S16.E09: Final Cut- The Top Ten Guys

[Drogo]

The Top Ten men will take the stage, each partnered with an All-Star girl, for a choreographed duet, outside their own style.

Airs 8/5/19.

[luvthepros]

Just to give a heads up about the two tappers going for a spot in the top 10.......

Aleksandr, whom we have not seen much of at all during this season's audition process, is actually the winner of the SYTYCD Ukraine in 2008. He is now 30 and is up against Eddie, the other tapper if Nigel wants a tapper in this season's Top 5 guys. From what I can see, Eddie doesn't look versatile enough for this competition. Aleksandr, OTOH, looks to be very versatile.

The links below are Aleksandr performing some of his solos and a Paso Doble. The first link is a ballroom solo in the Ukraine competition. He is a tapper so why he was performing a Ballroom solo is beyond me.

I could not find any Hip Hop videos for Aleksandr but I would imagine he is proficient enough to fake it really well.

The tap solos will demonstrate his style is very different from Eddie's style of tap. Aleksandr is very light on his feet and his taps are very pure. Aleksandr is also a rapid fire tapper. Needles to say, I like Aleksandr's tap style better than Eddie's.

Aleksandr Ballroom Solo

Aleksandr Top 10 Tap Solo

DFYL Solo

Paso Doble

Eddie, my boy, you have some stiff competition if Nigel is casting a tapper for this season. Nigel and Co, don't let us down. Cast the better tapper and all around versatile dancer!!! That would be Aleksander Ostinin.

Edited August 2, 2019 by luvthepros

[susannot]

I really like Benjamin and Brandon.

Always happy to see Jasmine again.

[susannot]

GINO!!!

Eddie--meh.

[luvthepros]

I’m disappointed in Aleksandr’s ballroom. The choreography did not showcase his capabilities in this style. We never did get to see his tap solo on this show. I know there is a reason for that!!!! 

Gino is in. He was a lock so no surprise there. He is my horse in this race. 

Edited August 6, 2019 by luvthepros

[luvthepros]

The top 5 guys was so easy to call. I predicted every one of them as I'm sure many of you did also. It was quite evident which guys the judges wanted in their Top 10.

I wanted Aleksandr to represent tappers for this season but I knew Eddie was making the Top 10. Aleksandr was toast after that Cha Cha.

Edited August 6, 2019 by luvthepros

[rlc]

Unfortunately, no surprises.

Red-headed step tapper- check 

Ballroom baby brother- check

B-boy with a back story- check

Sexy eye candy- check

Dancer who is far and away the most talented, but they will nitpick all season about what he needs to grow until he ultimately looses to the bald girl- check

[Samwise979]

Aleksandr gets a routine where he just stands there while his partner dances circles around him with lift after lift after lift and Eddie gets a routine that his choreographer says "is all about the rhythm and since he's a tapper, that's easy for him". That's not producer shenanigans at all. Nope. Not at all. 

I am so glad Bailey made it, he's my favorite. What's his back story? Nigel said he spent the first 7 years in the hospital. 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Yawn, you could see those results from a mile away.

Two dancers who we barely saw through the whole process....thanks for playing along Aleksandr & Nathan.

One ballroom dancer who was always going to lose out to the brother component of the brother/sister duo they just had to have in the Top 10....Cya, Vlad.

One dancer who initially auditioned with a way more interesting partner who also fell by the wayside at the Academy...peace out Brandon.

And one very stylish Animator who was always going to lose out to the Pocket sized Bboy would will cry and emote at the drop of a hat....Take care, Clocks.

Leaving us with a Top 5 that includes 2 contemporary judges' pets in Gino/Benjamin. Did anyone else wonder if that was clearly not Benjamin's first time around a Salsa? On a side note, Koine wasn't a Ballroom specialist in her season on the show, has she gravitated towards the Ballroom styles post-SYTYCD?

Ezra who I think has a chance to make a deep, deep run at this whole thing,

Bailey the lovable underdog who could possibly take this whole thing....he throws himself into every style with reckless abandon, I'll give him that.

And Eddy who is basically this season's talisman. And someone I couldn't take seriously with Comfort and I doubt I'll be able to take seriously in anything other than goofy/funny routines and characters.

[luvthepros]

4 hours ago, rlc said:

...........Dancer who is far and away the most talented, but they will nitpick all season about what he needs to grow until he ultimately looses to the bald girl- check

HELL NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Nigel and Co will have a mutiny on their hands if this happens. It will be as bad as Bobby Bones winning DWTS last season. Madison coming out on top will surely be the beginning of the end of SYTYCD........jumping the shark for sure.

