After the 'Dancing With the Stars' announced its winner, it is American Idol’s turn to pronounce it too. And that is Kris Allen! The young man won big time since he counted 100 million votes. "The underdog, the dark horse, came back and wins the nation," Seacrest said after letting us know who was the winner.

Of course that the 23 years old Arkansas native Allen was very touched and modestly declared: : "Adam deserves this. I'm sorry, I don't even know what to feel right now. This is crazy!"

The surprise was even bigger considering the fact that Allen wasn't considered a front-runner going into the finale. For example judge Simon Cowell declared his support for 27-year-old Adam Lambert. But in the end, Allen, a business-school student ended up by impressing the judges with his rendition of Kanye West's "Heartless". The rest of the finalists also made a good impression and most of all a surprising show: Nick Mitchell wore a hoodie and jeans to reveal the sparkly top and khaki shorts, Katrina Darrell made an appearance showing off her swimsuit and noticeably bigger curves and was joined into song by Kara DioGuardi in a surprise duet. And for the show to be complete, at the end, DioGuardi stripped off her dress to reveal a bikini!

This was the 8th Season of American Idol, and, according to Hollywood Reporter, it earned 23.8 million viewers, down from 27 million in 2008.