Line #74 YMMV/SoYouThinkYouCanDance


1	%% No First Person Writing on YMMV pages, please.
2	%% Removing Shipping for now. Kindly rewrite Shipping without the first person writing and the natter.
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4	* CreatorsPet: A crap ton of people still can't figure out why Tony Bellissimo ever made it into the Top 20.
5	** Some fans feel Nigel shows favoritism to attractive young blondes, and those contestants, such as season 4's Kherington, season 6's Mollee, or season 11's Jessica can attract haters as a result. That doesn't stop Nigel from lauding them. Season 3's Lauren also fits into this territory, as many fans hate her for either her stupid comments, her costing the fans their favorite girl (Jessi, Jaimie, Sara...) or for her [[http://community.livejournal.com/_sytycd_/446778.html reported bitchiness to Lacey]]
6	** Melanie and Eliana, the winners of Seasons 8 and 9, were definitely this. Their winning was obvious from day one and made the season considerably less enjoyable to watch.
7	** Cedric in Season 3 was definitely this. He was in the bottom the first two weeks of the Top 20 and was kept over more capable dancers, and he stayed out of the bottom in week three because of a routine specifically tailored to make him look good, before finally being voted off in week four. Perhaps most frustrating to viewers was that he had been eliminated on one of the few routines he actually pulled off, but the bottom three status of this routine resulted in putting Shauna in jeopardy, and despite her strength as a dancer she was eliminated over two female dancers (Jamie and Anya) who seemed to be spared more because the producers valued their partnerships more than their solo efforts.
8	** Nigel commented that he's had several battles on Twitter defending all the times the judges saved Season 10's Jenna and Makenzie from elimination.
9	** Many accuse Season 11's Casey and Jessica of this. They consistently performed mediocrely and were still praised by the judges. For example, when Nigel found out they were in the bottom, he gave them a contemporary ''Travis Wall'' routine, and they were okay, but the judges treated it like the best thing ever. To elaborate, ''Casey and Jessica are contemporary dancers''. What makes it worse is that Serge and Carly were also in the bottom, and they got the ''quickstep'', which is way out of Serge or Carly's comfort zone, yet [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome they mastered it]]. However, Serge and Carly [[ShockingElimination were eliminated]] and Casey and Jessica were kept. After the top ten cut, Jessica only got contemporary routines while Bridget and Tanisha, two of the most popular female dancers, were somehow voted off. You gotta wonder if ExecutiveMeddling is helping her.
10	** Season 11 rapidly turned into a contest to see who would be runner-up to Ricky.
11	** Beau from season 17 is an obvious example. He seems to be Jojo's favorite, despite messing up during performances several times, and not being able to do some lifts.
12	* EarlyInstalmentWeirdness: The first season has a completely different vibe than what the show would become known for, for several reasons:
13	** Most obviously, Lauren Sanchez had the hosting duties, and played a slightly less active role than Cat Deely, serving mostly as an announcer whereas Deely formed a rapport with the dancers and judges.
14	** No solo dancers were given a ticket straight through to Vegas (or, in the case of Season 1, Hollywood); instead, auditioners were put through to duet AND solo choreography.
15	** The technical standard for dancers was distinctly lower; female dancers who could barely squeak out a double pirouette and simply tossed their hair around were cast due to their charisma. Similarly, with no hip-hop experts on the panel, strong breakers and poppers were ignored for their specialized abilities, while some people who were merely good "movers" with no technical hip-hop skill were put through, and then judges wondered why they struggled in the coming rounds.
16	*** Just how low was the technical standard? One dancer, Andrea Savalli, was put through to Hollywood and performed fine in the semifinals, but didn't make the finals. The next season, she came back and performed a much more technically refined routine, and was rejected unanimously by the panel for not being strong enough.
17	** Hollywood week focused quite a bit more on drama between the dancers, including feuds between roommates and debates about dancers' professional experience, whereas future seasons kept things mostly focused on the dance.
18	** The overall tone of the show was quite a bit more catty and intense, whereas over the next few years it would distinctly soften and become focused on how unifying and wonderful dance was.
19	* EliminationHoudini: Comfort Fedoke from season 4 is often considered this because she stayed on for several weeks even though she struggled with every routine that wasn't hip hop and landed in the bottom three several times.
20	** To elaborate: After auditions and all, Season 4 was 9 weeks long. Comfort was in the competition for 7 of those 9 weeks. Of the 7 weeks she was in the competition, Comfort was in the bottom 3 or 4 or eliminated in 6 of them. She holds SYTYCD's record for most appearances in the bottom, beating out season 3's Lauren, who was her season's Houdini.
