Katherine Jenkins graceful in DWTS defeat

She won over the American audiences and attracted a whole new fan base, but that wasn’t quite enough for Katherine Jenkins last night, as she was named runner-up on Dancing With The Stars.

The soprano, 31, was graceful in defeat, congratulating victor Donald Driver as he was awarded the Mirrorball Trophy.

‘It’s been an absolute dream,’ Katherine said, as partner Mark Ballas called her ‘an angel’.

Miss Jenkins tweeted after the final: ‘Being runner up on DWTS feels pretty amazing…Thanku to all who voted to put us 2nd! I never would have thought this possible at the start!’

Earlier, the Welsh singer spoke of her gratitude to fans for getting her as far as the final.

She wrote: ‘Not long til the results… Whatever happens, just want to thanku for all your love and support – u couldn’t have been more wonderful!

‘And of course,no matter what, a humongous Thanku to my partner @MarkBallas for his patience,hard work & above all, great sense of humour!’ (sic)

There is clearly absolutely no ill feeling towards the winner, with Katherine uploading a cosy picture of her and Donald together on a private jet en route to New York to appear on Good Morning America today.

Katherine and Mark were out in front after the previous night’s semi-finals, in which they were the only couple to achieve a perfect score.

Last night, Katherine received extremely high praise from the panel, in particular Carrie Ann Inaba, for her final performance – a jive.

The judge said: ‘You are such a brilliant artist. Thank you, because you two set the bar so high this season.’

Underdog Donald who scooped the mirrorball trophy with partner Peta Murgatroyd in a surprising final twist of the show, exclaiming upon his win: ‘Amazing. This is awesome. Thank you so much!’