The final Edward-v.-Damon showdown trumped ‘em all. The polls were open for 72 hours, and midway through the final day of voting, the virile vampires were separated by less than 200 votes. With six hours remaining, and our finalists still locked in a statistical dead-heat, EW.com’s Sexy Beast special-ops team decided to hide the poll results, and began to plan a special issue of Entertainment Weekly commemorating a tournament that had becoming nothing short of an Internet sensation. When the blood, sweat, and broken fangs were wiped away, who was the winner? Let this be the official reveal: Damon Salvatore eked out a mild upset victory over Edward Cullen by a margin of 138,630 to 134,728, a difference of just 3,902 votes.

Maybe it was a last-minute Tweet from Somerhalder himself –”That Pattinson guy will end up kicking my butt, however thanks for taking the time, that’s really cool : )” –that turned the tide in favor of his character. Or maybe it was a get-out-the-vote campaign by Somerhalder’s co-star Matt Davis (Alaric). “I think he text-messaged Justin Bieber and said ‘Hey, would you please vote for my friend?’ I’m not even kidding,” Somerhalder tells EW.

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