The winners were finally crowned on the Season 18 finale of "Dancing With the Stars." Pro dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy and his partner Meryl Davis took home the Mirror Ball trophy (beating out Candace Cameron Bure and Mark Ballas, and Amy Purdy and Derek Hough).
Chmerkovskiy and Davis were top contenders all season and even sparked a few dating rumors because of their obvious chemistry. According to a previous report by Hollywood Life, the two were caught kissing backstage recently.
US Weekly caught up with Chmerkovskiy and Davis after their win to see what they had to say about their dancing victory and to find out if the romance rumors were true. Unfortunately, both of them danced around the relationship question and instead focused on how the show impacted them.
"We were just saying that this show, despite the fact that it's a reality show, puts people into really real situations," Davis told the magazine. "It's challenging and we're not just coming to the show ready to dance every Monday. You go through the daily grind and it's very challenging. You get to know people in really fun moments and in really challenging moments, and I think that's what makes the show so successful."
"And I also think that's why when the cameras stop rolling, I think that's why many of the relationships you form on the show keep going on long after the season's over," she added.
Chmerkovskiy added that while he was happy, he wasn't "as beside myself as I thought I would be." The Russian dancer explained that it's because he's "incapable of accepting gifts or awards" but did say that he wanted to thank the fans who voted for him and Davis.
"It's about the people who voted and called and stayed up overnight to vote. It's because of them that we have this trophy," he said.
Even though Chmerkovskiy wants to remain humble, he's been waiting to win the Mirror Ball trophy for 13 seasons. It was his first time winning the reality show since he joined. Runner-up Derek Hough won the coveted Mirror Ball five times.
Now back to those dating rumors. According to Hollywood Life, the winning couple is well aware of the rumors and the usually-stern Chmerkovskiy even joked about it during the finale saying that he will (fake) propose to the 27-year-old ice skater.
"I want to ravage her and have ice-skating, big, Russian, mean babies," he joked. "We're going to call them Boris and Oleg. Their nicknames are going to be Bear. One nickname for both."
When Chmerkovskiy was asked when he will pop the question to his dance partner, he replied, "Probably tomorrow."
Do you agree that Maks Chmerkovskiy and Meryl Davis have great chemistry?
