Notorious Tonya Harding lost to Adam Rippon in the “Dancing with the Stars” finale on Monday night.
But she had a lot to celebrate backstage, as she says that America has been rooting for her—and she’s lost weight while dancing!
The ice skater known for the bizarre Nancy Kerrigan incident in 1994 couldn’t glide past fellow figure skater Rippon, even after he was dissed by one of the judges.
Football player Josh Norman also lost to Rippon in the final contest in the four-week “DWTS: Athletes” edition.
Harding, 47, threw down a high-energy freestyle performance to the song “I Will Survive” with partner Sasha Farber that thrilled the audience and had judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli raving.
She did several cartwheels in the difficult dance and was triumphant afterwards, raising her arms and clapping. Harding earned a perfect score of 30 for the dance. Earlier, she had garnered 26 points for her first dance of the night, a Viennese Waltz.
Backstage after Rippon was declared the winner, an emotional Harding told reporters, “I found myself again knowing that I can achieve such greatness doing something that I love to do. You don’t ever give up on yourself. I always keep going no matter what it is.”
When asked how much weight she’d lost while doing the show, Harding said, “I don’t think that’s anybody’s business,” but added, “You can tell that I’ve lost a lot.”
“DWTS” is strenuous and Harding noted about her freestyle dance, which included back up dancers who threw her around, “It felt like I was being tossed like a salad, but it was amazing.”
The controversial figure skater told Fox News she wasn’t disappointed about not winning, saying, “Just making it this far is very exciting and who knows?…
