Will.i.am..... NOT

I didn't get a chance to blog on this yesterday, but I watched the results show of So You Think You Can Dance yesterday and my only reaction was... what the HUH?! A couple of weeks ago my friend Danielle was over and we were talking about the show, and I said it will come down to Will and Katee, and Will is going to win. Danielle thought maybe it would be Will and Chelsie, but she agreed Will is going to take it.

Not any more. When Cat said he was in the bottom two, I gasped. When he was up against Twitch I thought how can this be happening?? One of these two guys is going home? It was supposed to come down to these two guys in the second-to-last show. And then... Will went home. Will is stunning to watch, he's technically proficient, and he brings a lot of emotion to every piece. My first response was to agree with what Nigel said, that if America thought someone else was in trouble, they would throw their votes behind that person. Then I wondered if it was that IV Real thing that was getting to people -- I read a flamy thread on the Fox site a couple of weeks ago where someone argued the sign was racist because only the African-American contestants could pull it off without looking like idiots. (You can imagine the responses to that suggestion.) Will made the sign constantly, and it was annoying some viewers of the show (notice when he got voted off, he tapped Comfort on the shoulder and made the sign at her, and she complied with it back). That said, Twitch uses it a LOT more.

But signage aside, is it all a conspiracy theory? Do they REALLY want Debbie Allan as a guest judge and this is their way of getting her back? (As Will's mentor, she said she couldn't judge on the show as long as he's on it.) Toni Basil was pretty rockin', but if she'd said the word "street" one more time I was going to throw her on one so she could get run over. Think back to a few weeks ago, when the judges voted off Comfort, even though the resounding yell from the audience was, "BUT WE WANT JESSICA OFF!!!" It's like they came to their senses, offered her a mentorship with one of the judges who had told her she needs to realize just how good she is (they were wrong... she knew how good she was not, and no one should sway her from that realization), and a few key solos on the tour, and it was enough to make her walk out all happy and giggly and say, "Yeah, um, I broke my arm in practice, and... no, I mean ribs. Ribs? Yeah, ribs... they're fractured... broken? Fractured, yeah, so I'm out, and um, yeah, Comfort is taking my spot!" It just seemed a little too creepy and odd to me, especially when Comfort made it through another week.

Or maybe what it comes down to is, I really know absolutely nothing about dance, and was completely lured in and hypnotized by the judge's comments week after week. Maybe Will is technically proficient, but lacks the pizzazz of a more fun performer like Mark. That guy doesn't have much technique, but between his jittery solos and that open-mouthed Muppet grin he gives to the camera every week, I love him. Or Joshua, who is adorable, and seriously strong (Chelsie is small, but she's 100% muscle, which would be heavy), and has danced some wicked routines. That one Mia Michaels routine that he and Katee performed where she did the fast run across the stage with him holding her is my personal favourite of the season so far. Twitch is beloved by fans because of his quirky personality and his genuine love of dancing. And come on, those goofy glasses.

Are the judges heaping praise on Will because he studied under the great Debbie Allan, and not because he's any better than the rest of them? I will admit the special attention he got was a little irritating -- every time the guy did a solo Cat would walk up and fake genuflect in front of him, something she did with NO ONE else. When he was in the bottom Wednesday night, Cat looked at the judges and said, "Wow, what do you make of this?!" but she didn't ask that with any of the others, like they were all givens. They loved the James Brown routine, I thought it was silly. Sure, it was something no one else had done, but if you watch it again (I've watched it several times with my daughter) he comes out, walks along the side of the stage trying to build up the audience (the guy has 20 seconds, and he wastes 10 of them walking along the side of the stage) then he does this frantic jiggle with his arms and feet, and the only impressive dance move he did was dropping down into the splits, something the godfather of soul did all the time, and James Brown was not a dancer. Cat genuflected, the judges fell all over themselves in glee, and I thought, "Huh?" But it was the only misstep I'd detected in Will the entire time.

Maybe it's because he was paired with Jessica for so long (she of the grace of a Clydesdale) that his inadequacies were hidden under her vast ones.

But despite all of that, I'm still really shocked. I will miss Will a lot, but maybe it's like Tiger Woods being out of commission in golf: now it makes the show a lot more interesting, because it's anybody's game. Maybe Katee could actually take this, which would make the judge's waffling at the top 20 thing even funnier and more ridiculous than it was ("Oh, if you can't answer a tough question on the spot while you're a bundle of nerves, then maybe we'll take your less talented friend"). Or maybe Chelsie, so Nigel can make more of his patented pervy comments about her tiny dresses or awesome legs. Maybe Twitch or Joshua. And despite the fact they're not as technically proficient as the others, I think Courtney is adorable and amazing to watch -- she's my daughter's personal favourite -- and Mark is awesome.

What did you think? Were you surprised by America's decision? And while I'm discussing it, what did you think of a British guy imploring America to vote for their next president? I actually agree wholeheartedly with absolutely everything he said (and despite what Americans might think, the rest of the world really is begging you to go out and vote because your president affects ALL of us), but it seemed a little funny for him to be making this plea on a reality show. Ah well... if the younger voters will listen to Nigel over some politician, then more power to him.