Kevin Dundon put a smile on the faces of many viewers during his time on Dancing with the Stars - and he departed the show on Sunday night with the greatest of grins. He had the last laugh.
The celebrity chef had defied the odds to remain in the contest until last night - where he found himself in the dreaded dance off with Aishah Akorede.
And when the first three judges all nominated Aishah to stay, Kevin's time on the show had come to an end.
After they'd been eliminated, he and pro-dance partner Rebecca Scott were all smiles despite the result. "We got to the quarter-finals!" he beamed. "Seriously! It's epic! I'm delighted. It would've been nice to get into the semi-final, and possibly the final.
"But sure - listen. We had to give someone else a chance."
He added: "I thought we'd get through tonight. But it wasn't to be. And what a night to go out on! That dance had ten written all over it. In terms of character and having the craic.
"The judges are the judges. They're going to say what they want. I'm not a dancer. I've learned to dance over the nine weeks, which has been brilliant. But there are better dancers left on the show.
"At the end of the day, it's an entertainment show. It's also a dancing competition. So, let them win."
Kevin also noted that he's looking forward to being out of costume again. "I can't wait to get back in my jeans and t-shirt, thank you very much."
Although he's looking forward to getting back his life again, Kevin feels his performances over the course of this season's Dancing with the Stars has proved his doubters and naysayers wrong.
"Totally," he says. "Everybody's entitled to their opinion about people's ability. One thing no one can deny is that when you're starting from a very low base, every single week, and you can't dance . . . the standard this year has been particularly high, which is great for the show but not for us.
"But listen - we got to the quarter-finals! So, for me, we entertained a lot of people, we put a lot of sunshine into people's lives on a Sunday night at half-six. And if we can do that - we've won, as far as I'm concerned.
"And the people on the street are all over us, saying they're delighted, how wonderful we are. They love us. It's great!"
Grinning broadly, Kevin insists that he leaves the show in fine spirits. Like pretty much anyone who's ever been on the show, he thoroughly enjoyed it.
"I couldn't be happier," he says. "It was an amazing experience. The crew - everyone's been phenomenal, very supportive. While I got a lot of negative press I thought, do you know what? It's probably just a handful of people saying a couple of things.
"The show goes on for eleven weeks. We've been here for nine weeks. And we're back for the final. So we're only going to miss one week. I'm extremely proud.
"I didn't expect to get this far, so every week was a bonus. We put in a huge effort over the whole time. The natural ability just wasn't there."
Aside from the lack of natural ability, there was also the fact that Kevin was also up against some heavyweight contestants. Most notably Taekwondo athlete Jack Woolley, and Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Rhys McClenaghan.
Those two were early favourites and Kevin acknowledges that he knew he wasn't really in the running when it came to a likely winner on Dancing with the Stars.
"When you're up against two Olympians - active Olympians - who can bend over backwards over a bar or swing out of a helicopter. Seriously!" he says, laughing. "What's the point?"
The semi-final of Dancing with the Stars - Fright Night airs next Sunday 9 March, 6:30pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
As ever, we'll be covering the show with a live tracker here at RTÉ Entertainment
