Bindi Irwin is one step closer to winning America's Dancing with the Stars after another polished performance again invoking the memory of her late father Steve which left both her family and the judges in tears and shored up her position as a favourite going into the last episode.
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Dancing with the Stars - a show with a kitschy Vegas aesthetic and the subtlety to match - used visual effects evoke the "spirit" of Steve Irwin in one of Bindi's dances in the first of a two-part season finale.
The second part - in which 17-year-old Irwin will compete against fellow finalists Alek Skarlatos and Nick Carter for the "Mirrorball trophy" - will take place on Tuesday night, US time.
Bindi's love for her late father, the crocodile hunter, who was killed by a stingray in 2006, has been a running theme in the dance competition. Before the tribute dance in Monday night's episode began, Bindi had spoken about she had kept her memories of him close.
"Sometimes in rehearsals it feels like there's three people in the room… like dad is with me every day," she said.
It was a sentiment reinforced by the show's producers in her emotional second freestyle dance. As she and partner Derek Hough completed their slow, skilful contemporary performance, a digitally enhanced pair of footprints appeared on the floor for home viewers - showing "Steve" quite literally walking alongside the pair.
As if we didn't get the idea, a huge black and white image of Bindi hugging her dad then flashed up on a screen behind her, something even Bindi apparently didn't know they were going to do.
She cried afterwards, overwhelmed by genuine emotion, saying the show had changed her life. Her mother Terri and brother Bob, both in the studio audience, teared up too, and Terri tweeted later that Steve was "walking beside you all the way tonight."
It was one of two performances on the night for which Bindi won perfect scores from the judges - the other was a quickstep, which judge Carrie Ann Inaba acknowledged was the "most difficult" of the ones they could have chosen - fast and relentlessly upbeat with complex footwork.
She more than pulled it off though - flying around the room with partner Derek Hough, effortlessly light on her feet.
"When I watch you dance I feel like I'm a better person," gushed Inaba once they were done.
"When I watch you I think a star is born Bindi, a star is born!"
Bindi's competition in the final is tough. One of them, Carter, is a former member of 90s pop sensation the Backstreet Boys, a huge celebrity to a certain generation and one who has been dancing for years. Who could forget their much-parodied moves in I Want It That Way?
The other, Skarlatos, is one of the young American National Guardsmen who successfully foiled an attack on a French-bound train in August. Though he has not performed as consistently well as Bindi or Carter, he's proved a game competitor, and is regarded as a true American hero, which certainly doesn't hurt in a show that is decided by a mix of judges' scores and a popular vote by American viewers.
But Bindi - despite having the lowest profile of the three coming into the competition - has more than endeared herself to the its audience.
While the way the producers have dealt with her father's passing seems heavy-handed at times, her emotion is clearly genuine, while her positive, mature attitude to the competition has created an admiring fan base.
Moreover, her dancing really is remarkable - she's at least as good, if not better than Carter. Irwin may very well snag a win on Tuesday night.
Honestly my beautiful @BindiIrwin, your daddy was walking beside you all the way tonight. He loves you so much. pic.twitter.com/xHJYj9aMx7— Terri Irwin (@TerriIrwin)
November 24, 2015
