Singer-songwriter Connell Cruise crowned the winner of Dancing with the Stars on M-Net in the fantabulous glitter dance show's live finale.

Singer Connell Cruise was crowned the winner of Dancing with the Stars South Africa on M-Net (DStv 101) on Sunday night.

The live finale of the retitled 9th season of the BBC glitter floor format show was broadcast from the roof of the Hyde Park Corner shopping centre in Johannesburg, with the reality competition series that was produced by Rapid Blue.

Before the broadcast of the Dancing with the Stars SA live finale, invited guests who had to adhere to a "strictly ballroom" formal clothing dress code, snacked and sipped outside the Dance Dome (see photos at the end of the article), and got special Lindt bonbons handed out at their seats for the last episode.

The broadcast of the Dancing with the Stars SA live finale was followed by a press conference with Connell Cruise, the Rapid Blue executive producer and M-Net executives, followed by an over-the-top and lavish afterparty at the mezzanine pool deck and lounge of the Southern Sun Hyde Park hotel adjacent to the Hyde Park Corner.

ALSO READ: INTERVIEW. Connell Cruise on winning Dancing with the Stars SA: "It's the story of how hard work always pays off".

The singer-songwriter and his professional dance partner Marcella Solimeo took the glitter ball trophy, winning more public viewer votes in the finale than actress Zola Nombona and her dance partner Tebogo Mashilo, and Suidooster soap star Eden Classens and his dance partner Ash-Leigh Hunter.

Connell Cruise had been a contender and a crowd favourite right from the start of the competition.

"This is just a dream. I thank you all so much," said Connell Cruise. "From day one you filled me with such love for this beautiful art form that took over my life," at the end of the live finale.

Dancing with the Stars SA judge, Debbie Turner, at the end of the 2-hour broadcast, said "There is a famous quote that says, 'dance came from the people and should always be delivered back to the people,' and I believe that the contestants have done that".

The season finale included showstopper group dance performances, as well as special appearances by singers, including The Voice SA winner Craig Lucas, the veteran South African singer Claire Johnson and the multiple Sama-winning legends Mafikizolo.

For one group dance performance, Eden Classens (what he said about it), Zola Nombona (what she said about it) and Connell Cruise (what he said about it) were all strapped into snug-fitting harnesses and hoisted up into the rafters of the Dance dome, only to be dropped down with wire-work during a dance number.

Dancing with the Stars SA closed out with a new South African TV production record: The most glitter dropped on-screen as part of a massive glitter bomb dropped on the in-studio winners and audience, dwarfing what's ever been done before on shows like Idols, SA's Got Talent and The Voice SA.

INTERVIEW. Connell Cruise on winning Dancing with the Stars SA on M-Net: It's the story of how hard work always pays off.

On Sunday night South African viewers voted singer-songwriter Connell Cruise the winner of Dancing with the Stars SA on M-Net (DStv 101) during the broadcast of the live finale, with Connell telling TVwithThinus afterwards that his win is "the story of how hard work always pays off".

TVwithThinus sat down with Connell who talked about how dancing has been a closed door to him but how Dancing with the Stars SA helped opened that door a bit, how it felt being strapped into a harness and descending onto the dance floor in one of the finale's dazzling dance numbers, what the journey's been like for him, and what's he learnt about the experience of being part of the show.


Is there anything that you would have done differently?
I would have loved to incorporate singing into some of the performances - and we definitely tried to, the only times that were available we almost did but songs got changed last minute, and concepts got changed, but I certainly don't regret any single thing. The only thing - you know I'm very proud of our Samba.

Our Samba was difficult but I think we got a great score for the Samba even though I struggled so much, so even in my regrets because I really wanted to nail that Samba and I don't think I really did, I think our score was still a very good one, so we've got that to be proud of.

How would you describe the experience of doing this show?
Oh man. Completely out of my comfort zone. But what a lovely challenge and joy. I'm a competitive person, I never enter anything unless I'm totally into it and I totally gave this my all. And if this is the story of anything, it's the story of how hard work always pays off.


Can you talk a bit about Marcella Solimeo as your dance partner and the trust and bond that had to develop between you and quickly?
Marcella and I, I think on average over the last 4 months, we've spent at least 10 hours a day with each other. And this last month we've reached 12 hours a day. You get to know someone really well in that time. This has become like a full-time job for the most of this year and it's been a joy to work with Marcella - she's a professional, she's excellent, she's got such great vision and great ideas, and she's a fireball on that dance floor!

When she's on the dance floor you can't look at anything else, that's for sure. She's in my opinion the best of the best and I'm just the luckiest to have been paired with her and to have worked with her and to have learned under her, she's great And what I can tell you is that she's a great friend too, and she's as much a part of my family now as anything and I don't think it's ever going to change. She's the best.


In Sunday's live finale you as part of the final three competitors we're all  strapped with harnesses through and around your legs and we're hoisted up and descended in one of the spectacular dance numbers. But what was the wire-work and the tight harness like?
It was the coolest man!
Out of all the things in this competition, if I had left this competition at any point before this finale and I saw three guys and they weren't me and they were going doing that I would have really been bummed, so I'm so glad to do that. It was so much fun to come screaming down from the roof, what a joy! I've always wanted to be Superman and I really felt like Christopher Reeve flying up there. It was awesome.

