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Nigel on Losing Will - "A Big Disappointment" Thursday, August 07 2008

Did the brilliant Will Wingfield exit Fox's So You Think You Can Dance a bit too soon? Head judge/executive producer Nigel Lythgoe certainly believes so.

When the moment of truth arrived during last week's results show, here's what the audience didn't see: Nigel Lythgoe putting his head down on the judges' table as if he couldn't bear to watch what was going to happen next. Would it be Will or another audience favorite, Twitch, getting the boot?

When Cat Deeley announced Will would be going home, the crowd couldn't help but gasp. Widely acknowledged to be the finest all-around dancer this season, and coming off of a sensational pas de deux with Katee Shean and a rousing James Brown imitation in his Wednesday solo routine, no one saw this elimination coming. After the initial shock, the audience gave a standing ovation.

"To me, it's very much like losing Chris Daughtry or Tamyra Gray from American Idol," Lythgoe said after the show. "Either one of them leaving, Will or Twitch, would've been a huge disappointment. I really thought Will, Twitch and Joshua would be fighting it out until the end."

Twitch had fallen to his knees, with his back to the audience, when he landed in the bottom two, and had to be comforted by Deeley. "I had words with him," shares Lythgoe. "I said, 'Look, you're in the Top 10. After this, there's only going to be one winner, so please use the next few weeks just to enjoy yourself.'"

Lythgoe says Twitch will probably get the same kind of sympathy vote this week that hip-hopper Comfort got the week prior, before she was sent packing for a second time. Who will be standing at the end? "A boy is gonna be the winner this year," says Lythgoe. "That's my gut feeling."

If he's right, think Joshua Allen, another amazing hip-hopper who has shown not only quiet charisma but remarkable adaptability.