Who won season 22 of 'DWTS' and a tale of two reality franchises
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
There’s a new winner on the reality program “Dancing With the Stars.”
Nyle DiMarco, the first deaf winner of the reality competition “America’s Next Top Model,” won the newest season of the ABC program “Dancing” along with his professional dancer partner, Peta Murgatroyd.
Martial artist Paige VanZant and her partner Mark Ballas received second place in the competition, while Ginger Zee of ABC’s “Good Morning America” and her partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy came in third.
Prior to winning, Mr. DiMarco and Ms. Murgatroyd performed a cha-cha-cha/tango dance that received a perfect score from the judges. (Ms. VanZant and Mr. Ballas’s salsa/jive routine also received a perfect score from the judges.)
“Dancing” wasn’t the only reality competition that announced a new champion on May 24. The NBC singing reality competition “The Voice” also aired its season finale that same night.
The two shows follow a similar model, with both airing a fall and spring season, and next season will see them continue to face off, with ABC and NBC having announced that both “Dancing” and “Voice” will each be airing on Mondays at 8 p.m.
On the most recent episodes of the shows – both of which were the first parts of the “Dancing” and “Voice” finales – “Voice” drew more viewers 18-49, a valued demographic, than “Dancing,” but “Dancing” attracted more viewers total than the NBC reality competition.
The story for these shows was the same last year, too – according to the Deadline 2014-2015 TV season rankings, “The Voice” was more popular with that younger demographic of viewers than in total viewers, while “Dancing” was far further down in the ratings for viewers 18-49 than for total viewers.
One thing that has changed, though? As noted by Matt Webb Mitovich of TVLine, the first part of the “Voice” season finale attracted lower ratings than in the past. “The performance finale was also down sharply from both last season … and a year ago,” Mr. Mitovitch wrote.
We’ll see next season how “Voice” performs against its rival “Dancing.”
