So you think you can handle another intense hoofing competition just two days after Dancing With the Stars finally came to a wrap?

Well ready or not, here comes Season 5 of So You Think You Can Dance.

And tonight's two-hour premiere on Fox and CTV is only the start; the reality TV dance-off is set to air its sixth season directly after this one ends in fall -- followed by its Canadian counterpart, which holds its final Season 2 audition in Montreal on Tuesday.

"Everybody always says to me, 'What's different about the show this year?' and I'm always kinda like, 'It's the same show you know and love, but bigger and better,' " says SYTYCD's British hostess Cat Deeley.

While not quite as highly rated as its monstrous network cousin American Idol, SYTYCD -- where amateur dancers compete for viewer votes -- has hit the floor running (er, dancing?) over the past few seasons, giving its finalists something many reality shows promise, but don't make good on: Recognition.

Even Idol can't guarantee its winner will sell records (right, Ruben?), but the contestants who resonate with SYTYCD audiences are destined for good things, Deeley says.

"There is a career after the show, which is what people are really seeing now," she says.

Season 2, 3 and 4 finalists Dmitry Chaplin, Lacey Schwimmer and Chelsie Hightower, for example, have found employment as celebrities' professional ballroom partners on ABC's Dancing With the Stars.

Last season's contenders Gev and Thayne (among others) have appeared in all three High School Musical movies and modern dancer Kherington will star in a remake of the flick Fame.

Deeley adds that as the show gets bigger, the opportunities grow.

"And if it's not on another TV show, it could be that somebody like Mariah Carey rings up, or Avril Lavigne, and goes, 'OK, we'd like you to come on tour.'

"If we can elevate them to that position, they can go on to have a wonderful career after this."

Also expect past SYTYCD talents to reappear on upcoming episodes, perhaps even as choreographers, Deeley says.

What else is in store for this season?

More internationally flavoured routines a la last year's hit Bollywood number; more underdog success from untrained steppers such as Season 4 winner Joshua Allen ("We're looking for America's favourite dancer, which doesn't necessarily mean the best dancer," Deeley says); more ear-piercing comments from Queen of Scream judge Mary Murphy, who (shockingly) has yet to deafen fellow permanent judge (and series creator) Nigel Lythgoe; and, of course, some even louder outfits from Deeley.

"I love the fact that people wait to see what I'm wearing," says the Birmingham-born former model, whose birds' nest frock on the Season 3 finale was our personal fashion fave.

"I know sometimes it's silly and sometimes it's extreme, and sometimes it's completely out there, but I would much rather people love it or hate it. At least they have an opinion about it."