Mumbai, Oct 1 (IANS): Television actor Gurmeet Choudhary and his choreographer Shampa Sunday won the fifth season of "Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa". He defeated Rashmi Desai and Rithvik Dhanjani and took home the winners trophy and a cash prize of Rs.40 lakh.

It wasn't an easy journey for non-dancer Gurmeet, who got low scores at times, but he did not leave any stone unturned. From hip-hop to break dance to contemporary, the 28-year-old tried all dance forms to wow the judges and the audiences.

The actor dedicated his win to his fans and wife Debina.

"It feels really great. After working for four to five months this journey has finally come to an end. 'Mehnat rang layi hai'. The trophy belongs to my fans who have voted for me. Public is the winner of 'Jhalak...' not me," Gurmeet told IANS after winning the show.

"When I signed 'Jhalak...', I never thought of wining the show. I only wanted to perform a good act for my fans and for the judges. I am grateful to my wife who supported me and was with me throughout this journey.

"Simultaneously I was shooting for my serial 'Punar Vivah' for 12 to 14 hours and then used to go for 'Jhalak...' performance. Had Debina not supported me, I could have not done this," he added.

He hailed his competitor Rashmi as a good dancer and said that "she is trained and has done lot of reality shows in the past. In fact, all three of us are the winner not just me".

Gurmeet, who shot to fame with the 2008 TV series "Ramayan", also did "Geet - Hui Sabse Parayi" and is currently playing the character of Yash on Zee TV's show "Punar Vivah".

The show started off June 16 with 13 contestants including Isha, Pratyusha Banerjee, Giaa Manek, Talat Aziz, Bharti Singh, Archana Vijaya, Shibani Dandekar, Jayati Bhatia, Darsheel Safary, Sanath Jayasuriya, Sushil Kumar and Ravi Kishan."

Three wild card entries - Karan Wahi, Rashmi and Rithvik were introduced midway.

It was judged by actress Madhuri Dixit, filmmaker Karan Johar and choreographer Remo D'Souza.