Weeks and weeks of competiton came down to tonight.
Ricki Lake, J.R. Martinez and Rob Kardashian headed into the Dancing With the Stars finale Tuesday knowing that only one of them would leave holding the mirror-ball trophy.
Rob seemingly topped the leaderboard just in time last night, while Ricki was consistent but not perfect and J.R. mixed a "not very good" cha-cha with a freestyle that the judges found zero fault with, leaving them tied for second place.
But did points matter at all when it came time for voters to put in a call, text or online click for their favorites?
J.R. Martinez and Karina Smirnoff are the new Dancing With the Stars champions!
"First and foremost, I want to thank everybody who voted for us, for 10 weeks," the soap opera actor and Iraq war veteran said. And to Karina, "You are amazing, and I'm so grateful I could be a part of your first mirror-ball trophy."
Indeed, this is Karina's first DWTS win in 10 tries.
So, despite having the momentum heading into the finale, Rob and Cheryl Burke had to settle for second place—but they didn't sound too upset!
"For one of you, that was your victory dance," Carrie Ann Inaba told J.R. and Rob after they performed instant sambas in round four. "But I think both of you are winners."
They both scored perfect 30s anyway, making that a two-night total of 112 for J.R. and 113 for Rob.
Meanwhile, Ricki and Derek Hough ended up in third place—a surprising spot considering how strong they came out of the gate and the high level they maintained throughout.
"I've loved basically every minute of this," Ricki said afterward. "I had the best partner, the best teacher, the best motivator—and I've done something I really didn't think I could do."
But you just can't compete with what's meant to be.
"Wow serious panic attack right about now!!!!! Someone just got eliminated!!! I don't want to spoil it but OMGGGGGGGGGGG," tweeted Kim Kardashian, in the house for the second night in a row, after Rob made the final two.
And despite the last-second loss, the lone Kardashian son made the best of his experience.
"I'm definitely not sad," he said. "I won in my book."