It’s customary when watching elimination shows to find yourself pitying the contenders, but it’s not every day that you sit at home saying, “Thank God I’m not a judge.”
As "So You Think You Can Dance" picked its coveted top 10 this week, it was easy to see who deserved to head home. Comfort Fedoke and Thayne Jasperson were already on the chopping block, and after getting their own styles and failing to prove themselves, it was time. But with Comfort and Thayne goes the last of the weak links … so who goes next?
As a ballroom dancer, I expected Chelsea Hightower to do well in the salsa, but I didn’t expect her to come out wearing little more than a literal tailfeather and shake it to the point of making my knees weak.
Luckily, it didn’t make Mark Kanemura’s knees weak though, as he stayed strong through both the salsa and their Tyce Diorio routine. Mia Michaels said he was a little awkward. I say that’s the equivalent of telling Nigel Lythgoe he's British. The key is how Mark works his inherent awkwardness and manages to make it sexy every time he takes the stage. I still haven’t figured out how he does it, but boy am I glad he does it.
Gev Manoukian has a similar appeal where you’re not entirely sure why, but you catch yourself biting your lip every time you watch him. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he’s dancing next to Courtney Galiano who’s hot enough on her own, let alone when she’s dressed like a skimpy, gold, disco ball — and spinning around like one, too.
Will Wingfield took the “less is more” costume theme even further, wearing what looked like a loincloth for his tribal Tyce Diorio routine. I was certainly grateful for the view, but even with Will’s negative body fat, I somehow found my eye drawn to Jessica King, who managed to finally outshine her partner.
It’s unfortunate that moment of glory had to be followed by the dreaded quickstep. This dance is so horrific even Will couldn’t make it look good. Still, the judges couldn’t cut Jessica any slack, with Mia even telling Will he "looked tired of carrying her” through the competition.
It was especially odd to see them go all “off with her head” on Jessica, after giving Kherrington Payne a complete pass for messing up her krump routine with Twitch Boss.
What were Nigel and Mia thinking telling her they were going to “forget” her lame ending and just congratulate her for the part she danced well? I must have missed the part when the show became “So You Think You Can Dance Three-Quarters of a Routine."
Despite the favoritism, it was still Joshua Allen and Katee Shean who walked away with the best performance of the night, with the show’s first Bollywood routine. Whatever criticism the judges had for Joshua’s waltz was completely erased by how perfectly he and Katee nailed the second dance. This SYTYCD first is likely one for the record books, which will soon be half full of just Joshua and Katee routines.
The two have probably had the strongest partnership since the beginning, which makes next week even more volatile than ever, as all the couples switch. Can Gev get over the heartache of losing Courtney? Will Jessica crumble without Will? And how are we going to keep "Twitchington" in our vocabularies?
Nothing is clear here except for one thing: finding two new weak links in this bunch is not going to be easy.
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