So You Think You Can Dance's Winner Is Just Who You Might Expect

Endurance test that is season-seven finale ends with a new deserving champ

Two hours after it began, the endurance test that was the So You Think You Can Dance finale concluded with one dancer $250,000 richer and all of them seemingly in need of intravenous fluids.

Finalists Kent Boyd, Lauren Froderman and Robert Roldan danced eight routines between them, and the all-stars got quite the workout, too. Especially Twitch, what with all the hip-hop requests.

But the votes had already been counted—millions of 'em—in favor of one.

And it was little Lauren, the 18-year-old cheerleader from Phoenix, who triumphed over the golden boy of Wapakoneta in the end.

"There's a ton of things I'd like to say," the genre-bending blonde said excitedly, laughter and tears all coming at once, upon being crowned winner of SYTYCD's seventh season. "But I can't!"

"Just a giant thank you," agreed mama bear and host Cat Deeley.

Robert landed in third place, pretty much as expected barring a major upset of wonder twins Kent and Lauren.

"Thank you for everyone who picked up a telephone for me," the always gracious 20-year-old, already decked out in Bollywood splendor for his next routine, told the audience. "Thank you to every contrestant that I got to share this day with. This journey has been such an amazing thing for me, it's really blessed me, and thank you."

Also as expected:

• The judges had Robert and Allison recreate Travis Wall's "Fix You," the standout emotional routine of the season.

• Mia Michaels managed to knock AdéChiké one more time, singling out Comfort rather than the semifinalist in requesting an encore of the Tabitha-and-Napoleon hip-hop number "Fallin'."

• Mary Murphy squawked and squealed every time she opened her mouth, confirming for us that, yes, we did indeed miss her this season.

Less expected:

• Those encores are always a risky proposition, considering the inherent danger in trying to recreate perfection. Kent and Anya, for instance, had a rare—but seconds-long and therefore noticeable—flub in their cha-cha.

• Even when we heard about it earlier in the day, it was hard to get from A to B: that the "genuine superstar" performance Cat Deeley promised us was Ellen DeGeneres filling in for Alex Wong to get down with Twitch in that awesome NappyTabs psychotherapist-themed hip-hop routine. An olive branch for the outgoing American Idol judge from returning producer Nigel, perhaps to let her know he thinks she can dance, she just can't judge?

Cute, very cute.