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Last night the winner of FOX’s pitiful reality show On The Lot was finally announced. But - to borrow a suspense ploy often used in reality shows such as this one – before we get to that, let’s first take a look back at the season.

Fourteen weeks ago, we were introduced to the top 50 filmmakers chosen for this competition; they were selected from 12,000 entries in 33 countries around the world. The prize these hopefuls would be vying for each week was a million-dollar deal with Dreamworks and Steven Spielberg. The show being a Mark Burnett vehicle (the force behind Survivor), we sat back in our recliners expecting drama, tears and the stuff good reality TV is made of to unfold in front of our very eyes. Instead we were subjected to a 14-week exercise in patience and disappointment.

From the very beginning, the show went awry when it failed to maintain a consistent format. Twice-weekly airdates were condensed to one; eliminations went from being a part of the live broadcast to being shown through clips of what happened since the previous week’s episode. Guest judges like Michael Bay (Transformers) and Eli Roth (Hostel) came and went, and regular judges Carrie Fisher and Garry Marshall tortured us with their erratic behavior and innocuous comments week to week. And host Adrianna Costa was perhaps the show’s biggest downfall: not even full-frontal nudity could have saved this scantily clad woman from her own flubbed lines and robotic tendencies.

The top 50 were quickly narrowed to 18 after an unsuccessful challenge in which each contestant pitched a film to the judges. From there, the 18 chosen competed in various filmmaking challenges; debuting short films made week to week based on different genres and themes - horror, action, romantic comedies and “when two worlds collide” among them – using the actors and crews that the show provided. Early standouts in the competition were Zach Lipovsky and Marty Martin; the former for his noteworthy special effects skills, the latter for his tendency to cry on camera and getting into altercations with Carrie Fisher on live TV. Marty didn’t stick around long, and neither did most of the women, for that matter – Jessica Brillhart, Shira-Lee Shallit, Hilary Weisman and Shalini Kantayya were the female constituents for most of the competition, but unfortunately none of them made it past week nine.

The final three filmmakers were revealed in part one of the finale, which aired on August 13 – Will Bigham, Jason Epperson and Adam Stein. Each director screened two of their own films which they felt best represented their work during the competition, and how they wanted viewers to remember them. Adam’s “Dough: The Musical” and “Army Guy” were two of the best films from the competition, but his capable and confident demeanor weren’t enough to compare to Jason and Will’s more heartfelt stories of overcoming great odds to be in the competition and wanting to support their families by fulfilling their directorial dreams.

Which brings us to last night’s final episode of the show. Mostly filler, containing outtakes and clips of the show’s notable moments – the judges taking offense to Jason’s “Getta Rhoom,” crazy Kenny Luby’s inability to get along with anyone on the set, Mateen Kemet’s interpretation of horror night by making a film about racial profiling – the final three competitors did get to screen their personal favorite film of the competition, and the entire group of competitors rejoined the remaining directors in the audience. Adam chose Zach’s office comedy “Die Hardly Working;” Jason chose Mateen’s action flick “Catch.” Will chose Hilary’s sperm bank heist caper “Under the Gun.”

And now – finally - the winner is about to be announced. But first we learn that, as predicated, Adam was the first to be eliminated. He graciously thanks the viewers for the opportunity to compete and Garry Marshall tells him, “you’re in the right business.” Jason and Will are left standing, and we’re left on the edge of our seats through a commercial break before finding out who took the big prize. After drumming up as much suspense as they can muster through cuts back and forth between Jason and Will and their respective families in the audience, it’s announced that Will Bigham has won FOX’s On The Lot competition! While I can’t say it was a surprise, at least it went to the person who probably wanted it more than anyone else. In his articulate and genuine acceptance speech, Will thanks God, runner-up Jason and his family, because “they’ve supported me through a lot, and now I’ll finally get to support them.”

Cameras follow Will as he pulls up to the Dreamworks lot and is greeted by Steven Spielberg. The directors bestow compliments on each other for a few moments, and then the music swells and we watch Spielberg and Will walk off together, into the sunset and onto the lot. I can’t help but think that following Will’s first job with Dreamworks would make for a more interesting reality show than the one we just watched, but then I stop myself and just thank God that the show is over.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a wrap.