So You Think You Can Dance Judges Favor B-Boy Jose

Are the So You Think You Can Dancejudges being too easy on break-dancer Jose Ruiz this season?

"I think we are, absolutely," says executive producer and judge Nigel Lythgoe.

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"The choreographers' job is to get them through, not to try to challenge them beyond their abilities," says judge Adam Shankman. Isn't this a competition; shouldn't they be challenged? "The kid has never taken choreography before; isn't that a challenge?" Shankman retorts. "He has no training!"

Even without training, Jose has yet to receive a technical critique like many others dancers have. Instead, they fawn over Jose for adding his own spunk and style to each of the numbers he's been assigned.

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"Dancing isn't about technique," Lythgoe adds. "Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly would never be stars if it was about technique. Neither of them had great technique; they had charisma and Jose has incredible charisma."

As the number of dancers in Season 7 dwindled, it seemed evident that Jose would be the next to go home after Alex Wong. That is, until Jose conveniently pulled a "gold star" out of the box this week, pairing him up with Dominic Sandoval. So the B-boy just happens to get paired up with an all-star B-boy?

To be fair, the judges did finally dish out some negative comments toward Jose's first piece, a Broadway number with Courtney Galiano. But will it be his downfall?

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Bottom line, Lythgoe says, "This is not some little show where amateurs come on, because you have got to be f---ing brilliant to get on this show right now. Every one of [the dancers], in their own way, is quite brilliant. You don't get charisma like Jose."

How do you feel about the judges favoring Jose? Should he be held to a higher — or at least equal — standard?