So You Think You Can Dance 2, June 8: Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas

We ended Wednesday night with many questions! Mike Keith managed to get on Nigel’s nerves and knows his next mistake will be his last. Will he beat the pressure? Why is Benji on the floor of stage crying, as the promos have teased us? What the hell is wrong with Juliya? Did all Musa’s work to show he can do more than hip-hop pay off? Did Cat ever manage to talk Hawk off that ledge? Is that Lynn-Rae in the shadows with a hatchet?

Let’s see!

Cat Deeley says the judges, en masse, have reviewed their notes and have decided who this season’s Top 20 will be. (Of course, we all know that only Nigel makes the final decision. The others may share their thoughts, but their thoughts carry little weight at this stage of the game!)

With the decision made, only Nigel, Mary, and Shane are on hand to deliver the verdicts. Each of the remaining 41 dancers will be told individually.

Travis Wall (my horse!) says he has never been so nervous in his life. That’s saying something, since I’ve learned that Travis has Broadway experience and received raves for his dancing. He was quite young at the time.

Juliya Tamarkina, fresh from the hospital I suppose, says something incomprehensible. Maybe she’s sedated. Boyfriend Stanislov says they are hoping for the best.

Mike Keith says he can’t describe what his heart is doing right now. I’m already hearing squeals from young girls about him whose hearts are probably doing the same thing!

We see a montage of five dancers getting bad news. No one we’ve met yet.

Cat tells us that from the backstage area, each dancer is brought into a, er, sitting room, to… sit. It’s their last chance to gather their nerves before standing center stage before the judges to hear their fates.

First on that couch is pretty Dejanee Riley, who Cat says was a judges’ favorite in New York, and continued to impress Nigel in Las Vegas. But the other judges were just lukewarm. Could Nigel convince the other judges?

Dejanee takes the stage. She says she had a great experience, some up and downs, but she would come back again and again. Nigel says she was in his top ten, but Mary says it is the end of the road. Nigel asks her to come back next year. Dejanee comes back to the other dancers and quietly says, “I didn’t make it.” WHAT? They screech, almost in unison. She’s popular! They give her a round of applause and some loving hugs.

Next up, Perfect Score Allison Holker. She plainly says she doesn’t know what to think. Cat says her final solo impressed the judges. Nigel tells her that she wasn’t one of his favorites all the time. He wanted her to be better. The other judges note she is a professional and she needed to better than the others for that fact alone. After they are done scaring her pale, they tell her she is in the Top 20!

Henry Graham is next. Remember, Henry is a product of foster care. All of his brothers and sisters have medical problems. He even stopped dancing for a year to help make money for his sister’s medical treatments! Please, please, let him through! Mary tells him he got a lot of votes, and he has a lot of talent, but… He just missed making the Top 20. Aw, damn. They also ask him to come back next year. I hope he does. As Henry leaves, Shane is heard saying, “that was the hardest one for me!” The other dancers can’t believe he didn’t make it either.

Next, Erin Ellis is in the green room waiting to hear how her friend Joy did. Erin says she and Joy have been friends for, like, ever, and they admire and push each other. Joy hears from Nigel that he once told her she brings him “joy,” but he lost some of that in Vegas. Sometimes, she was just “reasonably good.” Mary agrees, especially with the ballroom. “So,” Nigel begins, “while you’re in the top ten (ladies), which you are, I hope you’ll bring me joy again.” Joy can’t believe her ears. I can’t believe they won’t tell me her last name.

Now, Erin. Mary tells her that she didn’t stand out in ballroom. Nigel says there were times that she was forgettable. Despite that, she is in the Top 20! Erin and Joy reunite and squeal like you can probably imagine.

We meet buddies Ben and Heather Morris. They’ve been dancing together for years. Predictably, Ben says they will be happy for the other if one of them makes it. Ben is the guy Nigel singled out for complaining about being sick. So imagine the nerve he has to say he’s still sick when Shane asks how he is? Ugh. Mary says he looks wimpy when he dances. She was a no vote. Nigel concurs. He said no. Shane think Ben should “thank the universe” because he is in the Top 20! “You need to shut your mouth!” is Ben’s astonished reply.