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Dallas Cowboys Football Legend Wins ?Dancing with the Stars? Competition

If anyone had told Dallas Cowboys football great, Emmitt Smith two years ago that he?d win a ballroom dance competition in front of millions of viewers, he would have laughed out loud. But that is exactly what happened when the nimble-footed Smith beat several other participants in ABC?s popular television program ?Dancing with Stars? competition and won the title, together with his professional dance partner, Cheryl Burke.

ABC?s hit program debuted in 2005 and became an instant success. This season?s final had 22 million people watching, and was the channel?s number two after ?Desperate Housewives?. Smith has been a three-time Super Bowl champion but nothing prepared him for the tension in the final dance-off between himself and actor Mario Lopez in the arms of Karina Smirnoff. The show?s audience had full deciding rights and they chose Smith and Burke over the other couple, based on their final performance of a samba to the tune of ?Sir Duke? by Stevie Wonder.

Emmitt Smith was named the ?Big Easy? throughout the show thanks to his laidback manners. His work ethic was also highly praised, probably due to the tough discipline that he needed to show on the football field during his games with the Dallas Cowboys. The success of ?Dancing with Stars? seems to be that it takes personalities whom we associate with a certain niche and turn them into dancers and, thus, someone totally different within a period of 10 weeks.