The most painful part of tonight's So You Think You Can Dance finale was not watching Adam Lambert turn in a creatively neutered performance of "Whattya Want From Me."
No, it was seeing krumper Russell Ferguson limp onto the stage for the first cut of the night with help from fellow top-sixer Ryan Di Lello.
"I messed my leg up," Russell told a startled Cat Deeley, who needed the immediate delivery of a new microphone after the sound had pooped out moments before.
The fan fave was unable to dance any further after perhaps busting his knee during the hip-hop number he stomped out with Legacy Perez and Kevin Hunte. So the audience had to make do with taped versions of the two other numbers he was supposed to reperform tonight, last night's hip-hop routine with Kathryn McCormick and "Frog Dance" with Noelle Marsh.
But at least his leg made it all the way to the finale before giving out. So the real question remained whether his night was only going to get worse?
Nope.
When all was said and danced, Russell Ferguson was crowned the winner of the sixth season of SYTYCD.
Upon hearing the news, the 20-year-old from Boston forgot all about his bum leg, leaped off his stool, let out a loud whoop! and ripped his shirt off.
"Whoa!" he screamed as Cat finally wrangled him back to the microphone.
"I just want to thank everybody so much," began a now-hoarse Russell, who beat out the beyond-gifted Jakob Karr for the top spot (and $250,000). "This means everything to me. I've been dreaming of this since, I don't know, since I was born. I came out and was, like, 'Aaah!' "
Before the emotional coronation of Russell, Wednesday's two-hour show clipped along at a swift pace, packing in as many extras as it could, including performances by Lambert, Leona Lewis (she hit up the Idol finale this year, too), Jennifer Lopez and Mary J. Blige.
After helping Russell onto the stage, Ryan was actually the first to be eliminated tonight, followed by his wife Ashleigh Di Lello (at least we got to see them jive, and it was awesome), Ellenore Scott and Kathryn.
Despite the rushed feeling provided by this abbreviated season—come on, a six-person finale, really?—we're going to start counting the days until season seven right now.
But just in case you need someone to root for until then, Fox rolls out the ninth season of American Idol on Jan. 12.
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So You Think You Can Dance isn't eligible for a Golden Globe, but everyone who made it into our 2010 Notable Nominees gallery is!