‘So You Think You Can Dance’: Bye Bye Jose And Billy, Plus Allison Iraheta Performs

Erika Brooks Adickman | July 30, 2010 8:10 am

Well, the end is in sight. Last night the judges sent off Jose Ruiz and Billy Bell, which means we’re down to just four dancers. Before we shed another tear that this emotional roller coaster called Season 7 is coming to a close let’s look back on last night’s results show. Click below to relive Mia Michael’s amazing opening routine, see an Idol alum totally rock the SYTYCD stage, and we give our theory as to why Lauren Froderman was in the bottom three. All this, plus some Step Up 3D goodness below.

Watching this opening number by Mia Michaels—and by watching we mean the first time we watched because we hit the Tivo rewind button at least three times on this gem of a dance—we panicked, “There’s only Allison on stage! Does that mean Lauren is still too injured to dance?!” Thankfully, Lauren’s nebulous injury last night only kept her out of the opening number. We’re not sure whether it was the tutu or what, but All-Star Allison was absolutely on fire in this number. This demented Alice In Wonderland style dance reminded us a little of the choreography of “La Vie Bohem” from Rent with a splash of Tom Petty’s “Don’t Come Around Here No More”. We loved it and were reminded why Mia was nominated for an Emmy this year.

We didn’t need a crystal ball to predict that Kent would be safe over Jose, and AdeChike (The Shirtless Wonder) over Billy Bell. But when we learned that it would be Lauren and not Robert would be on the chopping block last night, we wished we’d had that crystal ball to figure out why. Here’s our shot in the dark:

For the fourth week in a row audiences have been trained that once a dancer is too injured to dance, they are automatically in the bottom three. While Lauren was well enough to dance on Wednesday night, we’re sure audiences figured that she’d be too injured Thursday night and it would be left up to the judges to decide. I’m sure those voting didn’t want to throw their votes away on someone who was going to be in the bottom three any way, and just as we saw last night the judges were not about to send home their best and only girl who has kicked some serious dancer butt week after week.

Before Jose, Billy and Lauren danced for their lives; we got a performance of “Don’t Waste The Pretty” by Idol album Allison Iraheta and joined by Orianthi.

Then came not only the trailer for the Adam Shankman produced Step Up 3D trailer, but some real life on stage dancin’ from the Step Up cast. How’s that for 3D? If we weren’t already certain that this would be Jose’s last week (as Nigel already hinted), the nail in the coffin would have been watching him perform his one minute solo following the Step Up kids. His performance was completely washed out after the excitement of seeing 20 Jose’s perform in his B Boy style (and dare we say better?).

Jose’s time had finally run out and we think even Billy Bell knew that there was no way Lauren Froderman was going home over him. We’re gonna pause for a minute and just say that Billy really went out on a high note this week. If there’s a way to exit this competition it can be seen with the way Billy danced this week. It’s sad to see him leave at his best—even his solo last night was magnetic—but that’s how we’ll always remember him: at his best. The judges may have told Billy his “androgynous style” did not connect with America but it has connected  with those in the industry, but we think the real downfall with Billy this season was that he could never out “cute” Kent.

As the show last night came to an end and we realized for the first time in three weeks the judges, not the fickle finger of fate, had offed two beloved dancers. Then it really hit us that this summer sensation we’ve called So You Think You Can Dance season 7 is really coming to an end. We wished the SYTYCD producers would have gone out on “That’s What Friends Are For”. That’s what we played as we shed a silent tear.  Just kidding! We went back and watched Mia Michael’s routine four more times!