21	** This can apply to anyone who gets paired up with a much-more-popular partner. Kherington, also from season 4, wasn't terribly well-liked, but she was paired with the wildly popular Twitch. As a pair those two were only once in the bottom three, but once it became an individual competition she was immediately voted off, even before Comfort, who had been voted off the previous week but had come back due to Jessica getting injured.
22	** Season 10's Jenna and Makenzie. Consistently in the bottom three votes, consistently saved by the judges. At top 10, both of them landed in the bottom two and Nigel had to make a hard decision. [[spoiler:He chose Jenna.]]
23	** Epic example: Season 10 finalist Aaron was actually cut during the audition process. He only made Top 20 because another contestant was injured prior to the premiere. He made it all the way to the finale without ever being in the bottom three.
24	** Casey from season 11. The week before the top 10 were chosen he had an extremely weak performance, and everybody figured that he would be out and the choice for the last guy in top 10 would be between Serge and Teddy. Instead, Casey got through (thanks to the judges) and manages to keep getting enough votes to beat out Emilio and Rudy before being eliminated just before the finals.
25	*** Also Jessica from the same season, see CreatorsPet above. In fact, the reason she ended up as Casey's partner was because ''3'' of her partners were eliminated.
26	** Asaf from Season 12. Mouthed off to the judges during auditions, only made Top 20 because of the season-ending injury of another dancer, complains about the choreography, has been in the bottom 3 every week since voting began, and has been saved by the judges every week.
27	** Beau from season 17. He made it past choreography by the skin of his teeth, and somehow made it to the top six, despite messing up some lifts with Raylen. It was shown he was getting easier choreography, so it would be harder for him to mess it up.
28	** Essence could be seen as this as well. During her duet with Keaton, she missed some lifts, and was in the bottom four at least two times.
29	* EnsembleDarkHorse: It's all but inevitable that viewers will disagree about the dancers, the choreography, the choreogra''phers'', the execution, the musical selections, the judges, and even the stage. One thing many fans agree on, though, is Cat Deeley. She is a ray of sunshine no matter what's going on.
30	** They're trying so very, very hard to make Beau from season 17 one. How well that sits with the audience is debatable....
31	* FanNickname:
32	** Alex "Freaking" Wong. Though it was Kent who first said it, the fans took it and ran with it.
33	** "Tasty Oreo."
34	* FriendlyFandoms: With ''Series/DancingWithTheStars''. Both shows were dance-focused and came up around the same time, and it's not uncommon to see ballroom finalists who do well here to become troupe members and pros on the other show.
35	* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: In Season 5, Jeanine and Philip did a dance that involved the two of them being constantly connected by a chain. After they performed, Cat brought up some of the problems they'd had, such as the chain breaking. Jeanine said that they spent four hours trying to work out everything that could go wrong, and then mentioned that 'there are chains all over our apartment." To which Cat responded, "I thought that was only in certain clubs on the weekend!" Hilarity Ensued, including Nigel holding his hands up and repeating "TooMuchInformation!"
36	** Season 7, after contestant Lauren and All-Star Dominic (known for his crush on hostess Cat Deely) performed a hip-hop piece about abusive relationships, the judges remarked how Lauren had gone to a deeper place emotionally for the routine. Cue Cat turning to Dominic and coyly asking, "Want to head to a deeper place?"
37	** Creator/EllenDegeneres filling in for Alex for his hip-hop piece with Twitch. Doubles as a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome as well.
38	** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czcpQyI-MH8&t=4m46s antics]] of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czcpQyI-MH8&t=6m2s the judges]] after Mellanie and Marko's season 8 kiss.
39	** The DramaticThunder after Cat announces that Eliana and Ryan will be dancing [[ScrappyMechanic Quickstep]].
40	** After Chehon and Tiffany's rumba, Nigel notes that they were finally able to afford a shirt for Chehon, though, not the buttons. Mary chimed in saying it made sense, as the routine had been choreographed by Dimitry Chaplin, who frequently likes to dance sans shirt. The camera panned to Dimitry and Travis (sitting next to Dimitry) doubled over in laughter.
41	** Nigel and Mary's dance in the Season 10 finale.