Edited August 6, 2019 by luvthepros

[luvthepros]

4 hours ago, Samwise979 said:

Aleksandr gets a routine where he just stands there while his partner dances circles around him with lift after lift after lift and Eddie gets a routine that his choreographer says "is all about the rhythm and since he's a tapper, that's easy for him". That's not producer shenanigans at all. Nope. Not at all. 

So true. I'm so disappointed for Aleksandr. Do the producers think the fans of this show are unaware of how good this guy is? I guess TPTB don't read Primetimer!!! They think they pulled the wool over our eyes but they are so wrong.

[displayname]

They invited Koine back for a salsa? And they nabbed Lindsay, instead of having Jensen back on? Benjamin was nice enough in the Salsa, nothing amazing.

I loved Melanie's performance in her dance with Nathan, and Lauren in her dance with Bailey. Bailey was also good, but Nathan really needs to work on his face, and his movement quality was rather generic there, but it might just be because it's not his style.

Comfort blew Eddie out of the water, but he wasn't too bad individually. Same with Ezra.

Alexander wasn't awful in that Cha-Cha, but he wasn't good either, and the choreo was crap.

LOL Brandon was cheesy as crap with Lindsay. Worked at points, not overall.

I don't think Lauren and Gino's jazz was particularly great in terms of choreography (although definitely glad it wasn't a bunch of leg-stretching), and they were not all that amazing in it either. But I'm glad Gino can do sensual expressions, and he still did a very good job at several points.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

No surprises here. This may have been the most predictable top ten in the show's history.

Giving a b boy/hip hop dancer a contemporary routine seems like TPTB's way of trying to cut someone, so I was worried about Bailey's contemporary with Lauren until I remembered that the judges love him. I liked that he was assertive while partnering her, which was pretty impressive.

Ezra has been a lock for the top ten because the show wants that brother/sister story, so I wasn't really worried about his hip hop routine with Comfort. Just like when he danced with his sister, I was not watching him. In this case, it's really not a reflection on him because who would watch him when they could be watching Comfort do her thing? I had to rewind and force myself to watch him so I could properly form an opinion. There were some moments, particularly in the beginning, when he was able to match Comfort in the body positions, but as the routine went on, he was far less impressive. It is so embarrassing to watch Nigel trying to make stank faces while watching hip hop routines.

Vlad's contemporary with Melanie wasn't really a showcase for him but he did some solid partnering, which is not surprising since he's a ballroom dancer. He made all the partnering look effortless.

Aleksandr's cha cha with Lindsay was not great but it was fine and he was able to handle all the parner tricks. I'm glad that Lindsay and Sharna urged him to listen to Nigel's advce and shave his face. I bet Nigel was concerned that he looked too old to appeal to the teenage voters. There was no question that he was not going to be this season's tapper though because the judges have been all over Eddie from day one.

Benjamin's salsa with Koine was fun to watch. Great choreography by Oksana and I love seeing Koine.

Clocks' jazz routine with Jasmine was okay. It's clear from his lines and his feet that he doesn't have a jazz background. I totally agreed with Dom about that lackluster leap, but I loved that he was also able to freely admit how terrible his leaps were during his own season (and thank you, editors, for showing us the proof). I really loved Spencer's choreography though. I'd love to see someone else do this routine.

Brandon's with Lindsay was a mixed bag. My first issue was the choreography which was kind of choppy. It's obvious that ballroom is not his thing but he mostly did fine. I liked Sasha's suggestion that Brandon take on a different persona (Brando) for this routine. On a shallow note, is it just me or is Sasha beginning to resemble Chris Kattan's Mango character?

Nathan's contemporary with Melanie was better than I was expecting after I saw that rehearsal footage. He did a really great job so I thought he might have the chance to be the wild card of the guys if anyone of the judges' favorites totally screwed up.

Gino's jazz routine with Lauren was such a softball, which is not surprising since it's been obvious since his first audition that the judges want him in the top 10.

Eddie's hip hop with Comfort was also a gimme. The judges already knew from academy week that this was the one style outside of his specialty that he could do well. He was really terrible in the ballroom round so you know that he is going to be the one getting the funny jazz and hip hop routines and like one ballroom routine.

