MARTHA NICHOLS AND DMITRY CHAPLIN ARE ELIMINATED ON "SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE"

NEW RECORD SET WITH ALMOST 8 MILLION VOTES CAST TOP 8 DANCERS WILL COMPETE ON THE NEXT PERFORMANCE SHOW WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, ON FOX

A new record was set after Wednesday's SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE performance show when viewers cast nearly 8 million votes for their favorite dancers. The hit series shimmied past the competition this week as the Top 10 finalists performed two routines with a partner and one solo on Wednesday, and singer/dancer Chris Brown performed his hit single "Give Me That." Compared to its average last summer, the Wed/Thu average of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE shows impressive gains including +19% among Adults 18-49, +21% among Adults 18-34, +13% among Teens and +19% in Total Viewers.

Based on voting totals after Wednesday's performance show, the bottom two guys were Ryan Rankine and Dmitry Chaplin, and the bottom two girls were Martha Nichols and Natalie Fotopoulos. It was revealed last night that the guy and the girl who received the fewest votes were Nichols and Chaplin. Nichols, 19, is a contemporary/hip-hop specialist from Raleigh, NC; and Chaplin, 24, is a ballroom dancer from New York, NY.

The Top 8 dancers � top four guys Ivan Koumaev, Ryan Rankine, Benji Schwimmer and Travis Wall; and top four girls Natalie Fotopoulos, Heidi Groskreutz, Allison Holker and Donyelle Jones � will compete on the performance show Wednesday, July 26 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT). They will again perform three times � two routines with a partner and one solo dance. The following night, two more dancers will go home on the live results show Thursday, July 27 (9:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) on FOX.

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE was created by Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe and comes from 19 Entertainment Ltd. and dick clark productions. It is executive-produced by Simon Fuller, Nigel Lythgoe and Allen Shapiro.