08:35 PM EDT 04/13/2013
Donald Driver
Donald Driver's Son: My Daddy Deserved to Win Dancing with the Stars
Originally posted 05/23/2012 02:05PM
When he first joined the season 14 cast of Dancing with the Stars, Donald Driver had two goals in mind.
"I was determined to win, and not get voted off first," Driver told PEOPLE shortly after he accomplished the first goal on Tuesday's big finale.
Though Driver, 37, is thrilled about taking home the mirror-ball trophy, making his family proud makes success even sweeter.
"When you win these things, you want to win for your family," Driver said of wife Betina, son Christian, 8, and daughters Christina, 6, and Charity, 8 months. "I wanted to let my kids know and my family know that you can follow your dreams. Whatever your dreams are, follow them, because it's truly special."
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Donald Driver: Dancing Win Feels the 'Same' as Winning Super Bowl
Originally posted 05/23/2012 07:55AM
When Donald Driver walked away with the coveted mirror-ball trophy on Tuesday night's Dancing with the Stars finale, it wasn't the first time he'd won a big competition. But he says it felt just as good.
"I think it's the same," the football pro told PEOPLE backstage after DWTS, comparing his most recent feat to when his Green Bay Packers team won the Super Bowl in 2011.
"You have great moments [throughout both experiences]."
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Donald Driver Crowned Dancing with the Stars Winner
Originally posted 05/22/2012 11:10PM
This season of Dancing with the Stars – deemed the most competitive yet – has come to an end.
After seemingly endless weeks of grueling rehearsals and memorable performances three couples – Katherine Jenkins and Mark Ballas; Donald Driver and Peta Murgatroyd; and William Levy and Cheryl Burke – were left vying for the coveted mirror-ball trophy during two nights of competition.
The couples had 24 hours to put together a final routine for the judges. Those scores, combined with the ones from the night before as well as America's votes (which count for half of the combined score), would determine the winners of Dancing with the Stars. Read on to find out who was crowned the king and queen of the ballroom this season ...
Dancing with the Stars: Donald Driver Says His Freestyle Was the Best
Originally posted 05/22/2012 05:30PM
After landing his first perfect score on Monday night for a high-flying, boot-scooting freestyle, Dancing with the Stars finalist Donald Driver is feeling highly confident going into Tuesday's results show.
"I felt great. I feel like I've reached the goal that we tried to reach for nine weeks. It took week 10 to get a 10, and I'm okay with that," he told PEOPLE after the show. "They say freestyle normally wins this competition. We nailed our freestyle. And we felt like we had the best freestyle out of anybody that was up in this competition."
Driver's partner Peta Murgatroyd says they worked hard to earn that perfection.
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Dancing with the Stars Sizzles in Spectacular Finals
Originally posted 05/21/2012 09:40PM
Wow!
William Levy, Donald Driver and Katherine Jenkins brought their best stuff for the fierce final week of Dancing with the Stars, with the judges lavishing one big score after another.
Only one will win the mirror-ball trophy after Tuesday night's results show. See how they fared Monday night.
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Donald Driver Opens Up About Homeless, Drug-Dealing Past
Originally posted 05/19/2012 10:00AM
Donald Driver remembers that night when he was a second-grader lying in bed with his older brother Marvin. Their family was gripped by poverty and homelessness, sometimes sleeping in a U-Haul trailer.
"I told my brother, 'This is it. I'm gonna take my family outta this,' " he tells PEOPLE. "I didn't know what it was going to be or how I was going to do it, but that's what I told him. He just laughed and told me to go to sleep."
Three decades later, Driver, 37, is a star wide receiver who played in a Super Bowl for the Green Bay Packers and now competes as a finalist on Dancing with the Stars. He's written children books and has his own foundation.
How did he turn it around?
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Dancing with the Stars Reveals Finalists
Originally posted 05/15/2012 10:10PM
Unstoppable all season on Dancing with the Stars, British opera singer Katherine Jenkins and her partner Mark Ballas hadn't flubbed a single dance – until the very end of their salsa on Monday night's semi-finals.
With a total of 56 points out of 60 for the night after their two performances, Jenkins was left with a mild back injury and in last place on the leaderboard. But did the ballroom blunder keep her from making it to the show's finale? Or did voters save the singer and send another frontrunner home? Read on to find out ...
Katherine Jenkins's Injury a Disappointment, Says DWTS Partner Mark Ballas
Originally posted 05/15/2012 02:45PM
After an emotional night in the ballroom, Katherine Jenkins, who injured her back during a salsa routine, is getting support from her Dancing with the Stars partner Mark Ballas as well as her competitors.
"She just put her back out," Ballas told PEOPLE after the show. "She can walk so I know there's no bone damage."
In fact, Jenkins, who still managed to score 27 points for the routine, Tweeted later about the injury: "I'm with the Doctor, he says it was a reflectorical spasm in my lower back," she wrote.
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Dancing with the Stars Drama: An Emotional Meltdown & Perfect Scores
Originally posted 05/14/2012 09:55PM
With the competition down its fierce final days, and perfect 10s flying in the ballroom, the pressure at Dancing with the Stars finally took its toll on one leading contender.
A seemingly minor misstep at the end of a solid-scoring routine left Katherine Jenkins in tears Monday night in one of the most dramatic moments of the season.
At the end of a glorious salsa – their second routine – Jenkins seemed to stumble, a mistake that barely troubled judges, who awarded a trio of nines to the singer and dancing pro Mark Ballas.
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Dancing with the Stars: Melissa Gilbert, Roshon Fegan Booted in Double Elimination
Originally posted 05/08/2012 10:10PM
There were some serious shakeups on the Dancing with the Stars leader board after the remaining six couples in the competition each completed two dances on Monday night.
One week after scoring a perfect 30, Maria Menounos and Derek Hough made a surprising appearance in second-to-last place. Meanwhile, Roshon Fegan and Chelsie Hightower – who danced for their lives last week – climbed to second. But with only six points separating William Levy and Cheryl Burke in first place and Melissa Gilbert and Maksim Chmerkovskiy in last, it's really anyone's game.
At the end of Tuesday night's double elimination episode, which two couples were sent packing and which four will go on to next week's semi-finals? Read on to find out ...
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