Kara DioGuardi and Jewel's songwriting competition "Platinum Hit" may have been a ratings disaster for the Bravo network, which gave up on the show mid-season and moved it from Mondays to Fridays. But those few of us still watching "Platinum Hit" got to see quite a few talented singer-songwriters pen and perform quite a few genuinely good songs--some good enough to compete on the radio alongside the hits of today. And this Friday, the competition came down to R&B man (and Jordin Sparks's creative director) Scotty Granger, who placed third; indie-girl underdog Jes Hudak, who came in second; and powerhouse diva Sonyae Elise, who ultimately took home the $100,000 grand prize after her finale song, the Blige-like ballad "My Religion," won over the judges.

While there's no doubting that Sonyae is a natural talent and the best lyricist among the three "Platinum Hit" finalists, I do find it surprising and interesting that the winner of the show was the ONE contestant who didn't possess the

This week on "So You Think You Can Dance's" results show, the judges decided to honor the public vote and just eliminate the two lowest vote-getters, Ricky and Caitlynn. This left America's four favorite dancers so far--Melanie, Marko, Sasha, and Tadd--in the running to win the ultimate title of "America's Favorite Dancer" next week.

While the results were hardly surprising--the final four have been frontrunners all season long, and have all earned their rightful spots in the finale--the judges still had plenty to say backstage after Thursday's eliminations. Click the videos below to see Nigel discuss why he still thinks a girl will win this season, and what weaknesses each contestant needs to respectively overcome in order to win; to see Mary make her own predictions and reveal why the male contestants have been underestimated this season; and to see Lil' C colorfully and colloquially describe each contestant and reveal what sort of routine he would've choreographed for Sasha if he'd

"The only winner is dance; at the end of the day, dance wins," Nigel Lythgoe sunnily declared on Thursday's "So You Think You Can Dance" results show, the last results show before next week's big finale. Well, Caitlynn and Ricky, who were voted off Thursday and thus denied any chance of actually winning Season 8, might beg to differ with Mr. Lythgoe. But Nigel did have a valid point. After the biggest vote of season, four stellar dancers remained--Marko, Sasha, Melanie, and Tadd--and they will undoubtedly make for an incredible finale next week. The real winners, therefore, are actually "SYTYCD" viewers.

And these four dancers really are the dancers that viewers chose. Nigel explained, at the top of Thursday's elimination episode, that the judges had decided to simply eliminate the bottom two in terms of votes (one boy, one girl), rather than deliberate. "Because we don't want to reveal who the top two are, we can't reveal who the bottom four are," he said, forcing viewers to do some

This week's top six "So You Think You Can Dance" showdown was admittedly a slight letdown after last Wednesday's episode, one of the best in "SYTYCD" history. But this week still continued the fine tradition of what guest judge Christina Applegate declared "the best season I've seen." And it was, as this week's other guest judge Lil' c put it, "bucc." And it was without a doubt the most important episode of Season 8 so far, as it determined who will make it into next week's big finale.

For weeks now, it has seemed like Sasha, Melanie, and Marko's finale spots have been pre-ordained. And while Wednesday's performances only seemed to substantiate that prophecy, dark-horse girl Caitlynn did put up a good fight, and Tadd and Ricky's battle for that one remaining wild-card spot in the final four was a real nail-biter.

All six seemingly superhuman contestants danced THREE dances apiece--one with an allstar, one with a fellow contestant, one solo--and since the judges did not officially