'Dancing with the Stars' leaderboard tied going into final dance round

Dancing with the Stars' twelfth-season finale leaderboard is tied with one dance to go.


Disney Channel star Chelsea Kane and NFL football star Hines Ward finished tied for first place on the judges' leaderboard at the conclusion of Monday night's live performance show, which featured the competition's three remaining couples each performing two dances.

Both couples finished the night with 59 out of 60 possible points.

Kane and professional partner Mark Ballas received 29 out of 30 possible points for their samba dance during the performance show's initial "judges' choice" round, which required each couple to perform a dance Dancing with the Stars judges Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli believed best showed the celebrity's skills.

Kane and Ballas then received a perfect 30 out of 30 score during the "freestyle" round, which allowed the celebrities to perform any style of dance with their partner and show off their personality and strengths as a dancer.  They opted to perform a youth-inspired routine which featured a fusion of Latin and contemporary dance moves.


Ward and professional partner Kym Johnson also earned 29 points during the "judges' choice" round and followed it with a perfect 30 score during the freestyle round.  After performing a samba in the first round, they returned to the dance floor and danced a freestyle routine that was inspired by the half-time show of a football game.

Just as they did last week, actress and former Kirstie Alley's Big Life star Kirstie Alley and partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy finished in third place on the judges' leaderboard with 54 total points.

Alley and Chmerkovskiy danced a quickstep that received 27 points during the "judges' choice" round and earned an additional 27 points during the freestyle round.  They performed a romantic freestyle routine that incorporated gymnastics and several lifts.

Dancing with the Stars' live twelfth-season finale will air tonight at 9PM ET/PT on ABC. 

Each of the three remaining couples will perform one more routine and the scores they receive will be added to their judges' scores from Monday night's dances.


Dancing with the Stars' twelfth-season mirror ball trophy winner will then be revealed based on the combination of the judges' score shares for the dancers' Monday and Tuesday night performances, and the share of home viewer votes cast immediately after Monday night's broadcast.






About The Author: Steven Rogers