Ten weeks and a dozen and a half routines later, Season 10 of Dancing With the Stars has finally come to an end. The winner of the coveted Mirrorball trophy was unveiled Tuesday, with three contestants remaining entering the night. Would it be Evan Lysacek, limber Olympic figure skating gold medalist, looking to add the famed Mirrorball to burgeoning trophy case? Would it be Nicole Scherzinger, the lovely lead Pussycat Doll and lord of the Dancing With the Stars season from beginning to end? Would it be Erin Andrews, embattled ESPN reporter turned ballroom aficionado, and a woman who everyone has to be rooting for? All three made compelling cases this Spring, but there can be only one winner. Follow the jump to see who took home the Dancing with the Stars title … Nicole Scherzinger! Dominant most of the season, she and Derek Hough managed to maintain and even build their lead against Evan Lysacek and Anna Trebunskaya in their last dance. They received a perfect 30 for their jive, Len’s claim that Nicole deserved to be the winner of the competition and a hug from Gladys Knight. It was theirs to lose. Erin finished third, and Evan just fell short in his bid to succeed fellow Olympians Apolo Anton Ohno, Kristi Yamaguchi and Shawn Johnson as the Mirrorball winner. Nicole Scherzinger deserved it, though, beyond any doubt. The odds were in Nicole and Derek’s favor, but there have been seasons when the highest-scoring star hasn’t taken home the top prize, so you never really can tell. Thanks to Evan, Erin and Nicole, Dancing with the Stars viewers may have been the biggest winners in this 10th season of competition – it was the best season yet. As for the two hours of filler, we got to see the eliminated contestants make their returns and keep the energy up and moving for their performances throughout. Well, with the exception of Kate Gosselin , who showed up for a revamped version of her much-maligned “Paparazzi” paso doble and to shill her two new shows. In a very odd move, Kate got on some kind of lift with a camera on it, and literally rose up above the audience to … somewhere. It was hard to tell. Who cares. The cheesiest moment of the night went to Jake Pavelka, who waltzed onto the ballroom floor and traded his partner Chelsie for real-life fiancee Vienna Girardi . If that weren’t enough, the dance was set to Jeffrey Osbourne’s “On the Wings of Love” … the theme of Jake’s season of The Bachelor . You may vomit when ready. But back to the champions. Let’s salute Nicole and Derek on a job well done, and a trophy well-earned. Click to enlarge some of their best Dancing moments …
