After tonight’s results show, we will have a new America’s Favorite Dancer from So You Think You Can Dance. Weeks of dancing, dozens of judge opinions and who-knows-how-many votes have led to Tadd, Sasha, Melanie or Marko being chosen as the season 8 champion. Who will it be?
A special two hours of broadcasting is all the time that So You Think You Can Dance needs to let us know the results — and to bring back eliminated dancers, revisit favorite performances and enjoy the presence of multiple guests. At the end of all that, we’ll have our champion.
Picking the Winners
While there’s no way to know in advance who is going to win (other than by flipping a coin to choose either Melanie or Sasha), everyone has a guess. And, thanks to the BuddyTV Readers’ Poll, we have our guesses here. A full 68 percent of readers chose Melanie to win, followed by 26 percent who think Sasha will be the victor. Poor Marko doesn’t seem to have a chance (0 percent of the votes), and Tadd isn’t doing much better (6 percent think he’s going to win).
Granted, if you believe the comments and not the poll, Sasha has an edge over Melanie.
Will we be right? Wrong? No clue.
What We Can Expect
It’s not just about the winners tonight. Instead, all 16 previously-eliminated contestants will be back to perform on the SYTYCD stage one more time. This return will include some repeats: Melanie and Marko’s “statue” contemporary number, Ashley and Chris’ “jail” dance, Sasha and Twitch’s “breakfast” hip hop, the Top 10 Guys’ dance with all those doors and Sasha and Kent’s “wall” dance.
There will also be a whole pile of judges on hand to observe the championship proceedings. An incomplete (probably) list of those expected in attendance includes Jesse Tyler Ferguson (yay!), Sonya Tayeh, Lil C, Tyce Diorio and Robin Antin.
Sound good? Let’s find out who wins!
Oohhh… The stage is all dramatic. And filled (again) with dancers. I think they’re the Top 20 dancers, but their hair and makeup is so odd that it’s hard to tell. For example, I definitely don’t remember someone with a giant blond Afro (Ryan?).
Whoever they all are, it’s a cool dance. Very dramatic and stuff.
Cat is looking very shiny tonight.
Of course Sonya Tayeh choreographed that dance: “We love you Sonya, but, by God you’re weird.” (Thank you, Cat.)
The judges tonight are, in fact, Lil C, Robin Antin, Tyce Diorio, Sonya Tayeh, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Mary Murphy and Nigel Lythgoe. (That’s the same list I already gave, right?)
Those are some impressive shoulder pads on Tadd. Seriously, I’m giggling every time they show him.
Judges talk. Montages montage.
Time for a dance! Mary Murphy wants to see Sasha and Kent. And that wall. It is so.
Cat Deeley has a strange idea of what constitutes X-rated. Apparently, Nigel and Mary’s banter counts.
Nigel picks Melanie and Marko’s hip-hop routine (the one with the kiss). Considering the number of people at the judges’ table tonight, this could be dangerous.
Robin Antin effuses a lot before she names Tadd and Lauren’s “Another One Bites the Dust” dance.
After a making-fun-of-weird-choreographers montage, Lil C picks Robert and Miranda’s woodpecker dance.
Cat gleefully gets to pick a routine next. She goes with the circus group dance from the Top 8 show.
Jess and Nick get a tap routine along with the UK So You Think You Can Dance champion, Matt Flint. Apparently tap dancers last past the first elimination in the UK.
Mary gets to pick another dance. She goes with Melanie and Neil’s dance. The one with the crazy leap across the stage. Yay!
A bit of an aside right now: What is Sonya Tayeh wearing tonight?
Jesse Tyler Ferguson chooses Marko and Allison’s crying-dedicated-to-Mom dance.
Tyce Diorio picks that odd geisha dance from early in the season.
My goodness, is there a chance of some RESULTS finally? Yes!
Tadd Gadduang is the 4th place dancer!
So little! So cute!
Lil C picks again and goes with Chris and Ashley’s jail routine.
In a random bit of cross-show promotion, three Glee stars showed up to give the Top 4 tickets to the Glee movie.
It’s time for another Nigel-chosen routine. This time he picks Sasha and Twitch’s breakfasty hip hop. Alas, Ellen DeGeneres did not have to fill in for Twitch.
Because it’s all about Christopher Scott in this section of the show, Sonya Tayeh picks the Top 10 Guy door dance. Is that Alexander with the newly-platinum hair?
Jesse gets to pick another dance now. Caitlynn and Pasha get to display their portabello mushrooms and also Argentine tango.
Mary gets another pick now — Melanie and Marko’s statue dance. No freaky white makeup this time. That is still an incredible dance.
Is Cat seriously going to make Melanie and Marko hear the next RESULTS while wearing what look like diapers? That’s just kind of mean.
Marko Germar is the 3rd place dancer!
With a rant against those who don’t think the SYTYCD dancers are any good, Nigel picks the last performance of the night — Sasha and Melanie’s Sonya Tayeh-choreographed jazz dance.
OK, time for the final RESULTS of the season! After a bunch of people talk and a bunch of montages run, of course.
Sasha Mallory is the 2nd place dancer!
Which means…
Melanie Moore wins So You Think You Can Dance to be America’s Favorite Dancer!
Lots of giggling and stage-rushing follows as this season’s standout dancer gets the prize she was totally aiming at all along. But seriously, talk about an evenly-matched final pair!
See Melanie and the rest of the top 10 live this fall on the SYTYCD Tour! BuddyTV is giving away free tickets.
Want more So You Think You Can Dance scoop? Check out our SYTYCD Insider page on Facebook.
Should Melanie have won? Did you expect it would be someone else? Who was your favorite dancer? Leave a comment below!
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
Laurel grew up in Mamaroneck, NY, Grosse Pointe, MI and Bellevue WA. She then went on to live in places like Boston, Tucson, Houston, Wales, Tanzania, Prince Edward Island and New York City before heading back to Seattle. Ever since early childhood, when she became addicted to The Muppet Show, Laurel has watched far too much TV. Current favorites include Chuck, Modern Family, Supernatural, Mad Men and Community. Laurel received a BA in Astrophysics (yes, that is possible) from Colgate University and a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies and History of Science from Columbia University before she realized that television is much better than studying.
