On Tuesday, FOX network's So You Think You Can Dance had it's first elimination of season six. Due to conflicts with baseball's World Series, the show is altering its format for the first few weeks, at least. In this truncated version of Performance Week, dancers will perform and be eliminated in the same show, with the panel of judges making the final cuts without any viewer input.
This week the judges, Nigel Lithgoe, Mary Murphy and Adam Shankman, narrowed the male dancers down to two before making their final decisions. The first dancer in the bottom was newcomer Brandon Dumlao. This was no surprise as he was a last minute replacement for top 20 dancer Billy Bell, who had to drop out of the competition due to illness. Brandon had less than two full days to learn the routine and rehearse, and, while he did a respectable job, it was clear that he hadn't quite caught up to the other nineteen contestants. The judge's second choice for bottom two was a complete surprise, Russell Ferguson, the krumper who has received nothing but praise throughout the auditions and call backs.
Both dancers performed solos and the judges were ready with their decision. After giving Russell a few enigmatic words about continuing to work on learning styles other than his own (something Russell has excelled at up to this point), Nigel quickly and unceremoniously informed Brandon that he will no longer be continuing in the competition. Nigel then followed this up with a promise to Brandon that he would talk to FOX executive's on the dancer's behalf, asking them to lift SYTYCD's "one shot" rule in this instance, allowing Brandon to return next season. Whether he would have to audition, get a free pass to the Vegas call backs or go straight through to the Top 20 was unclear.
That is what we saw.
I've watched enough reality television and read enough behind the scenes articles and interviews to know that reality is in the eye of the producer and not everything we see is as it seems. I have my suspicions about last night's elimination. This is pure speculation, as I have not heard anything personally to contradict what we saw on the show, but I wouldn't be surprised if something like the following actually occurred.
As the days draw close to the first performance show Billy Bell falls ill and is urged by medical personnel not to continue in the competition. Billy complies, leaving SYTYCD in a quandary as they have mere days till the competition starts and they are short one dancer. Furthermore, the rules state that if a dancer makes the Top 20 and performs, that dancer is no longer eligible to try out for the show. What dancer would accept a last minute invitation to the Top 20, knowing that with only two days to prepare there is a high probability he will be gone after the first week along with his opportunity to ever compete on the show at his full potential? I'm thinking not many.
Therefore, I can believe some kind of deal being made. Brandon could have been offered the chance to appear on the show, being told up front that he would be cut the first week. In return they guaranteed him another opportunity next season (I would expect nothing less than a free pass to Vegas). Nigel's "promise" after Brandon's elimination was simply a way to continue the story that FOX wants the audience to believe.
If something like this indeed happened, it makes Russell Ferguson's placement in the bottom two a bit more understandable. The judges knew who they were sending home. They had no intention of eliminating Russell. But, by putting Russell in the bottom two, how much more was the drama of the elimination built up? How much greater was the crowd reaction than if they had chosen, say, tapper Peter Sabasino who had a mediocre performance? Also, let's not forget that, by putting Russell in the bottom two, it gave the viewers another chance to see him do what he does best . . . krumping.
As I said before, I'm purely guessing as to what actually occurred off-camera. But, based on my argument above, the tone of Nigel's voice when he told Brandon he was being eliminated ("This is no surprise, we all knew you were leaving tonight"), and the fact that Brandon's solo was, in my opinion, the best of the four, I have to believe that there was more going on than we actually saw.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Hear more of Teviko's comments each week as he joins co-host Hopie on Dancin' at the Tribal Pitstop, a reality television podcast.
