There’s an irony in the fact that as the recession gets worse and the general state of the world goes downhill, everybody loves singing and dancing. American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, Don’t Forget the Lyrics, and, of course, So You Think You Can Dance continue to find audiences every time they are. It’s escapism and it’s working. One of the reasons it works on So You Think You Can Dance is host Cat Deeley, a former fashion model who has become a huge television personality in the UK and now the States. She took over hosting duties on So You Think You Can Dance in its second season and continues in its third, which debuted this week. At a conference call with Ms. Deeley, she commented on her weekly routine, the popularity of dancing shows and winners from previous seasons.

Cat Deeley on what makes dancing shows so popular:

I can’t speak about other shows, I don’t really know how that works, but in terms of our show I think our show is such a success and I think it’s a show that the others have tried to emulate. I think our show is such a success because of the human element that is a part of the show. I think that people can like dance or be into dance, but it’s that thing of watching other people’s success and failures and trials and tribulations and we’ve all at some point in our lives fallen over metaphorically. And we’ve had to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and get on with it and whether you’re a mechanic, a baker, an accountant, whoever you are we can all identify with that. You don’t have to be a dancer and I think that’s what makes the show a success with other people, not just the dance community and I think it’s something anybody can identify with.

Deeley on her weekly routine:

It's fairly hectic quite often, because I'll go in and write scripts and do all different things and go in and see them. I do really involve myself in the show because to me that's what works. If I can do lots and lots of preparation then when it comes to actually doing the show you kind of prep, prep, prep, prep, prep and then you let it go and that's when the good stuff happens. That's just how I like to work. I like to put lots of time and energy and preparation into it, so it is quite busy; nowhere near what the dancers have to go through because theirs is not only emotional. It's physical too, because obviously, you have to learn so many routines every single week. As we narrow it down every week they obviously have to learn more routines because the numbers are going down, so we need each person to do more routines per show. I mean in comparison with the dancers' job I have it easy.

On the format of the show this season:

You know what? It’s kind of the same…it’s the same show, it’s kind of, ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’. But it’s everything you know and love, but bigger and better. Because the bar has kind of been raised, we’re used to seeing people spin on their heads, well now we want triple back summersaults with extra, you know run up a wall or…. We just get blasé about it, so there will definitely be another amazing Nia Michaels routine that’s going to give you chills and Wade Robson is also going to do something very special for us. It’s kind of the same, but we are looking into other styles of dance because obviously what we want to do is keep it fresh, we aim to surprise and delight, but we also got Mary and Nigel and there’ll be ballroom and breaking and all the contemporary…all the normal styles will be there too.

On whether she was a fan of dance shows before getting involved:

To be honest I hadn’t seen that many of them. I’d seen Strictly, but that’s kind of different to our show. We’re taking kids who’ve been trained and it’s not about celebrities, it’s about the kids and seeing how far they can go on this journey. I’ve seen a bit of Strictly as I‘ve said, but I hadn’t seen any dancing shows before because to be honest this is kind of the first one here, not using celebrities, so I hadn’t seen anything at all like it, which was kind of what excited me about it. Normally dancers aren’t the people in the spotlight, they’re normally the backup guys, so to take a dancer and put them in that spotlight and challenge them and give them new… you know they have to learn different styles and that kind of thing. It was just really exciting for me.

Deeley on the winners from previous seasons:

Well I actually saw them at the Fox Up-fronts this week. Lots of them are going on tour with people. I don’t know exactly who is doing what, but I know a lot of people are going on tour. Benji was hand picked by Christina Aguilera to be in her video, so he did swing dancing with her. They just did a ‘So You Think You Can Dance tour, which was 52 dates that they did all over the country and they were playing arenas, not even theaters, so I think they just finished that and they’re just kind of working out what they want to do and then moving on from there. But I do know there is a lot of interest in people going on tour with artists such as Madonna and Justin.

On the advantages of the show’s summer schedule:

Well, I think that the schedule seems to work for us. I don't actually know why so much, but it seems to just work for us. I think a lot of the kids are off school, who obviously know that that's the demographic that's a large part of our audience. I don't know. I just think it's a very upbeat, very kind of shiny floor, big set kind of show and it feels good, which I think is what everybody wants all of the time, whether it's summer or not.

Cat Deeley on an American Idol crossover after her appearance on Idol Gives Back:

It was really special. You know what? Because of the success of it wouldn't surprise me if something else did happen. I don't know exactly in what form it will be or how it will happen, but there is obviously a synergy between both shows because of the production teams that work on them both. It was such a huge success, so it wouldn't surprise me if there was.