Well, Legacy was in that half-ripped caveman outfit on week 1--definite potential there!

Yeah, I meant a good ballroom shirt taker-offer. Luckily, we have lots of eye candy this season, and I'm totally on board with forming Fans For a Naked (Russell/Legacy/Kevin). Sign me up. I don't really get the urge to see Jakob stripped down, although I'm sure he'd be lovely. And Nathan, well, that just feels like kiddie porn. But the show hasn't had a sexy ballroom, shirt off all the time, hot damn boy in a minute. Dmitri is the prototype. Then Pasha came along, but the past couple of seasons the pickings have been mighty slim. There was that old looking dude, Kayla's original partner from last season, who just could not fill the hot ballroom boy bill. And then there was that one pasty kid. He was a little bit thick, too, for a dancer. And the show claimed he was a latin ballroom specialist, but I swear I didn't see it. He may have been Karla's first partner last season. Or I may be totally making that up. But what I'm saying is that there has been a severe shortage of ballroom male hotness on the show of late, and they finally have a real, live hot boy in Ryan. So I think the judges would be very reluctant to give that up.

I didn't think Pasha was particularly hot. I preferred him with his shirt on.

Now, we could have had Lounge Lizard Gene this season (he got cut at the final round of 38, right?)

I thought it came down to Gene v. Ryan at the very end for a spot in the top 20, but I could be mistaken.

And I was all about Pasha from Russia and remain salty that the Hunchback beat him out for a spot in the Final Four with Danny, Lacey and Sabra. Bleagh. Though I will admit to continuing to be a little bit traumitized by the shirtless dance with the dress form. Still creepy after all these years.

Not only can he dance amazingly well, but, well, whatever wrongs the costumers have done in the past are forgiven after that gorgeous 60s-style suit of his!

Heh, was that the one that reminded me of the Prisoner's jacket?

Yep, it sure was. Very Carnaby Street, mid-60s. Either the Prisoner or, better yet, David McCallum in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

ETA: See here

On the whole, I think the costume folks are doing so much better this season than in past seasons. Aside from a few obviously egregious missteps (They are on the ski patrol and they are bank robbers!), the costuming has either been spot on fantastic or at least non-intrusive. Clearly, they checked into rehab over the incredibly short break between seasons and got off the crack.

Weren't the tutus this season, or at least some of the tutus?

I admit there have been a few missteps. The skiing bank robbers from last night. The Sonya tutu number for the girls on the very first Meet the Top 20 show. But honestly, they have been soooo much worse. Time was when practically every costume was just crispy crazy. This season I can only think of a few that have pinged me as "Hell to the Naw" and a bunch that I've thought were really appropriate for the dance. Even the Ryan/Ellenore good angel/bad angel costumes, while kind of WTF, were appropriate for the dance. Remember the bad old days of Lacey showing her goodies in a microscopic cheerleading skirt? Comfort trying to krump while dressed as a pan of Jiffy Pop? Donyelle decked out in a big bird yellow dress that made her look like one of those creepy doll shaped toilet paper covers in every grandmother's guest bathroom circa 1973? The hunchback and Mischa Chan in goggles and skull caps? Or we could go way back and talk about Ashley dressed as a doll while Dmitri was some kind of pimped out Svengali who'd been attacked by an evil, sleeve stealing gang of street toughs. Oh, wardrobe crack whores. How I don't miss you at all!

Yay Dave Scott with the opening number.