Good lord, why? At this point, the pre-elimination solo is strictly symbolic – it doesn’t change the outcome in any way.
(Plus, I don’t think it was the same – different song, wasn’t it?)
Every week these dancers need to learn
- One gender group number
- Partner dance #1
- Partner dance #2
- Thursday’s full group number
- Solo piece
That’s basically one new dance per day every day each in a completely different style. I’m willing to cut them some slack for not self producing dance #6 when it doesn’t do a thing for them as far as ability to stay on the show. And the key here is that it is self producing. Unlike #1-4, they get no choreographer to let help shape the dance. It would be all them, all on their own, all unique, in one day? Yeah, definitely cutting them slack.
I’ve no problem with them ‘recycling’ a solo piece, I just think it would be better to reuse the one from a couple of weeks ago instead of the one the audience saw just yesterday.
<shrug> Not a biggie, either way. I think it mostly struck me because Evan’s music was a vocal, and each time it cut off in midphrase. “That’s why the lady is a–” click off. Sort of niggled at me, like waiting for the second shoe to drop.
It appears that tonight we see last Thursday’s show for the first hour before going live with the final set of dances. This is great because we get to see last season’s top dances and dancers.
It made me remember that I liked last year’s contestants more than this year’s but I’m not sure why.
Wow, rough night for Evan. In every combination he suffered in comparison to his partner – and when he went solo, and was technically flawless in his own preferred style, he got slammed for recycling his audition routine.
I suspect, though – just based on the dialidol results posted here earlier – that he just might be the most popular dancer. So he can take solace in the fact that the judges may not like him but he could very well win, anyway.
I don’t get the love for Evan. I really can’t stand the little tilted head, simpering smile & shrug that he always does, as if he’s saying “I really have no idea why I’m here”. I’m with ya, dude. While I like his style of dance, his personality is very off-putting. He strikes me as being dumb as a box of hammers. However, I suspect I’ll like his brother even less next season.
I think it’s down to the girls, and considering how strong Jeanine has come on lately, she may edge out Kayla. I think they’re both fantastic, exciting to watch and extremely adaptable to any style that they’ve taken on, but Jeanine was getting so much love last night it might just translate to votes for her.
Mrs. AG & I speculated that this honesty about his performances last night and technical skill set in general will only rally the troops, so it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if he won (though, as the worst of the four, it would depress me a little). Still, I think it sucked that he had to play “Nasty” in leather jackets since everyone would hold that against him. If the showdown had been in sweater vests (for more of an ironic twist), he would’ve been fine. 
I have to agree that Kayla in the Country number showed a real energy and vibrancy and effortless attractiveness that I hadn’t seen before. I’ve always thought she was a bit of a wash personality-wise, but she really stood out in that number. The Broadway number sucked though (probably the most insufferable song from that musical), and her solo was nothing we hadn’t seen a zillion times before.
Brandon was solid and had a much better solo than Evan, but I have a hard time believing he got any new converts last night–everything we saw him do we’ve grown to expect from him, so he didn’t do anything that knocked my socks off. I’d be a little surprised if he won, but he’s very deserving of the title.
Jeanine is a genuine threat. She had the best night last night–outshining Evan, holding her own easily against Kayla, and delivering the goods in the night’s best number with Brandon. Her solo was also the best, too, and she’s a real cutie/hottie while also being a true underdog for the length of the season.
Of course, 3 of the last 4 winners have been dudes, so that suggests who the voters are (girls) and who they go far (boys next door). Advantage Evan, but we’ll see…
And because we didn’t start watching until 10 (and don’t really have a dog in the hunt this year, with Janette out), we didn’t call in this year.
It was cute the first 4 or 5 times…but he went to that well waaay too often. I like him a lot, but Nigel’s right – he never grew.
Evan may win, but I’ll say Jeanine should win. But I still miss Janette.
I think Evan grew tremendously, he just didn’t have the background to scale up to compete with the megachiseled power gymnastic skill sets that the rest of the field had. In a few short weeks, he went from his grounded “aw shucks” broadway shuffles to doing some pretty respectable lifts, flips, and tumbling.
