Adam Rose/FOXThe pressure is on! With two couples packing their bags and saying bye-bye to center stage on this Thursday's So You Think You Can Dance elimination show, the contestants pulled out all the stops and emotions on Wednesday night's performance show to win America's vote. There wasn't a shortage of serious talent and a possible bucket or two of sweat, but we were surprised to see blood and a hefty amount of tears in the mix!
So what happened at Thursday's performance show? Who got punched and what couple received the first hot tamale train of the season?
Yowza! The So You Think You Can Dance stage was on fire during Wednesday night's performance show, where styles from Bollywood to hip-hop was represented by the top 20, as all the kids danced for their lives to stay in the spotlight.
Kicking off the show was Ryan Ramirez and and Ricky Jaime's supersexy jazz routine to "Addicted to Love" that wowed the judges and prompted Mary Murphy to scream, "I'm addicted to the two of you!" Ripped tights and a near disastrous wardrobe malfunction for Ryan kept the audience on the edge of their seats, but it was Caitlynn Lawson and Mitchell Kelly's contemporary number that caught everyone, even Caitlynn, off guard.
After an amazing and emotionally charged dance, host, Cat Deeley, noticed something wasn't right with Caitlynn. After closer inspection, Caitlynn blurted out that Mitchell accidentally punched her in the nose, drawing blood and a few tears. Although it looked kinda painful, Caitlynn brushed it off like a pro. When we caught up with Mitchell after the show, he explained what happened.
"It wasn't a punch," he told us. "When she jabbed me to fight me, I grabbed her wrist and I made her punch herself with her own hand. We were so in character we didn't even care because we were very vulnerable. Doing that type of number, it wasn't fancy, but very emotional and that character shows you are a real dancer and an actor."
While Missy Morelli and Wadi Jones got ho-hum reviews for their cha-cha, which Mary said, "Missy you look like the professional and Wadi you look like the student." We did find out that guest judge Debbie Reynolds developed a little crush exclaiming, "I'll take Wadi home!"
Moving on to Nick Young and Iveta Lukosiute's flashy Bollywood routine, Nigel Lythgoe gave them due credit letting them know they, "Did a really good entertaining job." Iveta told us after the show she practiced 24/7 for Wednesday night's performance which ultimately knocked the socks off Debbie. "I'm an old school tap dancer and this would freak me out!" she said.
After landing in the bottom three last week, Miranda Maleski and Robert Taylor came back with a vengeance with a Nappytabs hip-hop routine that had the entire audience screaming! Yes, Miranda did fall during a failed flip, but who cares! She picked herself up, impressed the judges and finished their routine with flips off the stage, falling on cushions below.
Jess Leprotto and Clarice Ordaz's biggest fan, Nigel, wasn't feeling their contemporary ballad-esque number, but once the show cut to commercial, Nigel sang their praises to the audience and ordering all of us to stop booing him! "Boo me again and I'll stab you in the eye!" threatened the executive producer jokingly.
Being compared to Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly is any dancer's dream and it came true for Tadd Gaddaung who Viennese Waltz with Jordan Casanova floored the judges. Debbie didn't hesitate to put him in the company of the legendary dancers and Mary said he is the biggest surprise of the season.
Early season favorites, Melanie Moore and Marko Germar had a slightly less than perfect jazz routine, but even with the overwhelming amount of signs and support in the audience, they aren't assuming automatic safety from the bottom three.
"I don't think either on of us is thinking, 'Everyone is expecting me to do so good! I need to impress everybody,'" Melanie said. "Not everyone is going to like us and people are going to think other people are better and everybody has their favorite and that's fine. As long as we're making our choreographer happy and as long as we're having a good time, that's what it's about for us."
The most emotional part of the night was Sasha Mallory and Alexander Fost's Nappytabs topical piece about a soldier coming home from Iraq and reuniting with his love. It was a powerful performance that brought Debbie and Mary to tears, passing on their talk time to Nigel who said it, "Showed all the passion and emotions that come with these reunions."
The tears didn't stop there. When we chatted with Sasha and Alexander after the show, Sasha became a puddle of tears talking about it.
"It was definitely surreal to see the look in the judges' eyes, we touched them, we made them cry," Sasha said. "I'm so speechless it's amazing. It was a very, very emotional piece. This is happening right now, people are coming home, the feeling that your loved ones are coming home and they aren't going to die."
Closing out the show was Ashley Rich and Chris Koehl whose jailhouse Broadway routine, with a set of bars between them had Mary Murphy screaming at the top of her lungs, handing them the first seats on the Hot Tamale Train!
"211 degrees, that is hot ! 212 is boiling and when you have water boiling it can power a steam engine! You are on the hot tamale train!"
Four contestants go home tomorrow. Who do you think it should be? Were you touched by Sasha and Alexander's performance? Who are you voting for? Let us know in the comments!