The slow and steady build kicked off with murmurs of magician Criss Angel's mysterious involvement and shady "quotes" taken from even shadier inside sources, then went into hyperdrive when Brit's performance was confirmed Thursday (see [article id="1568994"]"Britney Spears To Open 2007 MTV Video Music Awards: It's Official!"[/article]) and she actually showed up in Las Vegas on Friday, ready to rehearse (and take a spin in Angel's Lamborghini, apparently).

But that constantly building buzz didn't hit its absolute zenith until Friday afternoon, when Brit single-handedly shut down the [article id="1568878"]Palms Casino Resort[/article] to actually rehearse her performance, an event that brought the paparazzi out in droves, had the Las Vegas police patrolling the casino floor and warranted flagrantly misspelled signs (see [article id="1569173"]"Exclusive: Inside Britney Spears' VMA Rehearsal"[/article]) to keep potential spies out.

Of course, the lucky few who possessed the necessary clearance to make it through security witnessed a supercharged, super-sexy Brit hungry to silence her many detractors and reclaim her spot atop the pop mountain (see [article id="1569158"]"Britney Spears' New Single Gets Club-Tested In Vegas"[/article]). But just what did her rehearsal look like? Well, we're about to show you ... it's an exclusive so big, you can't see it anywhere else: footage of Spears working her way through the routine for "Gimme More."

And really, there's nothing more to say ... like she exclaims herself in the song, "It's Britney, bitch."

But what will the final performance look like? Well, you'll have to tune in to the MTV Video Music Awards, live, Sunday at 9 p.m.

(Britney Spears isn't the only one warming up for Sunday — check out [article id="1569198"]Kanye West testing out his intimate VMA suite,[/article] [article id="1569212"]Foo Fighters jamming with Cee-Lo and more,[/article] and Nicole Scherzinger and Lil Wayne trying out their sexy preshow performance.)

Wait -- don't cash out on the VMAs just yet! From Britney's sultry comeback performance to the big winners, you saw it all -- well, almost everything! Get yourself even richer with our wall-to-wall show coverage, party reports, videos and loads more at www.VMA.MTV.com. For reports, photos, video and much, much more from previous VMAs, dive into the VMA archives.