"The Crocodile Hunter's" daughter proved to be a fighter, as she went on to win a competition that highlights a skill that virtually isn't her strength or specialization at all.
Bindi Irwin has just been announced the winner of season 21 of "Dancing With The Stars" about 9 years after her father's death. The teener had, from the start, kept mentioning that her father was her main inspiration for joining the hit reality show and accepting the challenges that came her way. It appears that it immensely helped that she was paired with Derek Hough, who had won the most Mirrorball Trophies on the series among the show's pro dancers.
However, even without Hough's assistance, Irwin may still be poised to win the competition as she had consistently figured as the show's favorite, delighting fans and judges alike.
"I never knew I would learn so much about rhinestones and glitter and high heels," she was quoted by USA Today as saying. "The most special part of this experience is to really be able to grow and touch on parts of my life that I never thought I would really go to and be able to share my journey and story with so many others."
"And to be able to gain another brother who's been so special," she added, referring to Hough. "I feel really blessed."
The 17-year-old revealed that, after her victory, she will go back home to Australia to continue her conservation efforts, which is part of her father's legacy. Nick Carter and Sharna Burgess came in second, while Alek Skarlatos, Army National Guardsman, and his partner Lindsay Arnold placed third.
The Backstreet Boy conceded defeat to Irwin, saying that she deserved to win.
The teener had impressed the judges, as she constantly did, on finals night, earning a glowing comment from judge Carrie Ann Inaba, who said she was a "star," MailOnline said.
Carter didn't do badly, either, earning "a perfect score on a salsa-tango fusion that really highlighted how far he'd come since that first dance," Mashable observed.
"Alek and Lindsay, too, had a respectable performance, but were far from the strongest pair going into the evening," the news source went on. "They came in third, in the least shocking elimination of the season."
Irwin's win was not without a party pooper. Former Aussie politician Amanda Vanstone commented that she's "not the only kid whose father has died," according to news.com.au.
"My father died when I was young; it happens to lots of kids. It doesn't make her special," she was noted as saying.
As expected, her comments earned a backlash from social media users and fans of the teen.
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