I agree that the “nasty boys” number was unfairly biased against him also from a performance standpoint, and he was unfairly criticized. If Brandon had been forced to do a whimsical clown comedy routine, it would have been just as alternately unfair.
I think Brandon has demonstrated far more versatility than Evan, and would have done just fine. Remember his “Cat Burglars” routine with Jeanette? And BTW, a gold star to Brandon for his praise of her in his final interview last night – Not only were they never in the bottom three as a couple, but the strength of their performances led Mia to drop her grudge against him (which I think was essentially just an ego-driven overreaction to Mary Murphy’s excessive praise of Brandon in the first place).
But remember also that Evan thrives on unfair criticism and patronizing comments, inasmuch as they mobilize his fans. I strongly suspect that his fan base will win it for him tonight, even though I think any of the other three (or Jeanette) would be more worthy on the basis of talent and versatility.
If I had my way, the voting would go:
- Brandon
- Kayla
- Jeanine
- Evan
If the teenage girls who vote had their way it would be:
- Evan
- Brandon
- Jeanine
- Kayla
If Nigel had his way it would be
- Jeanine
- Jeanine’s left breast
- Jeanine’s right breast
- Kayla
Giggity.
She’s always been an attractive girl, but during the country number that was the first time I actually thought she was smoking hot/sexy.
Evan is the weakest dancer, but very popular so I wouldn’t be shocked if he won. I do want to know where they get the clothes for him. I’m still looking for an argyle hoodie.
I also liked what Adam was wearing last night.
I’m almost with you. In the “cat burglar” dance, I felt that Jeanette carried that one and made it shine, Brandon passably performed it but was without identity or personality. That dance is a perfect example of one where I think Evan would have done a superior job. For me, Brandon just suffers from technically-perfect blandness, he’s the Steve Vai of dance.
My voting for favorites has been:
Melissa (gone)
Ade (gone)
Jeannette (gone)
Jeanine
I thought what would have been ideal for the boys number would have been to have a competition between Brandon and Evan, in which Brandon did the “nasty boy” role and Evan did the “good guy” in a sweater vest, sort of a comic take on Cat’s comment about girls always going for the nasty boy.
I find myself hoping that Evan wins, just because you can tell how disappointed the judges, and particularly Nigel, would be. If you’re going to let the people choose, then you have to be prepared for the consequences.
OH NO! Well I didn’t get to watch the show last night because of my silly family. So I sit down to watch tonight and only got 44 minutes on my DVR. I HATE that! I got to see the group routine, Brandon’s solo, and two partner dances (the mixed gender ones). I am so bummed. Well, off to see if I can find the others online…
Janette & Jason both coming in 4th was perhaps unjust on both sides of the sex line. Given this pool, I figured I’d be voting for White Lightning, but I gave some votes for Jeanine too. Both girls were good, Brandon is good but his particular form of social awkwardness turns me off somehow, & Evan really isn’t that good.
My DVR messed it up, too! I came home when the show had already been on for an hour, and the dang thing just decided not to record. It’s the first time that’s happened to me. And I was pissed.
Anyway, I’m glad Evan didn’t win it. They don’t mention the cash prize very often during the season, so I almost forgot that the winner takes home $250,000. Evan in no way would have deserved that. Jeanine was definitely my favorite of the remaining contestants, and I’m glad she won.
I would have been equally as happy if either Jeanine or Brandon won. I remember feeling the same way with last year’s contest between Joshua and Katee.
Each of them (J and B) brought something different to the table and they’re both exceptional dancers.
The TV listing in yesterday’s newspaper showed the show broken into 2 1-hour segments, indicating that the first hour was (maybe?) a re-run. Your DVR might’ve been similarly confused. My Tivo was not fooled, fortunately.
Last year, didn’t they have a separate cash prize ($100K maybe) for Katee as the top girl? Or am i misremembering?