America's Favorite Dancer Is...

Tonight's the night! I'm not going to do a full recap of the results show, so I can actually watch it--but I'll just say how fun it is to see all top 20 in the opening number.  (Nick, we hardly knew ye!) The judges' stand is crowded tonight, with Lil C, Tyce, Sonya, Mary, Nigel and guests Robin Antin and Jesse Tyler Ferguson! (He won fan favorite, apparently.) Cat is dressed in sparkly candy-apple red...and we're off!

The requested dances were:
Mary: Sasha & Kent's wall dance from Tyce
Nigel: Melanie & Marko's dance from NappyTabs, "I Got You"
Robin: Tadd & Lauren's Mandy Moore jazz dance to "Another One Bites the Dust"
Lil C: Robert & Miranda in a NappyTabs hip hop to "Break Ya Neck"
Cat: not exactly a personal pick, but she introduces Tyce's beautiful "The Circus Sets Up" (Top 8)
interim: Matt, winner of SYTYCD UK, dances with Jess and Nick, because Matt's a tapper (you mean it's possible for a tapper to win this show? Madness!)
Mary: Melanie & Neil in Mandy Moore's "Total Eclipse of the Heart"
Jesse: Marko & Allison in Sonya's "I Know It's Over"
Tyce: the Top 10 girls in Sonya's geisha routine (10s across the board!)



First results moment! First one gone is Tadd, which I don't think surprises anyone. He seems happy to have made it to the end, and not broken up at all. He saw it coming, surely.

More dances:
Lil C: Chris & Ashley's jailhouse routine from Spencer Liff
Nigel: Sasha & Twitch's Christopher Scott "Misty Blue" (the breakfast table routine)
Sonya: Chris Scott's Top 10 guys routine (The Matrix with the doors) - Someone has dyed his hair blond, but I can't figure out who it is. I'm stumped! Who the heck is it? Oh! It's Alex! I had forgotten all about him.
Jesse: Caitlynn & Pasha's Argentine Tango, choreographed by Miriam & Leonardo
Mary: Marko & Melanie in Travis Wall's contemporary "Turned to Stone" (the statues)

Next results segment: Sure enough, Marko goes out in third place, and it's a Melanie & Sasha face-off. He looks a little sadder than Tadd, but sweetly hugs both the girls and looks happy. M & S are clinging to each other and sobbing.

Last dance of the night! Aww, poor Iveta once again didn't get a chance to show what she can do. I hope she's off winning a championship or something. I guess by including the Top 10 guys & girls, everyone got to come to the party, at least.  Nigel's pick is the Sasha & Melanie Sonya piece that was sort of "Tron"-like. I didn't love this one as much as everyone else, but it's a nice showcase for the two of them without a lot of extra props or story. (And man, Sonya got a lot of love tonight, didn't she?)

The time has come. Melanie is grinning and teary, Sasha is fighting not to cry. By the time their recap videos are over, though, they're both in tears. Cat tells us that the second place dancer had "over 32% of the vote." But the winner got 47%--a landslide! And the winner is...

MELANIE.

Yay! Fireworks and confetti go off, and she says thank you as we flip to her...magazine cover? Ad? I think it's an ad.  Sasha was given flowers and kind of ushered offstage, and once again we face the problem that the 2nd place contestant gets no goodbye. Feels a little unceremonious, but I guess that's why they do them both before announcing the winner.

Anyway, Melanie was my favorite by a tiny margin, but I would have been happy to see either of these women win--they were terrific, and I hope they both land wonderful jobs after this 9-week demo reel.  And thanks for reading, everybody!  See you next show...whatever it is.