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This morning ‘DWTS: All-Stars’ mirror ball trophy winner Melissa Rycroft and the second and third place finishers from the popular ABC reality competition appeared on ‘GMA’ to demonstrate their winning moves and talk about their journey.

Many consider last night’s results an upset because Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson and her pro partner Derek Hough ended up in second place after being considered the couple who would win the ‘champion of champions’ title.

Why did Johnson and Hough lose? It appears the veteran pro and his talented partner went too far in “pushing the rules,” a situation that brought them the wrath of head judge Len Goodman throughout season 15.

In a ‘DWTS’ package clip shown before Shawn and Derek hit the dance floor Monday, a candid conversation revealed their strategy … and we’re guessing the perky Olympic gold medalist wishes she had responded differently when her trusted partner led her down a slippery slope.

Derek talked about their decision to recreate the controversial Quickstep routine they performed earlier in the season. He declared, “This is going to be our statement dance.”

Shawn played devil’s advocate, “Is it worth it to take a risk and not get a perfect score? I mean, can we afford that?”

He responded, “It all comes down to this last week. To fall off the last hurdle would be devastating, I suppose. I’m definitely nervous that we’ll get the same scores we got last time, that could mean the difference between winning and losing. But that’s how we’ve played this entire season. Taking risks.”

Then he challenged her with a trick question, “Do we go out there to entertain people or do we go out there to get points?”

At this point the 20-year-old athlete should have shouted … ‘I’d like to play by the rules and win this thing.’ Instead she responded, “I want to go out there and entertain. We’ve broken a lot of rules but in the end the standing ovations mean everything to us.”

As they feared, their high energy Quickstep earned them an 8.5, 9 and 9.5, landing them behind Melissa and Kelly Monaco.

On Tuesday night they wowed the crowd with an Instant Cha Cha that earned them three 10’s and their coveted standing O … but it wasn’t enough to make up for the damage they had inflicted upon themselves the night before.

Melissa and her pro partner Tony Dovolani won the competition fair and square through hard work and determination … and without gimmicks.

We feel bad for Shawn because she demonstrated a level of dance skill that should have been enough to win it all … unfortunately, she trusted her partner in a big gamble that didn’t pay off.

Check out the conversation that ultimately led to their second place finish:

Photo: WENN screen shot