‘DWTS’: Chandler Kinney’s Co-Star Says She Was ‘Absolutely Robbed’ of Mirrorball Trophy

After Dancing With the Stars Season 33 handed out the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, Chandler Kinney’s co-star is coming to her defense. While Kinney and partner Brandon Armstrong remained at the top of the leaderboards throughout most of the season and had multiple perfect scores, including last night for the finale, the two wound up coming in third place behind Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten, and winners, Bachelor star Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson.

The placement came as a shock to many fans, including Kinney’s Zombies co-star Meg Donnelly. Via a post on the DWTS Reddit, Donnelly commented on a post on the show’s Instagram after the finale ended, saying that Kinney was “absolutely robbed.”

She continued, “i’m so incredibly proud of you Chandler. you did something SO MUCH BIGGER than dance, so much bigger than a trophy tonight. you should hold your head so high because you have something nobody can take away from you. i love you chandler. i couldn’t be prouder.”

Kinney and Donnelly star in Disney’s beloved musical franchise Zombies together, and Donnelly even visited Kinney in rehearsals ahead of Disney Night alongside their co-star and Season 27 runner-up Milo Manheim since Kinney was doing a Paso Doble to her song “We Own the Night” from Zombies 2. Both Donnelly and Manheim also sent their co-star well wishes that were included in a special package before the final results were revealed, so it’s not so surprising that Donnelly would have some strong feelings about what happened.

Meanwhile, as for the winners of the Mirrorball, Joey Graziadei told Us Weekly that he “blacked out” when he and Jenna Johnson won but remembered Johnson “screaming really, really loud. I remember hugging her.” What made it even more exciting is that last season’s winners, Johnson’s husband Val Chmerkovskiy and Xochitl Gomez, presented them with the trophy. Graziadei and Johnson were basically neck-and-neck with Kinney and Armstrong throughout most of the season, so it was certainly a tight race.

As with any season of Dancing With the Stars, there are some strong opinions about who won and who should have won. And considering Kinney has been getting quite a lot of hate for having some dance experience, it’s still really impressive she managed to come in third. Additionally, she and Armstrong were the first Black couple to make it to the finals; it was also Armstrong’s first time in the finals after being a pro since Season 27 and it’s clear they made a lot of impact. All 10 episodes of Season 33 are streaming on Hulu and Disney+.