'Dancing with the Stars' finalists open up about emotional finale journeys

Dancing with the Stars professional partners Derek Hough, Cheryl Burke and Karina Smirnoff, along with celebrity finalist Jack Osbourne, have opened up about their emotional journeys this season with Tuesday night's finale on the horizon.


"Today I cried three times," Smirnoff, who's partnered with Corbin Bleu, told People following Monday night's performance show. "It's such an emotional rollercoaster that you don't get to experience outside of the show. It gives you that opportunity to feel the highs and the lows, and they're beautiful."

"It has been very emotional," Burke explained.

"I think the whole journey and feeling what Jack's been going through and tonight not going as well as we expected for the first round, and then being able to overcome it and just leave with a bang whether we were going to be the ones going home or making it to the finals, I mean, it was just overwhelming."

Comedian Bill Engvall and pro partner Emma Slater were eliminated during last night's broadcast, advancing Smirnoff and Bleu, Burke and Osbourne, and Hough and partner Amber Riley to the finale.


"I had a cry in my car at one point. I had to pull over because I was just so worn out and tired," began Osbourne when reflecting back on his experience thus far.

"It was after the jive," Burke interjected.

"It was after the jive! The jive is an evil being. The jive is the embodiment of Satan," Osbourne joked with People.

Hough and Riley have also come a long way during the show's seventeenth season, as they've had their own share of highs and lows this season.

"There's something, I hate to say it, but really spiritual about growth. Growth is a spiritual thing," Hough explained.


"When you grow, it's a really amazing feeling. It's a human need, and I feel like when they come on the show and they accomplish something week after week, and they have this self-gratification and feeling proud about yourself, and they feel this growth inside themselves, it's a really amazing feeling."

Tuesday night's Dancing with the Stars finale will feature the remaining three couples dancing one more round of competition and the crowning of this season's winner.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski