Adam Rippon Wins 'Dancing With The Stars' Because It Was Destined

Skills and showmanship, people.
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This time he took home the gold ― or whatever’s in the Mirrorball Trophy.

Adam Rippon, a bronze medalist figure skater at the Winter Olympics, won the “Dancing with the Stars” athletes-only competition on Monday with partner Jenna Johnson.

“The Mirrorball has now taken on a new meaning, someone like me is accepted and I feel loved,” Rippon, the first openly gay athlete to compete for the United States at the Winter Games, said before his last dance, according to People magazine.

Rippon and Johnson got a perfect score for a jazz routine to “Anything You Can Do” on their first performance:

Then they earned 28 out of 30 for a freestyle to “Scooby Doo Pa Pa”:

Football player Josh Norman and Shana Burgess finished second, and Tonya Harding and Sasha Farber were third.

Rippon said the trophy would go right next to his bronze medal, which he won in the team event in South Korea.

Rippon appeared to be the Mirrorball favorite from the very first show, when he and Johnson aced a vogue-ing cha cha to “Sissy That Walk.”

“You were born to do this show,” panelist Carrie Ann Inaba told Rippon at the time.

Now he’s the winner.

“This has just been such an incredible experience,” Rippon said after his victory in the clip at the top.

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