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Celia Pacquola wins Dancing with the Stars 2020

Rosehaven star beats perfects scores to take out 10's dancing title.

Rosehaven star Celia Pacquola has won Dancing with the Stars 2020 after a fast-tracked finale.

Together with dancer Jarryd Byrne, she defeated Christian Wilkins and dance partner Lily Cornish.

Claudia Karvan came third and Ed Kavalee was fourth.

“I really think it will be a few months from now before I realise or understand what this all means,”said Pacquola.

“For right now, I’m so happy for Jarryd, he deserves this so much. It feels great to be on a show that’s inspirational and aspirational, it feels like we did some good.”

But Sunday was no ordinary finale, brought forward due to production changes in the pandemic.

With a scattered crew sitting in audience seats, hosts standing apart, and judge Craig Revel Horwood on satellite from the UK, the show did not bring back former contestants.

But it also sidestepped the issue of dancers failing to demonstrate social distancing, suggesting that they were like a ‘family’ because they had been rehearsing together in close quarters all week. That didn’t pass the pub test.

Nevertheless, Warner Bros. and 10 managed to produce a worthy winner under trying circumstances -including Christian & Lily self isolating for 14 days.

Pacquola’s win came despite Claudia Karvan scoring two perfect 30s across the night, with Christian Wilkins proving androgynously theatrical and Ed Kavalee surprisingly emotional.

Judge Sharna Burgess said, “What I love about Celia winning this competition, is that she is every woman. She had the ups and the downs, she showed her vulnerability and her strength. It was a gift to watch her blossom and she truly deserved the win.”

17 Responses

  1. Loved celia winning but someone needs to give christian a show…what a lovely , decent man he is and i hope his parents are very proud of him. He was great fun to watch each week!

  2. So happy to see Celia win and also to her partner Jarryd. Celia was the consistent performer and her Charleston dance last week was just brilliant. From the first episode where she couldn’t even look at her partner to see how far she has come is amazing. She spoke about her battles with anxiety and she gave us laughs. It was an enjoyable series.

    Would have been nice to hear from them after they won. But I like the judges and Amanda & Grant do work well together.

  3. Very happy with Celia winning, I felt she was the most consistent, however Claudia and Christian weren’t far behind. It was great to see her take up the dancing challenge, I was so impressed with her effort each week. She’s clearly a hard worker and deserves every success she gets. Not sure what’s next for her, but if she’s cast in something i’ll give it a go just because you know she’s going to give it her all.

    You’re amazing Celia, a true star and a well deserved win!

  4. Congratulations to the 4 Finalists and especially Celia. Loved Christian’s dance last night too. Yes, Ed is all facade bravo, a lot of comedians are. Glad to hear him say how much he came to enjoy dancing more and more. And, well, Amanda and Grant. Love them together as Hosts and to Channel 10, finally, I’m a fan of Dancing with the Stars since it moved & got a wonderful makeover at Channel 10. Now, it is very classy and professional and has, finally, lovely Judges.

  5. All the male professional dancers were super hot this season. I don’t usually prefer blonds but Jarryd was my favourite, just divine.

    I thought Claudia should have come second.

  6. So happy for Celia! She really was one of the best dances on the show, acing almost every week. Looking forward to seeing 10 renew this show and hopefully watching it again next year, in some better circumstances…

  7. Thoroughly enjoyed the final. All four teams were great. Although I wanted Celia to win, I felt for Claudia, she danced and scored so well, but Celia was obviously the audience’s favourite. Christian is just fab-u-lous ! So comfortable being himself.

  8. Was really happy to see Celia win. She really deserved it. Though I would have been happy for any of them to win. For the first time in a while I liked all the finalists.

    1. Totally agree. I would also add that I thought that all of Celia’s dances throughout the competition had more individual dance than the others. Many of the other contestants were like clothes horse that stood there while their professional dance partners danced around them to create the illusion that they were dancing. Meanwhile Celia totally threw herself into every dance. Claudia was also a good dancer, but I think she heighten her dances with her facial expressions to be much better than what they really were.

  9. I think it was an excellent series in spite of all that challenged it. These are such trying times it was really nice for a couple of hours a week to be swept away by it all.

    Amanda and Grant struck the right notes all series and we got to see a softer, dare I say sweeter version of Craig, not someone I warmed to last season.

    I thought the Top 5 were wonderful narratives. Dami touched me with her self doubting and awkward charm. Her dance partner Shae was so sweet the way he looked after her . I have long been a fan of Ed. He is a fascinating complex fellow. It was great to get another side of him. I’ve been a fan of Claudia since High Tide with Judy Davis in 1987. She was the epitome of grace and warmth and joy.

    Christian is a wonderful example of gender fluidity and out and proud. A soulful and sweet individual. And what’s not to love with Celia. Leading by example and…

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