Jennifer Grey beats Bristol Palin on 'Dancing'

Finally after all that - the noise, nonsense, conspiracy theories, and that shot-up TV set - Bristol Palin lost.

And lost big, if third place can be considered big, which it probably is to supporters who kept her in the hunt for the "Dancing With the Stars" mirror ball trophy long (long) after anyone expected. Jennifer Grey - who struggled at times with tendinitis in her knee, and even ruptured a disc Monday - won the 11th season of "Dancing" along with partner Derek Hough. Kyle Massey, former star of Disney Channel's "That's So Raven," landed second.

Cool-headed and plucky, Palin worked hard and gained some hoofing competence during the course of the season. And, while she was a surrogate for millions of similarly-talented viewers, there also was the matter of mom.

For some, a vote for Bristol was a vote for Sarah Palin. How much that factored into Palin's final standing - determined either by viewers voting for Bristol or against her - probably will never be known. But some actually believed the 11th season had turned into a straw poll for a Sarah Palin 2012 run, leading Palin foes to suggest the voting was rigged. Palin supporters - notwithstanding the former governor of Alaska herself - scoffed at the charge.

There was no debate over this, however: The 11th season of "Dancing With the Stars" was different. "It was definitely odd, and I don't know exactly why," executive producer Conrad Green said in an interview last week. Sure he did: Bristol. ABC and "Dancing" shrewdly added Palin to the cast, knowing she'd become a lightning rod. What they didn't or couldn't know was how much lightning. Palin never got atop the leader board, and while the judges were always polite, blogs weren't - charging voting conspiracy (denied by Green) - and then there was the Wisconsin man who shot his TV set when Palin withstood another vote.

But Tuesday night didn't work in her favor. While her Monday total was a combination of judge and viewer votes (both re-expressed as percentages), Tuesday night, it was up to the judges only: Palin got a total 52 score out of 60, Grey a 58, and Massey a 54. Added to Monday's total, and the viewer votes, that meant one place - third.