Amir Shurush, an Arab-Jewish actor best known for the sitcom Checkout, won Dancing with the Stars on Wednesday with his partner, professional dancer, Sanna Sokol.
Shurush is the son of a Jewish mother and an Arab father and grew up in Eilat.
For their final performance, they performed a Viennese Waltz and received a perfect score from the judges.
Combined with the audience votes, this score was enough to put them over the top in the most intense competition the show has seen in the four years since its inception.
Shurush, who plays the relentlessly upbeat supermarket worker Ramzi Abed Ramzi on Checkout, combined his comic stage presence with superb dance skills to win the competition.
He achieved a much higher level of technical proficiency than most contestants ever do, performing multiple turns with a grin, as if he were surprised by his own skill, which charmed the audience.
The runners-up
The runners-up were Olympic judo medal winner Sagi Muki and dancer Nina Sol in second place, and actress Roni Daloomi and dancer Lotem Madmoni in third.