42	** Katee and Twitch's contemporary dance, wherein Katee was a crazy, psycho, co-dependent girlfriend while Twitch was her calm, accepting boyfriend who simply refused to get angry no matter what she did. Their main prop was a door, and in the dance Twitch had to repeatedly throw her out, walk her out, and there's this priceless moment when he opens the door and she's clinging onto the top of it… and then he slams it.
43	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Lauren Gottlieb wasn't exactly the most well-liked dancer in her season, and many felt she outstayed her welcome, but she's one of the most successful SYTYCD alumni, and has been working in India since 2012.
44	* HarsherInHindsight: During Season 9, Cyrus was wearing a shirt that said "I love you, but I've chosen {{Dubstep}}". That seems pretty innocuous, given that dubstep is his preferred music when dancing to his preferred style. And he'd worn similar t-shirts advocating the style. Fast-foward to Season 10's Jasmine, who indicated she was romantically involved with Cyrus, and he ended the relationship during Season 9...
45	* HoYay: Watch Kent & Neil's contemporary piece by Travis. Then try to convince the Youtube commenters that it was just about "friends." Good luck.
46	* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: In Season 7, host Cat Deeley gets one for coming to Adechike's, a trained contemporary dancer, aid after the judges bash his Bollywood routine for infusing it with too much of his own personality. This came about two weeks after Jose, an untrained b-boy, did a routine in the same style and was praised for infusing it with his personality to hide his lack of training. After said judge-smackdown, the audience, including the Bollywood choreographer, was on its feet cheering for both Adechike and Cat. Emmy Committee, give that woman a nomination!
47	** Good News (and another [=CoA=], to boot: After six years, and said judge-smackdown, Cat Deeley got her first Emmy nomination in 2011.
48	** Alex's first hip-hop dance ever in season 7 will make you weep the following week. Of course, any routine can be this, depending on the viewer's tastes.
49	* MonochromeCasting: The Top 20 ladies of Season 11 are all rather...vanilla.
50	* MoreDiverseSequel: Season 17.
51	* {{Narm}}: The bit in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7JMnlnj_-0 Neil and Lauren's "Night of the Dancing Flame" dance]] where Neil chases Lauren. Their running is far too over-the-top to take seriously.
52	* PortmanteauCoupleName: Many of the longer lasting pre-Top Ten couples. Also applies to choreographer couple Tabitha and Napoleon (officially known as "Nappy Tabs", but called "Taboleon" by fans). Occasionally acknowledged by the show, such as Season 2's "Benjelle" (Benji/Donyelle), which was parodied at the end of the season with "Tranji" (Travis/Benji).
53	** Danny and Lacey became "Dancey," complete with rhinestone wristbands.
54	** In the first Top 20 episode of Season 4, Twitch (aka Stephen Boss) officially dubbed himself and Kherington "Twitchington." Cat promptly started using it.
55	*** Also from season 4: "Katua" (Katee/Joshua), "Gevney" (Gev/Courtney), and "Marksie" (Mark/Chelsie). These three couples, with Twitchington, are all wildly popular, and seem to be the golden couples of the season.
56	** UK season 2: Katie Love and Lee B became "Team [=LoveLee=]". Thankfully, Cat's attempted portmanteau of Rithy (pronounced "rich-ee") and Shane as "Shane Richie" (the name of a well-known soap actor and light entertainment host in the UK) didn't last.
57	** Season 9 has "Cheney" for Chehon and Witney, as given by Chehon himself.
58	** And 'Wamelia' for Will and Amelia, as well as 'Casemierczak' for Audrey and Matthew (Audrey ''Case'' and Matthew Kaz''mierczak'').
59	** Season 10: Team Tuna (Jenna and Tucker), Team Pakman (Makenzie and Paul) and Team Jalan (Jasmine M and Alan), and Team Tall (Aaron and Jasmine H.)
60	** Season 11 had Team Brigilio (Bridget and Emilio)
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62	* QuestionableCasting: Having Leah Remini as a judge was rather... an unorthodox choice, especially when Nigel made it ''very'' clear he longed to be back on the judging panel.
63	** Another complaint is that the choices for the top 10 dancers for season 17 were nonconventional to say the least. See ShockingElimination.
64	* RetroactiveRecognition:
65	** Many of the younger stars managed to get guest spots on various Creator/DisneyChannel series and made-for-tv movies, particularly ''Series/ShakeItUp'' as that show was very dance-centric.
66	** Prominent semifinalists have been spotted in major commercial jobs, including multiple season semifinalist Claire Callaway, who has been a prominent dancer/performer for Taylor Swift's live shows.
