Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (July 18, 2008)

Here's Lythgoe commenting on a male dancer he actually liked: "I just want to check with the audience — put your hands up, who wants to dance with Will? Yeah? Will, I can tell you there were almost more girls than guys, so you're all right."

Last year Lythgoe told Dance Magazine, “I love the macho thing and don’t like effeminate dancers ... In my day everything wasn’t so PC.”

Which sorta makes you wonder what were things like back in Lythgoe's day? He started out as a dancer, a career which apparently his dockworker dad disapproved of. It wasn’t until much later when Lythgoe found success as a choreographer that his father would say he was proud of him.

Maybe his father's withholding of approval made Lythgoe hyper-sensitive to the way male dancers are perceived. And so now the cranky Brit is on a one-person crusade to prove that dancing is the absolute manliest of careers.

Uh, good luck with that.

But you know, I’m not sure we can blame the lack of openly gay SYTYCD contestants entirely on Nigel Lythgoe. I think there's probably a lot of self-censorship involved here too. In exit interviews, recent male contestants sound like they have drunk the Kool-Aid and chalk up their elimination to a lack of perceived "chemistry" between them and their partners.

One said....

"America kind of looks and sees a couple together who they start to fall in love with, they love the idea of them being together. They want them to date and they love the chemistry they have together. With us being new, it takes a little bit to seep in first."

Another said...

"I feel [my dance partner] and I have that really strong brother/sister relationship — but being a dancer, I've had that relationship with a lot of the girls I dance with. You just have to overcome it. I felt like you only know your partner for so long before you're in that scenario, in that situation you have to look like you're intimate and stuff. That's really hard to do right away because it's so fast and you get thrown into it so fast."

Of course, we have no idea about the sexual orientation of these contestants. And it really doesn't matter. The point is, if all male contestants really believe their success on the show depends on proving to the audience they are intimate with their female partners, then the gay male contestants are at a tremendous disadvantage and might think they have no choice but to stay in the closet during their tenure on the show.

This is too bad. I have a little more faith in the American public and believe that an openly gay and honest dancer would be well-received on the show. Curious what others think.

As irritated as I am by Nigel's persistent mince-aphobia and the lack of openly gay male contestants, I'll probably keep watching the show. I mean, the dancing is pretty amazing.

Next page! South Carolina is so gay (and Texas is a big sissy).