[tv echo]

No wonder SYTYCD's ratings have been steadily dropping this season - the producers/judges manipulations are just so blatant now (what styles they must dance, judges' overpraising, judges' criticisms).

This show is no longer about audience voters picking their favorite dancer. It's about Nigel picking his favorite dancer.

Edited August 6, 2019 by tv echo

[BoffoDaWonderSheep]

And what's up with saying they're advancing to the "studio rounds?" Will the shows no longer be live?

[realdancemom]

Agree with everyone.  The top five were so predictable.  But honestly, the five that didn't make it had problems with their routines too.  It wasn't like Nazz that killed it last week.  The closest would have been Nathan  But the show only showed him as making the top 10 boys so I knew he wasn't going to make it.

What I like about Bailey and Benjamin is that they really put their heart and soul into the routines.  Benjamin's salsa was a little messy but it still worked because of this.  It was also a difficult salsa anyway.  I like how Jaci put some of Bailey's BB Boy moves into the contemporary routine.  It make the routine interesting and I like Bailey and Lauren's chemistry in it.

Everyone is going to watch Comfort in hip-hop just like everyone watches Fik-shun.  Ezra did pretty good.  Eddie did better than I thought he would.  But he just looks like a nerdy kid doing hip-hop.

Sharna's choreography for Aleksandr was not good.  It had too many lifts and not enough cha cha.  It did not do Aleksandr any favors.  Lindsay and Sharna gave him good advice about listening to Nigel.  He still didn't make it but he did look younger.  The main lesson is if you want a chance at making the show, listen to Nigel's advice.

Mandy and Vlad have worked together because of DWTS.  He has a great frame for ballroom but it was a little stiff for this contemporary.  While he is a good partner, he didn't show enough emotion/chemistry towards Melanie.

Yup, I also saw Clock's leap and lack of technique while he was dancing.  What I also noticed is that Jasmine danced down to not make him look too bad.  When he did that leap, she didn't try to go a lot higher than his leap height or use her great flexibility with certain moves.

Brandon is too much a ballet dancer just like Vlad couldn't let go of his ballroom.  I like his center leap in the routine.

Gino was good but nothing that surprised me.  Jazz is too close to contemporary.  He should have done hip-hop or ballroom.  I'm sure he would have done well with those too but it would have been nicer to see a style that was more outside his genre.

[Keekski]

7 hours ago, luvthepros said:

HELL NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Nigel and Co will have a mutiny on their hands if this happens. It will be as bad as Bobby Bones winning DWTS last season. Madison coming out on top will surely be the beginning of the end of SYTYCD........jumping the shark for sure.

I totally see Madison winning the whole thing. I don't WANT her to win, at all. 

[luvthepros]

12 minutes ago, Keekski said:

I totally see Madison winning the whole thing. I don't WANT her to win, at all. 

I don't want Madison in the Top 10 at all. Madison winning? That is not in my vocabulary.

[realdancemom]

2 hours ago, BoffoDaWonderSheep said:

And what's up with saying they're advancing to the "studio rounds?" Will the shows no longer be live?

23 minutes ago, Keekski said:

I totally see Madison winning the whole thing. I don't WANT her to win, at all. 

I hope they're not going to copy World of Dance where the judges pick the winner.  Because then Madison could win or even Eddie.

[WhineandCheez]

Did anyone's else's DVR go nuts and try to record this at 4 PM yesterday? I was not able to record the show because of it (sad face) I would've much rather had watched the boys than the girls

[khyber]

8 hours ago, tv echo said:

No wonder SYTYCD's ratings have been steadily dropping this season - the producers/judges manipulations are just so blatant now (what styles they must dance, judges' overpraising, judges' criticisms).

This show is no longer about audience voters picking their favorite dancer. It's about Nigel picking his favorite dancer.

I think I am only watching because I've watched from the beginning. If this was the show at the beginning I would have stopped long ago.

[realdancemom]

1 hour ago, khyber said:

I think I am only watching because I've watched from the beginning. If this was the show at the beginning I would have stopped long ago.

Yes, it's like a habit and I just remember how much I loved this show.

[AllAboutMBTV]

It's painfully obvious that Gino is The Chosen One this season. Which is fine; he has the skills. That said, I never like the seasons in which the winner is a foregone conclusion. However, I keep watching because a) I've seen every season except the first one and the kids one, b) there will be about three numbers that I'll be happy to watch again and again and c) I love Cat and her rapport with the dancers.

