Live at So You Think You Can Dance: Judges Predict Who Will Be the Final Four

Backstage scoop from tonight's performance show

It's Thursday...boo! With only two weeks left before America's best dancer is crowned, it was another bummer goodbye to two dancers whose dreams were cut short by America's vote.

So who had to leave the spotlight, what was the mood between the contestants when the cameras weren't rolling, and who do the judges predict will be in the final four?

From our seat behind the judges table, it was an unusually heightened nail-biter of a night as host Cat Deeley let the anticipation grow, taking her time to reveal the results of America's vote. 

While the top four girls were brought out first, they were held onstage through a commercial break before being told which two were safe and which were in the bottom four. Even though this is the most dreaded night of the week on So You Think You Can Dance, it was hard to believe it was an elimination! Sasha Mallory, Melanie Moore, Jordan Casanova and Caitlynn Lawson were joking, hugging and smiling like best friends at a sleepover.

We weren't too surprised when Melanie and Sasha were sent to safety, leaving Jordan and Caitlynn up for elimination. However, the not-so-great news didn't change the mood among the girls as they continued to smile and be OK with how the night was playing out. 

It was the same story for the guys. Jess Leprotto, Tadd Gadduang, Ricky Jaime and Marko Germar gathered onstage to find out their fate all with smiles and well wishes to each other.  While Marko was (not surprisingly) sent to safety, Jess was sent to the bottom to join Jordan and Caitlynn.

While we all expected Ricky to round out the bottom four after Nigel's prediction from Wednesday's performance show, it was an audience shocker to hear it wasn't Ricky, but Tadd who was taking the final spot in the bottom four.

While they prepped to perform their solos, we were treated to amazing performance from elite dancer crew LXD. Their routine was so stunning that even Cat had to scoop her jaw up off the stage and exclaimed "That is not humanly possible!" It was truly awesome!

A fierce solo round of the bottom four dancing for their lives left the judges in trouble on trying to decide who to send home. Of course it was a long debate, and to fill the time, Lady Gaga's pretaped performance of "You and I" was run. Then it was time for the results. 

Caitlynn and Jordan stood together holding hands while Jess and Tadd waved to their fans and family. Then it was announced that Jordan and Jess would be going home.

When we caught up with the two after the show, they were far from upset and are excited about the rest of the season, tour and what's to come. 

"It's bittersweet to leave at this point in the competition," Jess said. "We've been attached to the show for quite some time so it's hard, but it's almost over though. Two weeks! It will be a blink of an eye. I think was an opportunity to show our talents. [As far as the future] I'm going back to New York, working, hopefully getting another show I'd love to be part of and branching out to other things. I'd love to do choreography and singing and acting. You never know what lies ahead of you, but whatever happens it's for a reason."

"After tour I would love to get into film and singing for a while and I haven't had the chance to because I'm a dancer," Jordan added. "It would be awesome to get into that and just be in this industry. I love it."

Talking with the judges after the show, they explained their decision to let Jess and Jordan go.

"Well, we all knew when we hit the top 10 it was going to be difficult," judge Mary Murphy said. "They are all really great dancers. Jess and Tadd both had great solos. So what are you going to do? One just slightly edged out the other one. Tadd came out with a totally different solo and kind of shocked us! Tadd really did fight for his life and showed us a different side. That made it a little bit easier."

"We went in with different ideas. We were unanimous in a very short period of time," Nigel Lythgoe added. "We all believe that the girls did a really bad job tonight. We went back to Caitlynn's tango. Mary reminded us how brilliant Caitlynn was in the tango and I think that brought us into focus a little bit more."

As the finale rapidly approaches, Nigel did share his idea of who he feels will be in the final four. 

"We do think that we'll probably end up with Marko and Sasha and Melanie and another in the finale," he said. "That's what all the voting has been all these weeks now. There is nothing, especially when they are getting better and better that leads me to believe that is going to change in any way. So who is going to be the other guy there?"

Mary says she thinks it could be a wild card like Ricky to nab that finale spot. 

"For me Ricky is a dark horse that is coming through under the radar," she said. "I think he's quite surprising, he gives unbelievable duets in this competition. I have serious respect for Ricky, and he has this cute boyish charm that I don't think we should underestimate him."

However, guest judge Rob Marshall feels Tadd still may have the edge to go all the way.

"My gut feeling is Tadd has more of an edge because he is different and he comes from a unique place," he said. "When you watch Marko and Ricky they both have this incredible ballet technique. That's where they come from. Tadd comes from a different place and i think that may be embraced because it's different."