SYTYCD: The Finale

This year instead of doing a Final Four for the finale, the show decided to switch it up by giving us six dancers to vote for in the end. If you ask me it's yet another change the show has made this season that's unwarranted.


I mean was the show broken before? I didn't think so. Like for example, the bigger stage is nice and shiny, but there was something nice about the old stage especially when dancers used the second level that the new stage just doesn't have. And while I understand that this show is all about the dancers, I also enjoyed it because of the choreographers and yet this season the choreographers were sort of relegated to the background. The show oddly got rid of rehearsal footage and getting rid of the rotating third judge limited our exposure to the choreographers even more. And of course the show's most dynamic and popular judge/choreographer was missing. Yes, Mia Michaels. God, I miss her.

But enough about that. I'm sure they'll iron out the kinks for next season especially since they had to cobble this fall season rather quickly. All credit to the dancers though. Despite all the behind-the-scenes stuff out of their control, they all still delivered.

The Final Six ended up being the dynamic Russell Ferguson, the superbly talented Jakob Karr, the quirky Ellenore Scott, the passionate Kathryn McCormick, and the hot married pair Ryan and Ashleigh Di Llelo which meant that Legacy and Mollee went home last week. I did NOT expect both of those two to go home. I thought Legacy was too popular and Mollee seemed to blossom. My guess? Sympathy votes for Ryan and Ashleigh due to her injury last week.

In any case, the Final Six performed with one another and unlike other seasons, we didn't have same-sex performances. None of the performances really stood out as spectacular, but they all did a great job except for probably Ellenore/Ryan's abstract routine. The judges lavished each dancer with heaps of praise so you couldn't really say they were favoring one dancer over others. For my part I was rooting for Russell, Jakob, or Ellenore to win and was predicting the boys to be in the final two.

The finale was star-studded with performances from Leona Lewis, Adam Lambert, Mary J. Blige, and Jennifer Lopez. Of course, it was also chock full of dance, but at least some of it was of the recorded variety because Russell injured himself halfway through the show. Ryan and Ashleigh were eliminated first followed by the remaining girls leaving Russell and Jakob. In the end, Russell Ferguson was victorious becoming the first krumper to win. Congratulations!