Although Hannah Brown took home the mirrorball trophy on Monday's Dancing With the Stars finale, not everyone thought the former star of The Bachelorette would emerge as the victor of the season. After Brown's win, judge Carrie Ann Inaba admitted that she was shocked at the final result. Since Inaba and Brown showed some tension in their relationship earlier in the season, the judge's dismay at Brown's victory isn't entirely surprising.
During Brown's time on Dancing With the Stars, she was open about her struggles with confidence while on the show. She posted a long Instagram documenting her emotional journey, her desire to succeed, and the incredible pressure she put on herself. Towards the end of the season, some of that tension started to come out towards Judge Inaba. When Inaba joined Brown and partner Alan Bersten for the semi-final rehearsals, Brown admitted that she struggled to accept Inaba's past criticism. As Inaba guided them through their redo dance, encouraging Brown to use her hips to perform than number better than she had in week 3, Brown started to get emotional. Inaba tried to comfort her and encouraged Brown to be honest, but Brown's frustration only grew. When Inaba went in to give her a comforting hug, Brown backed away, stating that she didn't want to be touched. Despite the awkward interaction and Brown's clear struggle to perform the dance correctly, she went on to make it through the semi-finals and eventually win the entire competition. Although she was generally considered a frontrunner throughout the season, not everyone expected her to win.
According to Us Weekly, Inaba was very shocked that Brown came out victorious. She said, "It’s not what I expected." Inaba explained, "But this whole season has been filled with ups and downs and unexpected twists and turns." She went on to explain, however, that she values the combination of the judges' scores and the audience's opinion. Because of that, she believes that the right person always wins. At the same time, she said that “a lot of people were shocked tonight in the ballroom," which was not a common occurrence on the show.
Although Inaba didn't expect Brown to win, she also confusingly stated that she didn't know who would win. She revealed, "To be honest, I don’t know if I had a specific idea [of] who I thought was going to win." The Dancing with the Stars' judge continued, ""I just knew that all four could have been up here and it would’ve been great to see anybody win. It was just, for some reason, I don’t know why that was shocking." She ended her explanation by commending Brown for a difficult journey and said that she was "proud of her" for coming out on top, despite her many struggles.
Although Inaba and Brown displayed a little tension earlier in the season of Dancing with the Stars, they seemed to iron everything out on the semi-final episode. Still, her shock at Brown's win didn't entirely make sense. It seemed like she had another winner in mind and simply didn't want to say who after Brown was already announced. Although her reaction did seem a little strange, she appeared to be genuinely supportive of Brown and even offered her encouragement for whatever she did next. Either way, the judges' critiques don't matter to Brown much anymore - she already won!
Source: Us Weekly