Yahoo Lifestyle 
Dancing With The Stars Australia 2024 winner announced in nail-biting finale
The season 21 champion has finally been revealed.
Dancing With The Stars returned for its twenty-first season this year, with 12 celebrity contestants hitting the dance floor in their best sequins, ruffles and feathers. This year’s season featured a variety of well-known TV presenters, actors, sports stars and celebrity chefs competing for a charity of their choice, as well as the chance to win the iconic Mirror Ball Trophy.
Following weeks of heart-pounding routines and show-stopping moves, it was announced during Monday night's epic finale that actress Lisa McCune had won the season. The four-time Gold Logie winner was awarded $20,000 for her chosen charities, the RCD Foundation and the Harrison Reidel Foundation.
“I’m so thrilled,” she said following her win, adding that the Mirror Ball Trophy will “keep my Logies company”.
While Lisa left the competition as the 2024 champion, there were a handful of contestants who fell short at the finale. Here’s everyone that was eliminated throughout the season.
Samantha Jade and Ant Middleton
Samantha Jade finished in second place during Monday night’s episode after her total score of 76 from the judges was combined with the audience vote. The pop star and former X Factor Australia winner kickstarted the show dancing a burlesque-inspired routine to Show Me How to Burlesque, which she re-recorded herself for the performance.
Speaking to Yahoo Lifestyle following the episode, Samantha confessed she felt “totally fine” about being the runner-up for 2024.
“I lost to the icon that is Lisa McCune. There are not many people that you'd want to lose to, but she is just a class act. She was my big sister on the show, I just love her,” she gushed. “And really, I wanted a girl to win because there's been a lot of male winners for years. So I'm really happy a girl won.”
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Meanwhile, SAS Australia’s Ant Middleton came third in the competition and was arguably the most improved contestant. He received a total score of 70 points after channelling his inner gladiator in round one and re-performing his vulnerable contemporary dance in round two.
James Stewart and Nikki Osborne
While they made it to the grand finale, unfortunately, Home and Away actor James Stewart and comedian Nikki Osborne said goodbye after the judges' scores were combined with the audience vote. James scored 30 points for his masculine freestyle dance, while Nikki Osbourne’s Argentine tango-inspired freestyle received 31 points.
Adam Dovile and Shane Crawford
Adam Dovile, Shane Crawford and James Stewart each fought for a coveted spot in the grand finale during Sunday night’s episode after falling into the bottom three. The trio battled it out in the final dance off of the competition, however, the judges voted to save James following his impressive Charleston.
Adam, who danced a lively salsa, said that despite the outcome he had “an absolute ball” on the show.
“It’s been an amazing experience,” he gushed. “Anything I do, I just want to make sure I didn’t leave any stone unturned, and I definitely haven’t. I’ve felt I’ve given it everything I could.”
Shane also said he had a “wonderful experience” on the show and was grateful to be a part of the season. While he praised his talented co-stars, he couldn’t help but take a dig at SAS Australia host Ant Middleton.
“All the other dancers are amazing. I cannot believe how good all of those people up there - except Ant - are,” he joked. “It obviously was in his contract.”
Ben Cousins
After giving it his all with an intense Argentine tango, Ben Cousins received a score of 17 from the judges and was the first contestant eliminated from the semi-finals.
“It has been incredible,” he said about his experience on the show. “For a long time, I probably wasn’t in the position to allow good things to come into my life, and then currently to be in a space where I can take a leap - and it has been a leap for me - to do this show, I’ve had one of the times of my life.”
Julie Goodwin and Nova Peris
Just shy of the semi-finals, Nova Peris and Julie Goodwin were sent home in a shock double elimination.
Julie impressed the judges with her Foxtrot, scoring 27 points, with the judges praising her performance, dubbing her a 'sassy minx'.
Nova unfortunately failed to impress with her Cha Cha, nabbing 19 points, which left the two stars at the bottom of the leaderboard for the week, with no final dance-off taking place.
Hayden Quinn
Despite receiving positive feedback from the judges and a score of 27 for his rumba performance, MasterChef star Hayden Quinn landed in the bottom two alongside comedian Nikki Osborne after the in-studio audience favoured Olympian Nova Peris and AFL legend Shane Crawford - who had much lower scores.
The pair then went head-to-head in an elimination dance-off where the judges voted to save Nikki and send Hayden home. Host Sonia Kruger admitted she was “absolutely stunned” by the elimination after his “incredible performance”.
“I just never ever thought we would see you here,” she remarked.
“It was an amazing night,” Hayden responded. “This whole experience has been incredible. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to be standing next to Lily [Cornish] throughout it. She’s an amazing teacher, she’s an incredible, powerful, strong young woman, so a big round of applause to her.”
Nadia Bartel
Fashion designer and model Nadia Bartel was the first contestant eliminated from the competition after receiving a score of 15 points for her tango and landing in the bottom two alongside AFL legend Ben Cousins.
While judge Craig Revel Horwood chose to save Nadia after her waltz, Helen Richey, Sharna Burgess and Mark Wilson voted to save Ben after his salsa performance.
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“I just love doing hard things and I think this has been hard for me, but it’s been so great and I’ve had such an incredible dance partner,” she said following the decision.
“He’s been so patient with me, and it’s been nice to try something new. It’s been fun.”
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