MARY MURPHY SCREAM METER ONCE AGAIN PREDICTS DEPARTING CONTESTANTS

Tickets doled out on Mary Murphy’s Hot Tamale Train and the volume and number of screams recorded on her Scream Machine meter have given So You Think You Can Dance fans a crystal ball into which dancers would be heading home.

Once again, Murphy, through her awarded train tickets and famous screams, predicted which couples would be placed by fans into the Bottom Three.

CAITLIN KINNEY
Caitlin, 21, and her partner, Jason Glover, drew favorable comments from the show’s three judges for their first routine, a foxtrot, but received only tepid comments on their second performance, a lyrical jazz routine that Murphy termed “not memorable.” The pair received no tickets on the Hot Tamale Train and none of Murphy’s famous screams.

And with no Murphy screams, we had placed this pair lowest on our Mary Murphy Scream Meter.

PHILLIP CHBEEB
Phillip, 20, and his partner, Jeanine Mason seemed almost doomed to be in the Bottom Three after their first performance, a Russian folk dance. While judge Nigel Lythgoe said that the pair danced well, it felt that they never should have been given the dance and predicted that it alone might land them in the Bottom Three couples. Murphy tried to give the number the most positive spin possible, saying that Phillip and Jeanine made the dance look “believable and effortless.”

Their second performance was stronger, with Lythgoe saying that this was Phillip’s strongest showing outside of his own genre, and Murphy screamed and placed Jeanine, and only Jeanine, on the Hot Tamale train.

Despite the stronger second performance, Lythgoe opined that it would not be enough to compensate for the Russian folk dance – and he proved to be correct. And based on Murphy’s overall response to the couple’s performances, we wrote, “This could be an instance where drawing the wrong dance results in excellent dancers falling into the Bottom Three couples.”

THIRD COUPLE IN BOTTOM THREE

And while Melissa Sandvig and Ade Obayomi had never before been in the Bottom Three, our Mary Murphy Meter placed them there this week not because they had failed to perform well – because they did receive screams for both of their dances, but simply because Murphy’s response to their waltz had drawn only a low-volume scream. Other couples had simply scored higher with respect to the Hot Tamale Train and Murphy screams.