Dancing with the Stars and American Idol champs Carrie Underwood and Jordin Sparks were all winners at last night's broadcast of the 35th Annual People's Choice Awards on CBS.

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While Underwood was only presented with her Favorite Female Singer award during the ceremony, the fourth-season American Idol champion also took home awards for Favorite Country Song and Favorite Star 35 & Under.

"God has blessed me with a wonderful life and a wonderful career and the most amazing fans I could ever dream for," Underwood told the audience. "People being fans and people voting for me are what gave me a career in the first place, and its so amazing that they continue to support [me]."

Underwood, who was also the first singer to perform at the ceremony, defeated Alicia Keys and Rihanna to win the Favorite Female Singer award.  She won the Favorite Country Song award for "Last Name," which beat out Taylor Swift's "Love Story" and Rascal Flatts' "Take Me There."

Underwood beat out a lengthy list of 31 other nominees to win the Favorite Star 35 & Under award, including Beyonce, Zac Efron, Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Alicia Keys, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, and Reese Witherspoon.

ABC's Dancing with the Stars took home the award for Favorite Competition/Reality Show for the second year in a row, beating out Fox's American Idol and ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron, co-host Samantha Harris, judge Carrie Ann Inaba, and seventh-season winner Brooke Burke went on stage to accept the award, with Bergeron accepting the award in his usual snarky fashion.

"On behalf overy everybody connected with Dancing with the Stars, and the American Association of Spray Tanners, we happily accept this award because it comes from you -- the people," Bergeron said.

"I am reminded of something I heard Cloris Leachman yell from her trailer last season," he added with a smile. "I can't quote it exactly because we're on network television, but the gist of it was 'this is deeply satisfying... and I hope we can do it again, and again, and again.'"

American Idol sixth-season champ Jordin Sparks took home one-half of the Favorite Combined Forces award for "No Air." The song, which also features R&B singer Chris Brown, beat out Madonna and Justin Timberlake's "4 Minutes" and Natasha Bedingfield and Sean Kingston's "Love Like This."

"I actually think this is the first award show I've been at where they've actually aired my award, so I'm very excited about that," Sparks said during her acceptance speech before thanking the fans for their support. "I feel like I'm on Idol again, so thank you."

"No Air" was also nominated for Favorite Pop Song, but lost to Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl."

NBC's Deal or No Deal also won an award, besting Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader and Jeopardy to win Favorite Game Show.

Reality shows first received a People's Choice Awards category in 2001, when Survivor was honored as the Favorite Reality Based TV Program.  There was no reality category in 2002, but Survivor: Thailand won Favorite Reality/Game Show honors in 2003.

While there was no reality category once again in 2004, there were three in 2005 -- with MTV's Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica being honored for Favorite Reality Show Other; Extreme Makeover: Home Edition honored as the Favorite Reality Show Makeover; and Idol honored as Favorite Reality Show Competition.

Idol once again took home Favorite Reality Show Competition honors in 2006, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was honored as the Favorite Reality Show Other winner.  Idol won Favorite Reality Show honors during the 2007 ceremony, which featured only one reality category.
About The Author: John Bracchitta

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