For something that’s supposed to be completely random, the Dance Hat of Death sure seems to be playing favorites this season. And strangely, the hat’s favorites seem to match the fan favorites.
How else does one explain the following, in four weeks of competition? Phillip Chbeeb has drawn two hip hop routines and Evan & Randi have pulled only a single dance outside of their comfort zone, while Caitlin & Jason haven’t received a single dance in their genre, nor has Vitolio.
Seriously, when I looked at the supposed spoilers for this week’s couples, I was astounded by how blatantly the dance styles favored the couples who seem to be the most popular. A Sonya Tayeh contemporary routine for Kayla and Kupono, two contemporary dancers. A Pas De Deux/Ballet piece for Melissa, the naughty ballerina herself. “Something Latin” for the lone remaining salsa dancer. And as mentioned above, a Broadway routine for Broadway Boy Evan and hip hop routine for Chbeeb. Was there only one slip of paper in the hat when these couples chose their genre?! Or do fan favorites also happen to have much better luck of the draw than the rest of the group?
While I am looking forward to seeing my favorites dance in styles and genres where they are likely to excel rather than struggle, I can’t help but feel bad for Vitolio & Karla. Either this pair are the unluckiest dancers in the world — they are supposedly dancing a Quick Step — or the judges and producers of the show have decided they want them out of the competition ASAP. Even you all are commenting that this seems a bit fishy, BuddyTV commenter mpc245 said: “Way to kill the exciting new Karla/Vitolio pairing with a quickstep. It seems the producers have it in for them.”
While Karla and Vitolio might have the worst luck of all, Caitlin and Jason are in a close second. The well matched, technically stunning contemporary dancers haven’t pulled a genre anywhere near their speciality. And while we don’t know yet what Caitlin & Jason have pulled out of the not-so-random “random dance hat” this week, twitter user VoteforCaitlin is already wondering if there’s rigging at play. “Caitlin/Jason have not picked their genre yet? Conspiracy???”
Considering the fact that the Top 10 join the lucrative So You Think You Can Dance tour, there are financial incentives for fan favorites to make it to the Top 10, over technically proficient dancers the audience might not care as much about.
What do you think it is So You Think You Can Dance fans? Is there a larger, shadier profit-driven dance-spiracy at play to keep certain dancers in the competition as opposed to others? Or should I step away from the conspiracies and just be thankful we’ll be seeing dancers dance within their genre?
–Abbey Simmons, BuddyTV Staff Writer and Conspiracy Theorist
(Image Courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