What did you think of the judges?
I think the judges on the most part have been fair.
I think they've got a lot of authority and well-deserved authority. They're experts and it's not a question of "you sit up here and tell us what to do". These people have earned that right - they've earned that ability, they've earned that power through their excellent work, their excellent ability.

Some might say the judges are harsh and unfair or whatever but they've been through worse to get to where they are now than anything that we've been through. And I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I wouldn't have wanted to be part of a journey where we were mollycoddled, or peaches and cream, and told things that didn't matter.
In my life I respect hard work and they've only inspired me to be harder and to give more and that's been very good.


What was the hardest for you about being part of this show?
The hardest for me was the emotional vulnerability because a show like this requires you to reveal so much of yourself and as a musician, as a singer, I like to reveal myself in cryptic for and let people figure it out if they want to.
This has forced me in a good way to open up and reveal parts of myself that I don't normally think I would have. And Marcella worked really hard with me in bringing that out and that's been the hardest part but also the most rewarding part and I'm grateful for it.


How did your body change?
Well, I'm fitter than what I've ever been in my life. I think I've got a six pack - or at least a four and a half. I'm toned as heck. I feel strong. I feel fit and I'm looking forward to maintaining this because I don't want to lose this. Check with me in 6 months and see if I still look the same!

What did you not expect about this journey?
I didn't expect how much I would want this. I didn't expect that this would really become all-consuming, all-encompassing.
I thought it was going to be fun, I thought it was going to be a challenge, I thought it was going to be out of my comfort zone and it certainly met those expectations and exceeded them. But the thing that really blew my mind is how much I would care about this - how much I would care about dancing, how much I would love it and come to respect it.


What would you say did you learn about yourself?
I learnt that performance is bigger than anything I could have imagined or thought about before.
This has opened up a whole new world of expressing myself, of finding  meaning; of art. It's really opened my eyes to what there is and dancing for my whole life has been a closed door. It's been something that I've always admired but never could really understand.

And what Dancing with the Stars SA has done is it's opened that door a bit and it has shown me that there's so much out there. I'm not saying in any way that I'm an expert or have achieved really, but it's given me a taste for this and it's a taste I want to keep on enjoying.

Connell Cruise, Eden Classens and Zola Nombona to compete in M-Net's Dancing with the Stars SA live season finalé this Sunday.

The live TV broadcast of the season finalé of Dancing with the Stars South Africa on M-Net (DStv 101) this coming Sunday at 17:00 will see Connell Cruise, Eden Classens and Zola Nombona compete in a last dance-off to see who will be crowned the winner and get to lift up the coveted glitter ball trophy.

The revived BBC-format - produced by Rapid Blue productions for M-Net and name-changed from Strictly Come Dancing SA to Dancing with the Stars SA for a 9th season to differentiate it from when it was on the SABC for the previous 8th seasons until 2015 - will come to a close from the Strictly Come Dancing SA Dome on the roof of the Hyde Park Centre this Sunday.

The winner of Strictly Come Dancing SA will now be decided by viewers' votes with the scoring from the judges Jason Gilkison, Tebogo Kgobokoe, Debbie Turner and Bryan Watson no longer in play for Sunday's season finale.

Connell Cruise is dancing with Marcella Solimeo, Eden Classens with Ash-Leigh Hunter and Zola Nombona's professional dance partner is Tebogo Mashilo.

M-Net added an extra voting period leading up to the Dancing with the Stars SA finalé on Sunday 22 April, with viewers who can vote until Wednesday 18 April at 22:00 with their usual 100 votes.

Live voting for the finalé show will reopen at 17:00 on Sunday 22 April and will close (slightly earlier than usual) at 18:15 ahead of the winner announcement just before 19:00.

M-Net says the vote count and ranking of contestants is done according to the international format rules and is independently computed by Deloitte and Touche and are confirmed against the vote results as determined by M-Net.

Singer Connell Cruise one of the 12 dancing celebrities taking part in M-Net's Dancing with the Stars SA starting 4 February 2018.

Singer Connell Cruise will be one of the 12 dancing celebrities in the glitzy dance floor format show Dancing with the Stars SA that will start on 4 February 2018 on M-Net (DStv 101).

Dancing with the Stars South Africa is produced by Rapid Blue with Chris Jaftha and Tracey Lange as the co-presenters.

Connell Cruise who moved to New York will be back in South Africa and joins the so-far-announced TV presenter Thembisa Mdoda; comedian-actor Frank Opperman; actress Juanita du Plessis; the former Miss South Africa and radio presenter Liesl Laurie; Odessa Swarts who is Wayde van Niekerk's mom; and TV star Zola Nombona.

"I'm equal parts totally excited and slightly terrified about what's to come for me on Dancing with the Stars SA!," says Connell Cruise.

"I'm truly thrilled and honoured to be part of this incredible show and I'll be doing my best to make my wife and all my fans in the country proud."