On the Scene: 'SYTYCD' Finale's Big Surprise

Was the biggest surprise of the evening on the 'So You Think You Can Dance' finale who won or was it watching Ellen DeGeneres recreate the season's hottest hip-hop number with tWitch?

We knew Ellen loves to dance, but who knew she could get down so hard -- nearly as hard as Alex Wong, who originated the amazing "Outta Your Mind" routine in week three?

"Who was the most inspirational dancer, this season?" mused producer Nigel Lythgoe after the finale. "I think it's Ellen DeGeneres. You laugh, but the public knows that she is not a dancer. This is somebody that has not had any lessons and there she is, absolutely brilliant. In her own words, I thought she was a carpenter because she nailed it tonight!"

The husband-and-wife choreography team behind the routine, Tabitha and Napoleon D'Umo (aka "Nappy Tabs"), told TV Squad how the Ellen hook-up happened.

"We worked with her last year (on her show) and she's such a fan of dance," Tabitha recalled. "She told us, 'I'm on my summer break and I'm a little bored, let's cook something up.'"

Napoleon added, "I think she was thinking [of doing something for] National Dance Day, and then something for the opening of her show again, and then Tabitha mentioned doing this."

"She was such a fan of the number and so sad that Alex got injured," Tabitha explained. "She was like, 'I'm so devastated. I loved him.' So I said, 'Why don't you learn his dance?'"

At the time, Napoleon protested, "Why did you tell her to learn that one? It's really difficult!" but Tabitha told him, "I think she can do it."

How long did it take Ellen to learn the routine? No longer than Alex himself had, said Tabitha: "She had maybe a week to rehearse. We only had hour rehearsals here and there."

Obviously, the routine needed some modification, but not as much as you might expect. "I think the only thing that we trimmed down to make it a little bit easier was the ballet moment when Alex had his leg to his ear. OK, Ellen isn't able to do that. But we played on her strengths: her comic timing, the slapping, but really step for step, it was almost the same routine."

"For her to go out there and just roll it off in front of that many people, live, is just amazing," Napoleon raved. "The choreography in that routine is really difficult, but she did an amazing job."