In its first fall season, So You Think You Can Dance overcame injuries, baseball, scheduling conflicts and the loss of one of its most revered choreographers, Mia Michaels. So, it was fitting that Wednesday’s season finale had to overcome some issues.
It ended triumphantly, however, with Russell Ferguson, the charismatic krumper from Boston, beating the odds — as well as his well trained competitors — and winning the title of America’s Favorite Dancer, $250,000 in prize money, a spot on the cover of Dance Spirit magazine and (along with Kathryn McCormick, the female dancer with the most votes) a part in the 2010 Oscars telecast.
“It feels crazy, a dream come true [and] everything into one,” an elated Ferguson told PEOPLE backstage after the results. “It feels like everything has just fell into place … everything is so perfect right now. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Despite his post-show bliss, Ferguson spent the majority of the broadcast masking pain and frustration onstage after he injured himself during a hip-hop routine with fellow contestants Jonathan “Legacy” Perez and Kevin Hunte.
“I went to jump back up onstage during my three-man piece and I came down on my leg a little wrong and it got real numb and swollen and it felt like something maybe got sprained,” he said. “I was fine enough to walk. I felt like I could dance. After they tested me backstage, they told me I couldn’t dance. That was the worst feeling.”
The hiccup, which occurred not long into a live broadcast, was quickly handled by host Cat Deeley, who at the time of the incident also had a faulty microphone, a finalist who couldn’t walk and results to announce.
“Did I save it? I’m not entirely sure if I did save it or not!” Deeley said backstage. “This is what happens in real life, so, it’s kind of ‘Okay, let’s get you on, let’s get a doctor, let’s take care of you, let’s carry on with the show, and let’s do it as smoothly as we can.’”
The two-hour finale, which revisited past routines and featured performances by Leona Lewis, Adam Lambert, Mary J. Blige and Jennifer Lopez, continued with Ferguson sitting on a stool as his scheduled routines played on the monitor overhead.
Still, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, who was unable to confirm whether there is going to be another fall season of the show or when the season 6 tour will kick off, did say he was “delighted” with the end to a memorable season.
“I’m really happy with the result,” he said. “I wouldn’t have minded Jakob [Karr, 19, the contemporary runner-up winning] or Russell. But for me and how I feel about dance — I want it spread everywhere — does that for me more than Jakob would have done. Dancers will look at Jakob and go, ‘Wow, what a brilliant dancer,’ because he is. But America will look at the charismatic performer that Russell is and will say, ‘If he has done that, I can do that.’ And remember, he didn’t win by krumping. He only krumped once the whole season, as I remember. He won by doing other styles, and that opens up for street kids.”
