Alix Earle will be dancing on air for some time.
After she and partner Val Chmerkovskiy finished in second in Dancing With the Stars’ season 34 finale Nov. 25, the influencer got teary-eyed over how grateful she is for the experience.
"I just can't believe that it's over," Alix exclusively told E! News' Will Marfuggi. "Just went by so fast and so much adrenaline going into tonight. So when it's all done, I feel like it just hit me like a drug just now."
And though Robert Irwin and Witney Carson took home the Mirrorball Trophy, Alix doesn't have any hard feelings, adding, "It was the best night ever, and it couldn't have gone any better."
The social media star—who also competed against Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa, Dylan Efron and Daniella Karagach and Elaine Hendrix and Alan Bersten in the finale—also made sure to give a shoutout to her dancing partner. After all, it takes two to tango.
"Being able to dance every day has been so amazing, so fulfilling and therapeutic," she shared, "and then just like having such a good best friend along the way, who constantly uplifts me and supports me every day, is just so nice."
Plus, Alix feels she really grew as a person throughout the two months she spent filming in L.A.
"I got to spend a lot more time with myself being out here alone, even going to bed at night and just alone in my own thoughts for the first time in a while, because I'm usually just pretty hectic and all over the place," she explained. "So, as crazy and busy as this was, it was nice for me to be able to slow down, in a sense, and to just do something for myself that I really wanted to go for."
Throughout the season, judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli praised Alix as one of the most improved dancers, with her and Val consistently earning among the highest scores.
But for Alix, this journey has gone far beyond the scores she sees on the screen.
“This Dancing With the Stars journey really just has changed my life,” she said in a TikTok posted Nov. 19 after the season’s semifinals. “I am gonna come out of this such a different person than I was going in. I think it’s been the best thing for me, that I could have ever done.”
She added, “And after week one, I just didn’t know how far I would make it in this, but I knew I was going to give it my all and try my hardest and just dedicate this time to dance and see if we somehow got to the finale. And the hard work is not stopping now.”
And despite knowing she and Val had an intense week preparing for the season finale—needing to prepare six dances—the 24-year-old was happy for the challenge to continue.
“I’m so excited, taking in every last minute of this,” she said. “I was tearing up at the judges’ comments tonight, them saying I’m the most improved just cause I’ve worked so hard—Val has pushed me so much. And we’re not done yet.”
Plus, that hard work paid off, with Alix and Val earning a perfect 30 on all their dances during the finale.
And the TikToker knows she couldn’t have done it without the pro. After their second-to-last episode together Alix wrote in a TikTok message to Val, “Thank you for pushing me day in and day out, the long days, the laughs the tears, and the best memories I could have ever asked for.”
For a look back at the many celebrity-pro pairings who were vying for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy in season 34, read on.
Baron Davis
Partnered with Britt Stewart
Jennifer Affleck
Partnered with Jan Ravnik
Alix Earle
Partnered with Valentin Chmerkovski
Dylan Efron
Partnered with Daniella Karagach
Corey Feldman
Partnered with Jenna Johnson
Elaine Hendrix
Partnered with Alan Bersten
Robert Irwin
Partnered with Witney Carson
Jordan Chiles
Partnered with Ezra Sosa
Scott Hoying
Partnered with Rylee Arnold
Whitney Leavitt
Partnered with Mark Ballas
Hilaria Baldwin
Partnered with Gleb Savchenko
Andy Richter
Partnered with Emma Slater
Danielle Fishel
Partnered with Pasha Pashkov