Blood, guts, and glory are words usually saved for the end of a boxing match and yet, no better words could be used to describe last night’s So You Think You Can Dance Canada‘s season finale which saw Tottenham’s Jordan Clark prevail over Melissa Mitro.
After the initial surprise had worn off about Jordan Clark being announced as the winner of So You Think You Can Dance Canada fourth season, there was a real lesson to be learned. Namely, that there is a reason that the winner of So You Think You Can Dance Canada is awarded the title of ‘Canada’s Favourite Dancer’ instead of ‘Judges’ Favourite Dancer.’
All season, mainstay judges Jean-Marc Genereaux and Tre Armstrong along with the various other experts who joined them behind the table offered Richmond Hill’s Melissa Mitro standing ovation after standing ovation to the point where, while as deserved as they were, also ultimately served as a false sense of security not only for the talented dancer (and eventual runner-up) but perhaps for the voting public as well. Truth be told, the final three girls were all deserving of the title but really the day-after story is just as much about Melissa losing as it is about Jordan’s victory.
The duo along with Lindsay Leuschner were dominant throughout the competition, leaving little doubt that they would be the last three standing. That mistaken assumption is what led to the evening’s second biggest shocker which was Matt Marr making it into the top 3 ahead of the blonde from Richmond Hill.
Really, the show itself was spectacular and crammed 23 performances into the two hours. While the majority of them were pre-taped, this still allowed for the show to fly by without the set-up delays that happened in previous tapings of the show.
The majority of the final episode involved the judges asking to see their favourite routines of the season again (aka drawing out the declaration of the winner). These included:
– Jean-Marc requested to see Shane and Lindsay’s disco again
– They performed it live (in addition to the taped one being played), but did not use the closet again
– Luther Brown asked to see Boneless and Carlena’s hip hop routine (which in my opinion was easily one of the top five routines of the entire season)
– Rex called for Joey and Jordan’s contemporary (which got Mia Michaels’ seal of approval when she stood up)
– Sergio Trujillo wanted to see Sabrina Matthews’ hybrid ballet/contemporary number from Matt and Shelaina
– Mary asked for Christian and Melissa’s saucy samba
– Mia requested Joey and Jordan’s “movie” routine which was pre-taped
– Melissa and Adam’s contemporary routine was next and it was here that a brief misstep caused Adam to bleed
– Bollywood group number
– Blake asked for Christian and Jordan to perform their contemporary routine from last week again (where they missed the timing on one of their lifts) but they nailed it this time and
– Tre asked to see Sho-Tyme’s hip hop routine from Matt and Lindsay (one of my favorite numbers… see my interview with Lindsay and Matt where I ask them to recreate it) and it was spectacular again
It was at this point that I realized that it really wasn’t about the judges’ favorites during this portion of the show since the top 6 were just recycling their numbers from last week so that they wouldn’t have to learn a new one (not that I blame them considering how many they had to perform on this show)
– Mary wanted to see Shane and Melissa’s salsa again and it received another standing ovation
– Mary commanded to see Luther’s spectacular robot hip hop routine from Shane and Melissa
– Luther requested seeing Blake’s contemporary number from Adam and Lindsay
– Finally, host Leah Miller got in on the act and asked for the Top 22 to perform the hip hop number (pre-taped)
– They showed the Top 3 girls’ contemporary piece from last week that Mia Michaels choreographed (pre-taped)
– Jean Marc called for Denitsa and Francois to do their mambo for a second time (the first one suffered from a slight wardrobe malfunction
– It was at this pont that I thought that the show did a really great thing by inviting Stacey Tookey to choreograph a tribute piece to 9/11 to commemorate the day and to show the ‘resiliency of the human spirit’ as Tookey explained in the opening video
– The dance was impassioned and while it was also pre-taped, you couldn’t deny what a great idea it was to include in the final show of the season
– A satellite message from Season 1 winner, Nico Archambault was played before he introduced a surprise performance from former So You Think You Can Dance Canada winners, Tara-Jean Popowich and Denys Drozdyuk
– Next up was a piece choreographed by Sean Cheesman that focused on the Top 6 saying goodbye to each other as it was the final time that they would share the stage together
– Then it was time for video tributes to each remaining contestant that were preceded by a dance
– Lindsay and Shane performed their painting routine (pre-taped)
– Melissa and Matt did their hip hop routine (which they performed again)
– Jordan and Christian did their wall routine (pre-taped)
It was at this point that I started formulating my theory about the winner. After the dances and tribute videos were completed, the top 6 came out to hear the final result. I was already shocked by the fact that they saved all of the eliminations until the end as I expected the show to at least follow some semblance of the U.S. version where eliminations would be made throughout the course of the show. I should have known that SYTYCDC would completely spin the format on its axis (which it already had with its almost-weekly partner switches and the fact that there were even six dancers in the finale) and leave all the eliminations to the end. In any event, when the dancers came out, Lindsay and Melissa were in dresses and Jordan was wearing the skimpy outfit she had on in her last wall routine with Christian. I thought that there was no way she would win because it would be awkward for her to be hoisted onto everyone’s shoulders in the outfit that she was in. In addition the order that the dancers were standing also led me to believe Jordan didn’t have a shot.
It was:
JORDAN, MATT, MELISSA, SHANE, LINDSAY & CHRISTIAN.
With Jordan in the first position, I thought it would allow her to exit the stage quicker and that it was going to be either Melissa or Lindsay.
Leah rushed through the eliminations announcing that Christian, Lindsay and Shane were not in the Top 2. Miller then eliminated Matt Marr leaving Jordan and Melissa as the final two. The people’s pick versus the judges’ prodigy. And just like in any good boxing match, only one would be left standing.
Jordan Clark.
Let’s call a spade, a spade. I was surprised. I believed that Jordan was the early favorite but that Melissa had basically been the frontrunner since the mid-way point of the live shows.
So there you have it. Another season in the books. I have to say that this was one of the best seasons of any reality show I have ever seen. For all of the differences in format, there was a notable similarity to the U.S. version of the show where you knew that it would come down to girls in both shows. South of the border it was Sasha and Melanie. Here it was Melissa and Jordan.
Last week, I wasn’t sure if I would be in the audience for the final episode but I was very glad I was because the moment of hearing whose life is going to change forever never really gets old, no matter how many times you see it. In addition, we can now add the So You Think You Can Dance Canada finale to my attempt to be the only human being alive to attend every major reality show finale in one calendar year. If you have been keeping track, I have now been to:
– American Idol finale
– Dancing With The Stars finale
– Survivor Redemption Island finale
– Celebrity Apprentice finale
– Real World Las Vegas finale
– So You Think You Can Dance U.S. finale
– So You Think You Can Dance Canada finale
and tomorrow I leave for the Big Brother finale.
I’d like to thank CTV and its staff for another great season and for helping me make reality television history.
Here are my post-finale interviews with:
Tara-Jean Popowich & Denys Drozdyuk
Leah Miller
Lindsay Leuschner
Melissa Mitro
Jordan Clark