So, the usual lineup of choreographers will be back this season? Anyone you'd love or hate to see? What's the over/under on Wade Robson coming back? Yeah, I thought not.

[displayname]

5 minutes ago, AllAboutMBTV said:

So, the usual lineup of choreographers will be back this season? Anyone you'd love or hate to see?

I am liking Talia Favia a lot, and Jaci Royal too. Love Luther Brown's hip hop. Would like Mia back.

14 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Nathan's contemporary with Melanie was better than I was expecting after I saw that rehearsal footage. He did a really great job so I thought he might have the chance to be the wild card of the guys if anyone of the judges' favorites totally screwed up.

I probably would place him over Eddie in the top 5, but I was impressed by neither.

On rewatch, for me, the best performance goes to Bailey.

Edited August 7, 2019 by displayname

[mamatude]

11 hours ago, BoffoDaWonderSheep said:

And what's up with saying they're advancing to the "studio rounds?" Will the shows no longer be live?

Per Kristyn Burtt, only the finale will be live. Everything else is taping on the Saturday before. https://twitter.com/KristynBurtt/status/1157068926573936640?fbclid=IwAR1FD7B5OYmecDxT8vnIQ-VRbbgxRDQwxAf3yrW7meP5pIxcUESKmofD17I

Edited August 7, 2019 by mamatude

[LexieLily]

Everything but the finale is pre-recorded? More chances for manipulation, was my first thought.

[calipiano81]

All the talk about Ezra coming out from "Stephanie's shadow " and how he's the younger brother proving himself...I actually have preferred Ezra since their audition together. From what I have seen of them this season, Ezra has a little bit more spark to me. He seems versatile and I was impressed watching the montage of him in the different Academy rounds. I enjoyed his hip hop with Comfort (I agree with Mary that he had great musicality) much more than Stephanie's contemporary last week.

[calipiano81]

16 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Gino's jazz routine with Lauren was such a softball, which is not surprising since it's been obvious since his first audition that the judges want him in the top 10.

Eddie's hip hop with Comfort was also a gimme. The judges already knew from academy week that this was the one style outside of his specialty that he could do well. He was really terrible in the ballroom round so you know that he is going to be the one getting the funny jazz and hip hop routines and like one ballroom routine.

I would have switched Gino and Eddie's routines...have Gino do hip hop and Eddie do jazz. Gino was the only one of the Top 20 to not be fully out of his/her style.

Edited August 7, 2019 by calipiano81

[After7Only]

Like others I’m watching out of habit at this point.   I’m more interested in the all stars than the contestants.   Seeing Comfort reminds me that they’ve had very few pure hip hop girls since her season eons ago ( and she hasn’t aged or slowed a bit).  

[bamlou]

2 hours ago, LexieLily said:

Everything but the finale is pre-recorded? More chances for manipulation, was my first thought.

Interesting that they’re going back to pre-recording the performance shows. Weren’t the shows pre-recorded for the first few seasons anyways? I thought they only started airing them live, beginning somewhere around season 6 or 7? I forget when exactly, but I’m pretty sure that the performance shows haven’t always aired live.

[mojoween]

It amused me when they mentioned Clocks’s “leaps” and how it really did look like he was jumping from inside wet concrete, but the ballet guy did leaps that looked like he weighed a feather and could have gone higher.  Not that Clocks should feel badly about that, because you can only do what you can do.  It was just a funny visual.

I have found Bailey to be rather pedestrian this entire time and couldn’t see what the judges were raving about, but last night I thought he really stood out.  He looked far better to me in contemporary than he ever did as a b-boy.

For having relatively short hair, Lindsay’s was sure in her face a lot.  Hard to get a connection with her when you can’t see her.

[Haleth]

Eddie was a lot better than I expected and it was a fun routine.  I still can't imagine him in anything serious or emotional though.  He'll look like a goofy kid no matter what he's performing.

From my untrained eyes I didn't see anyone that was as glaringly bad as Anna last week but that still got through.  Any combo of five guys would have been ok, but of course it was all predetermined.  

It's hard to get excited by any of the ten right now.  In past years there would always be one or two who had so much charisma I couldn't not watch.  That's what happens when the producers hand pick stories for a tv show rather than letting the dancers' talent speak for them.  The best we can hope for now is to be entertained for an hour even if we won't be wowed.

[peachmangosteen]

On 8/6/2019 at 12:56 AM, Sarah Heart said:

No matter who dances with Melanie, my eyes drift to her.

