With four couples left and all of them wanting a slot in next week’s finale, tensions were high — especially since former frontrunner J.R. Martinez was off his game on Monday night due to an injury.

So did his woes result in someone else slipping past him and getting one of those last three coveted spots?

No, but it might’ve been close — in a somewhat shocking result, J.R. and Karina Smirnoff were one of the last two couples left after the others were declared safe, standing alongside perennial bottom-two dwellers Hope Solo and Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

But Hope’s luck finally ran out, and the gold medal-winning soccer star had to be satisfied with a fourth place finish, leaving J.R. and Karina, Ricki and Derek, and Rob and Cheryl to compete for the coveted mirror-ball trophy next week.

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