Hollywood FAQs: American actor JR Martinez claimed the top spot of the 13th season of the dancing reality show ‘Dancing With The Stars’ on November 22, 2011 and left behind Rob Kardashian.
The actor claimed the Mirrorball trophy along with his choreographer partner Karina Smirnoff. Moreover, the host of the show Tom Bergeron, addressed the winner as an inspiration to the audience.
The winner of the show was determined by combining the scores of the judges and the audience votes. The finale had all men and talk show host Ricki Lake claimed the third position. For the final competition between Rob and Martinez, the judges performed the samba dances and had to perform it with very little preparation time. But the judges gave full marks to both the dancers. Carrie Ann Inaba, one of the judges of the show, said that it was a victory dance for one of the performers and that it was a great way to end the season.
On Tuesday’s episode, Martinez was tied with Lake in the second place. The jive performance by Martinez took everyone by surprise and despite making a few mistakes, judge Len Goodman said that he got a sparkling personality and has the ability to lit up the room. With the help of the natural dancing abilities, Martinez managed to score high throughout the season and also remained the favorite of the judges.
In his winning speech, Martinez thanked his partner as well as his fans who voted for him. The 28-year-old was serving in Iraq in the year 2003, when the US army vehicle hit a landmine. Martinez suffered severe burns and underwent several surgeries. It took nearly three years for him to recover from the incident. In the year 2008, Martinez bagged a role in the ABC soap ‘All My Children’.
