Dancing with the Stars crowns a winner Cheryl Burke and William Levy, Katherine Jenkins and Mark Ballas, Petra Murgatryod and Donald Drive...

Dancing with the Stars crowns a winner

Cheryl Burke and William Levy, Katherine Jenkins and Mark Ballas, Petra Murgatryod and Donald Driver

This season of Dancing with the Stars – deemed the most competitive yet – has come to an end.

After seemingly endless weeks of grueling rehearsals and memorable performances three couples – Katherine Jenkins and Mark Ballas; Donald Driver and Peta Murgatroyd; and William Levy and Cheryl Burke – were left vying for the coveted mirror-ball trophy during two nights of competition.

The couples had 24 hours to put together a final routine for the judges. Those scores, combined with the ones from the night before as well as America's votes (which count for half of the combined score), would determine the winners of Dancing with the Stars. Read on to find out who was crowned the king and queen of the ballroom this season ...

And the winners are ... Donald and Peta!

"Amazing!" Donald shouted when asked how he felt by host Tom Bergeron, who handed the couple the mirror-ball trophy as confetti fell in the ballroom and his former competitors from throughout the season congratulated them.

Katherine and Mark finished in second place, and William and Cheryl landed in third.

"It was an amazing experience," William said. "I'm going to miss all of you."

"Thank you so much Mark," Katherine told her partner. "It's been an absolute dream."

"I had a wonderful time working with Katherine," he said. "She's an angel."

As for the dances, William and Cheryl's spicy salsa earned a perfect 30 and unanimous praise from the judges, including Carrie Ann Inaba, who had this assessment of the actor: "What you have that makes you so special is true star quality," she said.

And the big scores continued: Katherine and Mark, who were flawless the night before, received another perfect 30 for a spunky jive. Bruno called the singer "the girl that has it all – versatility, great technique, performance, range," and told her, "You truly are one of the greatest competitors we've had."

For the final performance of the season, Donald and Peta did crowd-pleasing cha cha that earned – you guessed it! – another perfect 30. Len offered the NFL star this compliment: "We've had some great footballers on the show over the years," he said. "My feeling is you're the best we've had."