After a night of emotional dances and tearful memories, one couple still had to go home.
*Caution: Spoilers Ahead*
Dancing With the Stars brought tears to everyone's eyes with their always-emotional "Most Memorable Year" week on Monday -- but even after a heartstring-tugging slate of dances, one couple still got the axe.
It all came down to the two stars who found themselves in jeopardy: Nick Lachey and Derek Fisher, both of whom delivered some of their strongest performances of the season this week.
Ultimately, it was the Los Angeles Lakers icon and his pro partner, Sharna Burgess, who were sent packing.
Speaking with hosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews after the elimination, Fisher reflected on what he's gained from the experience of being on the show.
"Growth. Growth as a man, growth as a person. Just learning to continue to be a part of something bigger than yourself," Fisher said. "I am so happy and so proud to be a part of this, no matter how long it lasted. I am forever changed by it, and I look forward to a bright future."
Burgess also shared some supportive words for her hardworking partner, telling Fisher, "I'm so incredibly proud of you."
"I know that your entire career was about internalizing emotion and not showing it out there on the court, but the journey you went on in sharing your emotion and your life with everybody here tonight and through these few weeks on Dancing With the Stars is amazing," she added.
For Fisher, his most memorable year was 2007, when he found out his infant daughter, Tatum, had developed a retinoblastoma, which is a rare form of cancer that grows in the eye.
Fisher got very emotional in the pre-taped package before his performance, remembering the fear he faced when his 10-month-old daughter had to go in for surgery on what could have been a life-threatening illness.
Fisher chose to walk away from a multi-million dollar contract with the Utah Jazz to care for his infant daughter, which also meant moving back to L.A. so she could be near Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to undergo numerous treatments over seven years.
Tatum, now 11, was in the audience to watch her father and Burgess perform an emotional, life-affirming jazz routine set to Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up," that brought the house down.
After the dance, Fisher hugged his daughter, who was openly crying after watching the emotional package, and the NBA star had to fight back his own tears as well.
"A lot of this happened when she was not of an age to remember it, so seeing that story for her, I'm sure brings back some hard memories," Fisher told host Tom Bergeron after his dance.
Fisher and Burgess earned a score of 23 out of 30 for their routine. While it was their highest score of the season, it was the second-lowest of the night, only ahead of Lachey and Murgatroyd, who earned a 22.
Check out the video below for more on Fisher's DWTS journey this season.
