Five Best Dances
Why Lance Bass Should Win
Lance Bass' Five Best Dances




-Debbie Chang, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of ABC)