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Johnny Ruffo wins Dancing with the Stars 2012

Singer Johnny Ruffo rises from anonymity 12 months ago to winning Seven's ballroom dance contest.

Singer Johnny Ruffo was last night declared the winner of Dancing with the Stars 2012.

Ruffo defeated Danielle Spencer for the title, after actress Zoe Cramond was eliminated earlier in the night.

Ruffo scored 85 points from the judges over Spencer’s 84, with the audience vote giving him a further edge.

Final scores were:

Johnny Ruffo & Luda Kroitor 28 (Foxtrot) + 26 (Cha Cha face off) + 30 (Freestyle Dance)
Danielle Spencer & Damian Whitewood 28 (Jive) + 27 (Cha Cha face off ) + 29 (Freestyle Dance)
Zoe Cramond & Aric Yudekin 28 (Jive) + 27 (Cha Cha face off)

“I said I’d be stoked if we made it to week five,” Ruffo said, “so making the final and taking the mirror ball home is so incredible, I can’t even explain it.”

It’s been a swift ride for Ruffo, who twelve months ago was a concreter in Perth until he entered The X Factor. Despite nearly being rejected at auditions he persisted through to the Grand Final and has a single released this week, aptly titled On Top.

The finale also saw the return of Kerri-Anne Kennerley, who said the joy of dancing was important to her to feeling positive as she faces cancer treatment.

“I’ve got the most enormous support… everyone’s been so supportive but tonight is all about the joy of dancing,” she insisted. Dance partner Carmelo Pizzino fought back tears as he acknowledged Kennery’s spirit.

Olivia Newton-John also performed Xanadu, in support of Kennerley’s fight with breast cancer, and there were more than a few flirtatious comments from the judges towards Ruffo.

The finale ends a tricky season for the long-running Seven show which saw its numbers dip in the 12th season -the 50th episode to be hosted by Daniel MacPherson.

Ruffo is the eighth male to win the dance contest since 2004.

15 Responses

  1. Also the fact that if the combined viewer votes and judges scores brings a tie – its whoever had the most viewer votes that win.

    So basically, the winner is know as soon as voting closes and the judges scores on the final night have nothing to do with it!

  2. No one ever seems to comment on the audience votes, which are for the previous week’s show. So if a contestant doesn’t do so well one week, then brillliantly the next, they could be eliminated on the previous week’s marks and not on any improvement on the current night. This is glossed over, conveniently ignored.

    1. I’ve previously commented on this anomaly before, which also suggests that either the first week or final week judge’s scores are also likely to be irrelevant. On the other hand they probably add them in as extra points somewhere along the way.

  3. Did anyone notice that before they announced the winner that a commercial for todays “Sunrise” aired saying that the “winner” would be joining them live in the studio… Although they did not say the winners name – they showed only clips of Johnny and Luda – no danielle or Zoe – and this was just after Zoe had been eliminated and the last dances were still to be performed.
    I think Johnny was good – Danielle was much better – but still all a bit fishy to me.

  4. @David Knox, it was a step in the same direction but at least you could consider Manu being a ‘star’ for being a celebrity chef that had appeared on a few television shows. As far as I am concerned, reality show contestants do not qualify as “celebrities” or “stars” if that’s their only claim to fame.

  5. I thought they had decided to shorten this nonsense to finish 1/2 hour earlier than originally scheduled (9pm instead of 9:30pm)? It ran over by half an hour of course…

    They announce a change to their originally scheduled times in advance only to renege on it at the last moment and run this mindless pap on the original schedule after all! Is it any wonder no one has anything good to say about the networks? Seven you are as bad as Nine, may your ratings fall forever.

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