Plot

Finalists Kelly Osbourne, Mya and Donny Osmond compete in their last dance to capture the mirrorball trophy. The season's eliminated contestants and some past inept favorites return with additional dances, Whitney Houston performs, Jeffrey Ross welcomes a new member to the Losers Club, and Jerry Rice has a dance-off against Michael Irvin.—scgary66

Tuesday night, two of the most famous last names in show business vied for the title on the ninth season of "Dancing with the Stars" with a heavy favorite who has no last name. Donny Osmond and Kelly Osbourne were well behind R&B singer Mya in the judges' scoring on Monday night's final performance show, but would the voters be able to save either of the season's fan favorites? It was time to find out in a special, two-hour season finale.

All the couples from Season 9 were introduced, one by one, before the three finalists came out in a football pregame-style format as they walked through a tunnel formed by the previously eliminated contestants from this season. Everyone loves Kelly, making her stop for hugs on her way down the line.

To the highlights: The first commercial break came more quickly than anticipated, thanks to some technical difficulties that froze the highlight reel. After the interrupted, we saw how Kelly had a ton of fun, but found herself plopped on the dance floor during her freestyle routine. She knew it was "far from perfect, but in my mind it was." Mya was near perfection, scoring 30 points in the first two rounds, but coming up flat in her freestyle and scoring a 27 from the judges. Donny was the star of the night in charisma and hip shaking, if not on the leader board, capping a fantastic evening with a freestyle that earned him his only 30 of the season. He got a bit emotional backstage, saying "that was a moment ... that was worth every bit of sweat."

Be our guest: Whitney's back! Whitney Houston continued her comeback tour with a performance of her new song, "Million Dollar Bill." Whitney returned later to perform "I Wanna Dance with Somebody."

The Losers' Club: Jeffrey Ross reminds us all about the newly founded Losers' Club, made up of those usually funny folks who boast about the honor of being the first eliminated in their season. Jeffrey, Kenny Mayne and Penn Jillette are apparently the only stars willing enough to laugh at themselves as they seem to be the club's only members willing to appear live on camera -- until now. Jeffrey inducted this season's first dumped star, Ashley Hamilton, who graciously accepted his shimmering "Losers' Club" jacket and kicked off a dance number with Edyta Sliwinska. He ended it by dumping Edyta on the floor and grabbing hold of Jeffrey for a quickstep prance around the dance floor before a big finish in which they picked up Edyta and rip their shirts off. Yikes.

Memory Lane: A look back at the season's highlights includes Kelly's famous parents, Macy Gray's antics, Tom DeLay nearly dropping Cheryl Burke, and Aaron Carter's seemingly incessant crying.

Kathy Ireland, Macy Gray and Debi Mazar took the dance floor one last with their partners from this season. This led to a reminder of the illnesses and injuries that befell several of the stars and pros this season, including the injury that knocked Tom DeLay out early.

DeLay made his promised return to perform that Texas Two-Step he vowed to do this season. It was odd, awkward and Tom didn't really seem to move around much until he shook his Former House Majority Leader toosh toward the end.

Back to the review of the season. Among the highlights were the moments when Louie Vito was bummed about a low score, but noted that at least he wasn't crying (like Aaron Carter). Carrie Ann told Aaron he was hard to watch and hoped the kids were in bed when Joanna shook her goods.

Chuck Lidell and Anna Trebunskaya took the dance floor to do the paso doble, and were soon joined by Mark Decascos and Lacey Schwimmer in a routine that ended with an interesting but all-too-short martial arts display between Chuck and Mark. Later, Samantha Harris asks them who would win in a real fight and they say Lacey.

Coach Carolla: Funnyman Adam Carolla was back with his football coach attire, trying to pump Donny up to claim the title for the guys, which has long eluded them. Adam didn't like that Donny was friends with his competitors. He made a crack about not wanting Kelly to take the trophy back to England, forced Donny to hand over the guyliner, and unsuccessfully tried to get Donny to pray with him.

Back to Memory Lane: Natalie Coughlin rejoined partner Alec Mazo and got a final chance to prove that she was dumped way too soon in the competition. Even host Tom Bergeron asked if it's too late to vote her back in.

After some more recapping of the season, including the team dances that changed the competition, Melissa Joan Hart was back with Mark Ballas to perform a salsa that she'd prepared as her knockout dance, but didn't get to perform. It was an homage to "The Mask," in which Mark donned the bright yellow suit Helio Castroneves used a few seasons back.

