So You Think You Can Dance is an American dance competition reality show, which returned for its seventeenth season on May 18, 2022.
A 17th season of So You Think You Can Dance had originally been set to air in the summer of 2020, with a judging panel composed of series creator Nigel Lythgoe (his seventeenth consecutive season as judge), Mary Murphy and Laurieann Gibson. However, in June 2020 the show was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season was finally produced in the summer of 2022, now with an entirely different set of judges: freestyle hip-hop dancer Stephen "tWitch" Boss, who had been a Season 4 runner-up and Season 15 judge; entertainer and YouTube celebrity JoJo Siwa; and actor Matthew Morrison. Cat Deeley returned to her role as host for a sixteenth consecutive season.
In May 2022, Morrison was fired from the show, after having sent direct messages on social media to a female contestant that were deemed by producers to be inappropriate. He was replaced by actress Leah Remini, starting with the season's fifth episode.
On August 10, 2022, Alexis Warr was crowned "America's Favorite Dancer", making her the first ballroom dance contestant to win the show. (While Season 2 winner Benji Schwimmer was also a partner dancer, his specialty, West Coast Swing, is generally not considered a ballroom dance). Warr and fellow grand finalist Keaton Kermode who were paired as a couple from the first performance episode, only Kermode became the forty-second contestant in the show's run never to face elimination from being among the bottom six or bottom four contestants, and became the thirty-third contestant to be in the grand finale to never to face elimination from being among the bottom six or bottom four.
This was the final season to feature Stephen "tWitch" Boss, prior to his death in December 2022.
Initial auditions, for dancers ages 18 to 30, were due to begin in March 2020 but were postponed amid in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Auditions would likely be continued for this season during the delay. Those who were originally submitted in 2020 and could be getting an extended age limit to 32. Production was rescheduled for March 2022 including the start of auditions.
This season, the Callbacks/Academy Round was renamed the Choreography Round and took place over the course of one day, as opposed to one week like past seasons. The Choreography Round consisted of three rounds led by creative producer/choreographer, Mandy Moore. The first round had the contestants dancing in their own style, the second round focused on partner work and the third round was a group routine. 42 contestants made it to the choreography round and contestants were eliminated after each round until 12 remained to advance to the studio shows.
Contestants are listed in chronological order of elimination.
Once again, the Bottom 2 vote-getters of each gender will face elimination & the judges vote, with one female & one male leaving each round. However, for the first time this series only the studio audience can vote for which contestant should remain in the competition.
In this round, each pair danced a routine in the Main Style of the Male Pair. This is the 300th episode of the show. No elimination took place this week.
Each pair will now dance the main style of the Female Pair. Two contestant (each gender: one female & one male) will go home at the end of the show
This week, the Top 10 contestants were assigned new pairs & danced styles originating from different countries around the world
The top eight contestants were once again given new pairs & performed a routine inspired by a previous decade, as well as a solo in their own style
Since the judges could not reach a decision, no contestant was eliminated this week.
New to the series, each contestant was paired against each other in a head to head dance off. The loser of each pair is eliminated. There were no judge's saves this week.
Each contestants performed a duet with their fellow contestants as well as a duet in their own style with an All Star.
Each of the grand-finalists performed four times: a duet with a fellow Top 12 contestant of their choice, a duet outside of their style with an All Star, a solo and in a duet with each other.