Season 17

Season 17
Season Run	May 18, 2022 - August 10, 2022
Judges	Stephen "tWitch" Boss JoJo Siwa Leah Remini (replaced) Matthew Morrison
Host(s)	Cat Deeley
Winner(s): Alexis Warr
Origin	Orem, Utah
Genre(s)	Latin Ballroom
Runner-up(s)
Keaton Kermode	Contemporary
Chronology
Previous Season	Season 16
Next Season	Season 18

Season 17 of So You Think You Can Dance premiered on May 18, 2022.

Production

This season came after originally being renewed on February 20, 2020 intended to air in the summer of 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the seasons was indefinitely postponed on June 18, 2020. On February 16, 2021, Fox announced that they would not move forward with production of this season, leaving the show's future unknown. However, in February 2020, season 17 officially was announced to be in production and on April 5, 2022, the premiere date was released.

This season hosted an entirely new judging panel of Stephen "tWitch" Boss, JoJo Siwa, and Matthew Morrison. In May 2022, Morrison announced his departure from the show, as a result of failing to follow "competition production protocols". In June 2022 prior to the Live Shows, Leah Remini was announced as Morrison's successor.

Auditions

Initial auditions, for dancers ages 18 to 30, were due to begin in March 2020 but were postponed amid in the beginning of 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.

The auditions for this season were also revamped from previous seasons, with no remote tryouts and instead contestants all auditioning at the new SYTYCD Hollywood studio. They still featured smaller choreography rounds in-house that were abbreviated.

Choreography Round

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 24 remained as the final cut before advancing to the studio shows.

Finals

Top 12

The Top 12 were announced during the first Studio Show, where clips showed two pairs of dancers facing each other where one of each pair was cut and six different partners made up the Top 12.

As has been done in prior seasons, the Bottom 2 vote-getters of each gender face elimination each week and the judges vote to decide which one male and one female leaves each round. However, for the first time this series only the studio audience can vote for which dancer should stay in the competition to make up the Bottom Four.

Female Contestants

Dancer	Age	Home Town	Dance Style
Alexis Warr	21	Orem, UT	Latin Ballroom
Anna Miller	18	San Ramon, CA	Contemporary
Essence Wilmington	20	Davenport, IA	Hip-Hop
Ralyn Johnson	18	Walker, LA	Contemporary
Jordan Betscher	24	Cincinnati, OH	Jazz
Virginia Crouse	21	Hammond, LA	Contemporary

Male Contestants

Dancer	Age	Home Town	Dance Style
Beau Harmon	23	Kennesaw, GA	Musical Theatre
Carter Williams	20	Sandy, UT	Latin Ballroom
Keaton Kermode	20	Fairland, IN	Contemporary
Waverly Fredericks	20	Washington Heights, NY	Contemporary
Thiago Pacheco	18	Boston, MA	Contemporary
James Thomas	26	Chicago, IL	Hip-Hop

Elimination Chart

Contestants are listed in reverse chronological order of elimination.

Females

Males

Bottom Four

Eliminated

Injured

Contestant	6/15	6/22	6/29
Alexis Warr			Btm 4
Beau Harmon
Anna Miller
Carter Williams	Btm 4		Btm 4
Essence Wilmington	Btm 4
Keaton Kermode
Ralyn Johnson
Waverly Fredericks		Btm 4
Jordan Betscher		Btm 4	Elim
Thiago Pacheco	Btm 4
Virginia Crouse	Btm 4	Elim
James Lord Finn Thomas

Trivia

• This is the first season to not feature Nigel Lythgoe as a judge.
• This is the fourth season to not feature Mary Murphy as a judge.
• Following this season, there will be a Season 18 after they started auditions but with new judges.