The judges' take: Len, Bruno and Carrie Ann get a chance to break down the finalists. Len said "all three have the will to win, but only one has the skill to win." He was surprised Kelly is there, but Bruno said the audience loves her. The judges agreed that Donny is a born showman and Carrie Ann pointed out that Donny was paired with the perfect partner in Kym Johnson. Len said that Mya "unquestionably has the talent to take the title" and Bruno continued the gushing, saying, "she uses her body like a musical instrument."

Now, the finalists: The final three couples are introduced again and we get a chance to relive their journeys this season. They would dance one last time for a judges' score that would factor in to their total for the week and possibly influence the final result, but first the video recaps of their experiences.

Kelly's was obviously the most emotional as she recalled Bruno calling her beige, which pushed her to do better. She and partner Louis Van Amstel cried when she told him she helped make her the person she is today, and he said she had no idea how proud he was of her. They performed their Viennese waltz together one last time and it brought the house down. The crowd chanted Kelly's name as the judges tried to tell her how much they love her. Carrie Ann got emotional, too, and said Kelly touched her more than anyone in any season of the show and told her, "you have come a long way, baby."

Mya and Dmitry talked about the season and Dmitry said he knew they had a good chance even after Len came down on them in the first episode. They danced their jive and again tore it up. Bruno said Mya was "sharp, slick" and said she never missed a beat or dropped her standards throughout the competition. Carrie Ann said Mya set the pace of the whole season from Day 1. Len pointed out their "ups and downs" throughout the season, but said she was fantastic.

Donny and Kym talk about the taxing schedule, with his family in Utah and his show in Las Vegas with sister Marie. He said working with Kym was "definitely a peak" in his career full of peaks and valleys. They redid their Argentine Tango, which Donny said on Monday night resulted in a "you're sleeping on the couch" moment when he stroked Kym's thigh earlier in the season. Apparently he didn't mind the couch. Carrie Ann said she wanted to see Donny dance more of his "show-stopping performances." She said his dance was "artistry in motion." Len said Donny never lost his sense of performance and said he finished strong. Bruno heaped more praise and was totally believable.

Len announced the judges' rankings for the three dances: Kelly & Louis in third, Mya & Dmitry in second and Donny & Kym in first. Donny was stunned -- this might not be the last time he was surprised by a result.

A look at the updated leader board with the new judges' scores:

Mya & Dmitry, 30 + 30 + 27 + 28 = 115

Donny & Kym, 27 + 28 + 30 + 30 = 115

Kelly & Louis, 26 + 26 + 24 + 26 = 102

Back to Memory Lane: Louie and Chelsie returned to the dance floor to do something new, a dance to "Puppy Love," sung by none other than Donny Osmond. It started slow, then picked up in pace so that Louie could remind us all how much he can flip. Samantha awkwardly introduced the idea of Chelsie and Louie dating, by saying, "I know you're not dating, or anything."

Battle of the Wide Receivers: Michael Irvin wanted nothing more than to be better than Jerry Rice at something. He couldn't do it on the football field, so now he wanted a chance to do it on the dance floor. They each danced the paso doble in their former teams' colors and the judges' final decision was ... a tie! They announced that Michael was the winner and he was given a mirror ball ring for the honor, but then they said Jerry had a better body and gave him a ring of his own -- as if he needed another one.

More memories: Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff encored their "Muppets"-themed quickstep. Aaron said he learned a lot about himself and said he wanted to inspired other young people.

Competition Mambo: This was a mess, but it was supposed to be. It was introduced with a backstage interview by Miss Piggy. Cloris Leachman, Jerry Springer, Steve Wozniak and Joanna Krupa took each other on in a competition mambo. Which one of these is not like the other? After a series of wild antics, Cloris is booted first, then Jerry and then The Woz, leaving Joanna with the title and culminating with Joanna turning the tables on Derek and holding him in their infamous "head bob."

To the results, maybe? Finally?: Host Tom Bergeron finally revealed that the third place couple was Kelly & Louis. She was gracious and not at all surprised as she thanked the viewers for their votes all season. Tom admitted that, while he doesn't usually play favorites, it was Kelly that he was looking forward to seeing perform each week. Kelly & Louis gave a teensy taste of a last dance before Kelly ran over to hug her parents.

Finally, Tom announced that the winners of Season 9 of "Dancing with the Stars" were ... Donny & Kym! He rejoiced and ran to grab his wife as Mya told Samantha that she had the time of her life. Donny gave Mya a big hug as Tom tried to hand him the coveted mirror ball trophy, but eventually took the thing from Tom's hands and hoisted it, with the help of Kym, as the season came to an end.