67	** Several finalists have become longtime performers for Lin-Manuel Miranda's projects, including Neil Haskell who was a chorus part in ''Bring It On: The Musical'' and later King George in the tour of ''Hamilton''; Thayne Jasperson who was Samuel Seabury in the original run of ''Hamilton'' and Creator/ArianaDeBose, who was a dancer in the original run of ''Hamilton.''
68	*** While DeBose was the first eliminated in Season 6, she might be one of the most successful alumni from the show. Not only has she played prominent roles in popular musicals, but in 2022 she also won an Oscar for her supporting performance in ''West Side Story.''
69	* SeasonalRot: Most viewers will have some seasons they like less than others, often depending on whether their favorite dancer did well. Season 8 was a low point for a number of viewers; most liked Melanie but were annoyed at her seemingly effortless victory (with only Sasha providing her any competition), as well as the overabundance of contemporary, increasingly infrequent ballroom, and lack of some of the big-name choreographers like Wade Robson and Mia Michaels. All this is ''hugely'' subjective, though.
70	** Season 17 is shaping up to be this way. With Nigel leaving the judging panel and the revamp to try and win over the younger audiences have not sat well with longtime viewers. Especially with having Leah Remini judge, even though she admitted she ''knows nothing about dance''.
71	* ScrappyMechanic: Double eliminations (when 4 dancers are eliminated at a time rather than 2, usually done for scheduling purposes) are widely hated, since they lead to ''a lot'' of {{Shocking Elimination}}s.
72	* [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct She Really Can Dance]]: Comfort didn't exactly light up the stage in season 4 (see EliminationHoudini above), but her return as an all-star in season 7 (as the designated hip-hop female) allowed her to show off how good she was in her style as well as, perhaps, some improved partnering skills.
73	* ShockingElimination: Too many to list.
74	** Played straight in Season 2, when judges' favorite Allison was eliminated from the top 8.
75	*** In fact, every season there is a somewhat shocking elimination at top 8. In season 3 it was b-girl Sara, season 4 it was judges' favourite Will, season 5 it was current front runner Janette, and season 7 Alex Wong had to withdraw at top 8 due to an injury.
76	** Inverted in seasons seven and eight with a shocking lack of elimination.
77	** Jasmine Mason in season 10, who had two well liked routines and just one subpar routine after those two, was the second girl eliminated.
78	*** When Tanisha and Rudy were cut in Season 11, the studio audience could be heard gasping in shock.
79	** Many of the season 17 hopefuls could be seen as this, as several ''amazing'' dancers were cut during the choreography round.
80	* {{Squick}}: Some fans find actual kissing in a dance very inappropriate. The judges appear to love it, though.
81	* TearJerker: Season 5's "breast cancer dance" (at least, to those viewers who didn't find it blatantly emotionally manipulative)
82	** Same goes for Mia Micheal's “Addiction” performed by Kayla and Kupono.
83	** Travis Wall's piece dedicated to his mother. The song used is "Fix You" and Travis' mom has been suffering severe health issues, thus RealLifeWritesThePlot.
84	** "A New Day Has Come," featuring Twitchington; dedicated to / inspired by chorographer Jean-Marc's daughter.
85	** Season 2 of the [[TheRemake Canadian version]] of the show had a dance about mental illness that qualifies, especially for judge Rex Harrington.
86	** Alex's departure due to injury. He was dominating his season, and probably had the purest desire for learning and growth and exploration of anyone in the show's history. For him to leave like that... sniff...
87	** And Ashley's departure a week after that was equally sad. She'd just started proving herself as a serious contender and then she was just cut short. It's irritating how everyone remembers how sad Alex's departure was, but so few people acknowledge that Ashley's was equally sad. She didn't even get a mention in the finale, while Alex was all over it.
88	** The dance that Marko from Season 8 dedicated to his mom.
89	** [[http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=03aNu760MGo This Season 11 dance]] dedicated to a deceased friend of the choreographer.
90	* ThatOneLevel: The Quickstep has been the bane of contestants because of the sheer, well, quickness of the steps. Krump routines also tend to send dancers into the bottom as well.
91	** The quickstep tends to be an all or nothing dance- i.e., contestants will either nail it or fail it. Krump can be a disaster if not done well.
92	*** Even when they do a ''good'' quickstep it can kill them. Vitolio's and Karla's quickstep in season five was praised by the judges, but they were still gone the next night. The same thing happened to Serge in Season 11.