Me too, but only because I can not stand her lol.

12 hours ago, mamatude said:

Per Kristyn Burtt, only the finale will be live. Everything else is taping on the Saturday before.

Boo!

[displayname]

How do your eyes go to someone whom you can't stand? lol

[Rahul]

The judges flat out admitted Eddie was not one of the best dancers of the remaining guys, but made it through simply because of his storyline. This season is total hogwash!

[khyber]

3 hours ago, Haleth said:

but of course it was all predetermined.  

It's hard to get excited by any of the ten right now.  In past years there would always be one or two who had so much charisma I couldn't not watch.  That's what happens when the producers hand pick stories for a tv show rather than letting the dancers' talent speak for them.  The best we can hope for now is to be entertained for an hour even if we won't be wowed.

I always fast forward through the "up close and personal" crap. These past couple of years I've even fast forwarded through the judges "critique" since that is now scripted and predetermined. You can get thought the show very fast when you only watch rehearsal & performance footage.

[Duke Silver]

<shallow>I forgot how ridiculously beautiful Koine is</shallow>

That's all I have.  This show isn't good.

[calipiano81]

1 hour ago, Duke Silver said:

<shallow>I forgot how ridiculously beautiful Koine is</shallow>

That's all I have.  This show isn't good.

During Koine and Benjamin's salsa, I was very impressed with Koine. I thought she danced it like an official ballroom All-Star. 

Edited August 7, 2019 by calipiano81

[luvthepros]

5 hours ago, Rahul said:

The judges flat out admitted Eddie was not one of the best dancers of the remaining guys, but made it through simply because of his storyline. This season is total hogwash!

1 minute ago, luvthepros said:

What exactly is Eddies storyline???? I know he cries a lot. Is THAT his story line?

Edited August 7, 2019 by luvthepros

[Jsage]

Quote

The tap solos will demonstrate his style is very different from Eddie's style of tap. Aleksandr is very light on his feet and his taps are very pure. Aleksandr is also a rapid fire tapper. Needles to say, I like Aleksandr's tap style better than Eddie's.

Watching the video of Aleksandr's tap solo makes me so sad that he didn't make it through. He's so much more entertaining than Eddie. He has the facials and personality of a b-boy, but with amazing tap skills.

Quote

Interesting that they’re going back to pre-recording the performance shows. Weren’t the shows pre-recorded for the first few seasons anyways? I thought they only started airing them live, beginning somewhere around season 6 or 7? I forget when exactly, but I’m pretty sure that the performance shows haven’t always aired live.

I believe they've all been live except maybe Season 1. And there were quite a few seasons towards the beginning where there was a live performance show and then a live results show the next night. They did always pre-record a group dance that was shown at beginning of the show.

[luvthepros]

3 hours ago, Jsage said:

Watching the video of Aleksandr's tap solo makes me so sad that he didn't make it through. He's so much more entertaining than Eddie. He has the facials and personality of a b-boy, but with amazing tap skills.

I believe they've all been live except maybe Season 1. And there were quite a few seasons towards the beginning where there was a live performance show and then a live results show the next night. They did always pre-record a group dance that was shown at beginning of the show.

About Aleksandr......Aleksandr is so much better than Eddie from what I can see in all the videos from the Ukraine SYTYCD. His Latin is really convincing. Eddie is going to have to fake it and it's not going to be pretty. Only reason I can think of for Eddie being cast is the difference in the ages of both of these guys. Aleksandr is much older and I imagine TPTB are focusing on a younger audience.

[Cuatro1234]

8 hours ago, Jsage said:

I believe they've all been live except maybe Season 1. And there were quite a few seasons towards the beginning where there was a live performance show and then a live results show the next night. They did always pre-record a group dance that was shown at beginning of the show.

They used to have a pre-recorded show one night and then a live results show (with a pre-recorded group dance) the next night.  Back when this forum wA hosted on TWoP, there was a poster named AprilMarie that went to a lot of the tapings and would post “spoilers” about who was choreographing, which dancers were matched together, what the outfits/sets were like, which routines wowed the audience, etc.  It was so exciting to go on the forum and read the spoilers!!  Ahhh those were the days....

[chocolatine]

I'm already sick of Eddie, and neither of the Sosas is nearly as good or charismatic as the other ballroom dancers who were cut.

I know Melanie has been very successful post-show, but I just can't stand the way she dances. It's so "precious", I can't connect with her at all.

