There was something special about the 34th season of Dancing with the Stars. Beyond the star-studded affair making it to the finale, there also came some interesting twists in the competition, where for the first time in history, the participants had to go through a three-round contest featuring an instant dance, leaving no room to rehearse. Even though the stakes were high, many had hopes for the stellar couple Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa to take home the Mirrorball trophy. But talk about fate having other plans as this electrifying duo fell short in every way possible to not have been able to win the DWTS final.

Despite having taken the help of talented singer Normani, giving an extraordinary performance on the song Motivation, the American gymnast alongside her partner couldn’t impress the judges enough to see them secure the win. The pair finished third among the top five participants.

Speaking of their scores, it was only in the Judges’ Choice that they fell short of just one point, accumulating a 29/30. As for the Instant Dance Challenge and Freestyle, Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa achieved 30/30. Precisely, it was their freestyle round performance that caught the eye of many, with judge Carrie Ann being no exception.

“You are a powerful woman of color and came here to represent, and you show them how it’s done. That’s the best Freestyle I’ve seen in 20 seasons, hands down,” she said on the live show while standing up, before a huge crowd behind her erupted in cheers and celebrations. Hearing such praise even brought the biggest smiles to the faces of Chiles and Sosa.

But despite such recognition, they only managed to finish third, though they successfully managed to finish ahead of fourth-placed Dylan Efron and Daniella Karagach, who accumulated 30/30 in both Instant Dance Challenge and Freestyle, before falling short in the Judges’ Choice with a tally of 28.

Meanwhile, taking the fifth spot are Elaine Hendrix and Alan Bersten, who, even though they aced the Judges’ Choice and Freestyle tally with a perfect full score, the Instant Dance Challenge saw them fell short with three points. As for those who finished above Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa, Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy took second place, scoring 30/30 in all the rounds.

As for the winners, it’s Robert Irwin and Witney Carson, who, despite scoring one less point in the Judges’ Choice round and securing full marks in freestyle and instant dance challenge, ended up securing the Mirrorball trophy. While it may come as a surprise, little did the entire DWTS community know these results before the final!

It was written in the stars to see Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa lose DWTS

Consider it a lucky coincidence, but just hours before the grand finale, fans already managed to follow a trail of who is going to be the eventual winner. A clear trend has emerged over the past three seasons: each champion, Charli D’Amelio (Season 31), Xochitl Gomez (Season 32), and Joey Graziadei (Season 33), entered the finale after earning the highest or joint-highest semifinal score.

That pattern immediately placed Robert Irwin and Witney Carson in a promising position, given that they topped this year’s semifinal scoreboard with an almost perfect routine. And if that wasn’t already a worrying sign for the rest of the finalists, especially Jordan Chiles, the prediction site Gold Derby added even more weight by picking Irwin and Carson as the likely winners.

The platform has accurately predicted the champion for the past three seasons, and its projected final ranking matches the current standings exactly. Call it impressive, but Gold Derby had predicted Robert as the runaway favorite with a 92.5% chance of winning, followed by Alix Earle at 5%. Jordan Chiles sat in third with 2.5%, ahead of Dylan Efron and Elaine Hendrix, both having garnered 0%.