93	** Worse, tap. Season 6 had three tap dancers in the top 20. They were all eliminated consecutively, and apart from a solo and a performance on the 'Meet the Top 20' episode, we never saw any tap performances on the show.
94	*** Nigel has acknowledged that they will probably never have tap as a random draw, because if the dancers don't know how to do it already, it would be virtually impossible to pick up in less than a week.
95	*** This was finally averted in Season 15. The episode's gimmick was that each pair of dancers would do two routines, one in the native style of each dancer. Chelsea's was jazz; Evan's was... tap. Chelsea did the best she could, and judges Nigel, Mary, [=tWitch=] and Vanessa Hudgens were appreciative of the progress she made, though this did not stop them from eliminating both contestants at the end of the episode.
96	** The jive now seems to have replaced the quickstep as the 'kiss-of-death' style. Bollywood is also not very popular.
97	* TheWoobie:
98	** Cheryl Texiera, a semifinalist in the first season, was put through the first round of auditions despite very little technical training experience and was told right to her face that she wasn't a strong dancer, but that they were "casting a show," implying that she was cast for her beauty. The choreographers then acted like it was ''her'' fault that she was ill-prepared for Hollywood week, despite them knowing that she had only two years of hip-hop training. During her rejection for the finals, they gave her a condescending piece of advice to "go to Vegas and be a Britney Spears impersonator," to which Cheryl (who admittedly held a resemblance to Britney) took offence, as it seemed the judges really only cared about her looks.
99	** Aleksandra Wojda was an early one in Season 2. Her first week, she had an amazing performance. Her second week, she had a so-so performance that landed her in the bottom two. Nigel ripped apart her solo, calling it "juvenile" and "angst-ridden" despite it look like almost every other boilerplate contemporary solo on the show. He also chided her for being nervous and "inarticulate" during her interview, which felt like a KickTheDog moment, considering Aleks hadn't been rude or bratty, just nervous. The next week, Nigel criticized her dancing as lifeless, comparing her to ''The Corpse Bride.'' During the results show, even ''he'' acknowledged that he went too far with that remark and apologized, and praised her for having a better solo and not giving up... and then cut her anyway because she hadn't been strong in previous weeks.
100	** Season 5's Evan Kasprzak, although this was zig-zagged. He was usually praised for his technique but often dogged or on the receiving end of lighthearted jabs from the judges about his height, his droopy eyes, etc. This (possibly) resulted in major vote brigading, which carried Evan through to the top three without ever having an appearance the bottom. Although Evan was never ''bad,'' many fans were angry that he found himself in the top finishers of that season, particularly over highly skilled technical dancers such as Kayla Radomsky, Ade Obayami, Janette Manrara and Philip Chbeeb. Extra salt in the wound when Mary Murphy was praising the top four individually for their technique, but about Evan said that he was "one of the most popular" contestants in the show's history.
101	** Every season has a handful of contestants who are going through something awful, whether that is something like the death of a family member, a disability to overcome, dealing with one's sexual orientation, and as of most recent, season 16's Madison is suffering from alopecia and is completely bald. Most of the time their story is used to pull the audience's (and judges) heartstrings it works in their favor if the constant is likable enough.
102	* UnintentionallySympathetic: The show has changed a lot over the years, but one thing the judges have rarely, if ever, done is admit that some dancers simply do not get good choreography – or, more accurately, that some dancers get "winning" choreography. The show even states in the ending credits that the "drawing from a hat" scenes with the styles are staged, and that styles and partners are determined by production. So it's hard to believe that when producers give two dancers, say, a contemporary routine about breast cancer or addiction, or when two jazz dancers get strong choreography with an iconic prop ("the table dance" to "Sweet Dreams") and others get a hip-hop dance with no theme, unmemorable costumes and no flashy lifts or tricks, or a mature ballroom piece that the young audience does not understand, that there aren't some people being pushed by production. As a result, it's easy to see that there were some dancers who were simply not given a chance because their choreography was underwhelming, but the judges would ''never'' insinuate that the choreography isn't impressive.
103	* WTHCostumingDepartment - The 90's hip-hop routine from Season 3 with Danny Tidwell and Sara Von Gillern is an example the judges even commented on, but they've suffered from it on and off since season one.
104	** For clarification the costuming was actually perfect for the New Jack Swing that Danny and Sara performed. The judges and most of the audience probably didn't know why the costuming was used and there was no one on the panel to explain that gaudy outfits with loud colors was normal and appropriate for the song.

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