I did enjoy watching Comfort (who even made the stupid treadmill choreography look good) and Koine (is there anything that girl can't do?), and would have enjoyed LoFro as well if her tattoos hadn't been so distracting.

[Jsage]

7 hours ago, Cuatro1234 said:

They used to have a pre-recorded show one night and then a live results show (with a pre-recorded group dance) the next night.

Ah! That sounds familiar now, thank you. Those were the gold old days when FOX actually liked the show and gave it the airtime to be great. Now it's whittled down to something hardly watchable. So sad.

[Tikichick]

I was frustrated enough catching up on who they orchestrated into the top five girls and the top five guys.  Then I log in here to see what everyone had to say -- and am completely furious with not only the casting, but with the continued decision to soldier on with a weak imitation of the very much inferior WOD.  What is the point?  It's painfully obvious that the show is on absolute starvation diet in regard to budget.  Thanks Fox.  How many of the ridiculous format changes stem from network oversight as well?  No one with any power to course correct recognizes that EVERY SINGLE SPARK that made this show MAGICAL is being extinguished?!?!  I've hung in with the show through all the highs and all the lows since the second episode of the series.  At this point put it out of its misery because you're destroying something that once brought what rightfully bore the label world class art to the mainstream television audience.

How far it's all fallen really stood out starkly when I look at what's being force fed as the best this season has to offer and I don't see much likelihood any of them could begin to step into the shoes of  a Marko, a Koine, a Robert, a Comfort, a Fikshun, a Lauren, a Jasmine.   (At this point the best I can say of the season is thank you for the privilege to watch them dance again -- I love them all.) 

MO the best we can hope for is Gino being able to bring us what's seemingly not as much technical proficiency as Lex, with perhaps a tic more ability to emote, but that's uncertain.  Mariah will hopefully grow her raw emotive abilities while she boosts her technical proficiency to give us something to root for when it comes to the women.  Bailey is the highpoint for natural emotional spark able to instantly charm the audience,  but I worry he will not be able to absorb the necessary technique in the very short timeframe.  Although I do give him credit for incredible heart and what seems to be determined effort so far.  Maybe Benjamin? can do something with the ability to channel a Harry Styles-esque vibe, but I can't say for sure what his name is at this point, so having much of an impression of his dance potential with what they've offered isn't likely.     

Cannot believe they tossed away the potential of Nazz, Sumi and Brandon.  What struck me watching Brandon was how very much his physique gave me Danny Tidwell flashbacks and how watching the ballet dancer attempt to loosen up for ballroom took me back to Cheon's struggles to overcome that same hurdle.  I strongly suspect the producers were very unwise to overlook those raw ingredients that once brought the magic to their dance floor. 

[After7Only]

13 hours ago, Tikichick said:

Cannot believe they tossed away the potential of Nazz, Sumi and Brandon.  What struck me watching Brandon was how very much his physique gave me Danny Tidwell flashbacks and how watching the ballet dancer attempt to loosen up for ballroom took me back to Cheon's struggles to overcome that same hurdle.  I strongly suspect the producers were very unwise to overlook those raw ingredients that once brought the magic to their dance floor. 

I think You hit the nail on the head.  In the better seasons they picked dancers who were very strong in their style, but maybe just ok or sometimes less than ok in others. So you saw some really exceptional dancing in their style, but at the same time got a story arch of dancers improving their overall technique through other styles.   Now it seems they pick dancers already proficient in all styles.  But it’s very hard to be exceptional in your style while also becoming proficient in 3-4 others.   Therefore we get a top 10 of milk toast dancing with not as much room for growth.    

[Iseut]

I was pleasantly surprised to see Koine as a ballroom all-star. I actually didn't watch Benjamin that much because I was so focused on her (I missed the intro, so the whole time I kept thinking, "That really looks like Koine! Wait, was Koine ballroom? Wasn't she contemporary? Am I thinking of someone else?"). He was...fine. 

Quote

It is so embarrassing to watch Nigel trying to make stank faces while watching hip hop routines.

OMG, it IS! He just looks like someone farted in his general vicinity. 

Which, btw, the whole stank thing is overplayed in general, I think. It's kind of fun, but it keeps going more and more over the top. By the end of the series, one of the judges will be like, "That was STANK! I mean, I had to hold my breath, it was so foul. It was LITERALLY like getting sprayed by a skunk next to the port-a-potties at a taco festival held next to a sewage treatment plant! You go girl!"