Woo hoo, Tiffany!!!

First person this year I've come close to feeling any affection for. And getting Ethiopian food right based on tasting the spices, etc. with zero experience with the cuisine? With Marcus judging? Pretty damn good, I'd say. Nailing the Mexican she wanted to do was just icing (but also pretty special icing, given immunity).

That Travis Wall number was sooo good. I was waiting for Nigel to make some obnoxious homophobic comment and was pleased to hear not a one. Kent might have serious limitations when it comes to not being mature yet, and he can't control his facial expressions too often, but he can be poetry in motion. He and Neal have good chemistry, too (loved their baseball number from a few weeks ago).

Also loved Robert and Dominic's clown number! Really well done from NappyTab, very much out of their usual style, and the two guys just nailed it.

And I'm hoping that someone ordered Tyce to do a non-Fosse number for the group piece, because getting him out of that massive crater he's dug for himself meant he produced a Broadway number that I really liked!

The fuck is Gail wearing? I keep getting distracted from the food by how awful that dress is.

Padma had some crazy thing on too.

Aw, Stephen- it was your time to go. Seriously, was there like any challenge he was NOT in the bottom of? Nice guy though.

Also, Amanda sounded like the goddamn Pink Panther when she was pronouncing the components of her dish. OMG WOMAN!

When Kenny was bitching about being in the middle all the time, all I could do was bitterly think about Hosea Rosenberg.

SYTYCD: OMG the judges are such a travesty right now! I had to call and vote for Adéchiké like a thousand times just because I thought the judges were so off the mark on him. I swear it's half because of racism and bad lighting that keep you from seeing that man's face. He is expressive and he can be charismatic, but we can never see it. And Nigel and Tyce were so fucking condescending it's unconscionable. I cannot bear Tyce in any capacity, I am telling you.

I also voted for Lauren once because I thought she brought it and I loved that Cheeseman choreography. I wish they weren't so bent on making her a barely legal sex kitten, but I think she danced powerfully and effectively.

I voted for Kent once on the strength of his Travis routine. He's who I think will win and that's probably okay. He will benefit from the exposure. I hope he lands a Broadway gig eventually, because that's the style he should be dancing and this is kind of a cool way to discover that.

I did not vote for Robert because I still think he's a big giant fake ball of cheese (and what do you do with cheesery? you make him an angry clown!) and he doesn't have enough raw skill to make up for it. I just never bought what he's selling and I still don't. You wanna talk about someone not giving themselves? This is the guy you should be talking to. The judges can't save him anymore, so I hope he's out tomorrow.

And I was happy to see Alex in the audience, although it just further delineated for me how disappointed I am with this whole season. It just could have been so much more.

Also, I note, where was Mark? If there is no Mark in the finale I shall have words for the producers.

Mark said on Twitter that he cracked his nose.

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I liked the clown routine. Quite a bit.

I'll be fine with either Adechike or Robert going.

Hmph. That does not further endear me to the show. Did he crack it in rehearsals, thus making it a 5 injury season?

Yeah, I'm not saying I hated the clown routine, I thought it was not bad for NappyTabs, but I thought it had weak points, including Robert standing around emoting while Dom, you know, danced hiphop. I am saying I can't stand Robert, though. Heh. You know, in case that wasn't coming through in my assessment.

Okay, I'm really pleased that Abdi won the challenge and that Jaclyn didn't.

But I had really hoped that Nichole would make it. . . oh well. I hope that Peregrine can really bring it for the final.

But I'm rooting for Abdi here - if they got more time to work on their final projects he could do very well.

I cannot bear Tyce in any capacity, I am telling you.

word with a side of word sauce from the word restaurant.

But I'm rooting for Abdi here - if they got more time to work on their final projects he could do very well.

I've liked Abdi from the beginning, and he really has progressed. His piece tonight was stunning. I had hoped that Nicole would make it. I liked her and thought that she was really talented. I am vaguely annoyed with the judges. If Miles had done that piece, they would have creamed all over it. She also got robbed of a couple of wins during the season. I want Abdi to go all the way. He's incredibly talented and a good person.

SYTYCD: Oh my stars, Cat Deeley, why? I know she's claimed to do her own styling, but I have to think the $5.00 hooker face paint and I don't even know what to say whickety whack 'do were the handiwork of the tranny's in hair and make up because otherwise, just . . . no . . . I don't even know.

I can't with Tyce on the panel. No. Just shut it. His Guys and Dolls was better than his typical faux fosse, but I still found the choreo lacking, especially for Lauren. She could do so much more than what she was permitted to show in that number. Kent, however, was made to dance Broadway. My word, he was magnificent. I want someone to make an old 1940's MGM style musical and cast him as the male lead, kind of Mickey and Judy let's put on a show. I would buy a ticket and see it in the theater multiple times and then buy the DVD and watch it every day.

Pieces I loved:

Travis Frikkin' Wall. Although how that dance for two "friends" was different from any other "lovers torn apart as interpreted through the powers of dance" piece is beyond me. Still, it was gorgeous and Kent was amazing in it. He destroyed Neil (who was actually quite good for a hunchback). There were so many moments, when Kent did that Russian split leap over Neil? Ridiculous. And all the side by side work was gorgeous and synchronized and clean and just, ah, that's how I like it.

Robert and Dom in the NappyTab clown piece. And I'll be damned if NappyTab didn't bring it. I loved that choreography. The business with the balloons downstage? Genius. And Robert shut it down. He was fire. He got the whole feel of the piece. He was so sharp. That's the most I've ever liked him since he came on the show.

Black widow Lauren in the Sean Cheesman jazz. The bitch was fierce and Tyce can bite me. He wouldn't know ferocious if he sipped it out of Fosse's ass crack. The lift that Nigel mentioned was insanely difficult as was that flip that she did over Ade's legs and she landed it perfectly in heels. What? She was all kinds of fabulous. I so enjoy the Cheesman when he's not doing African Jazz because his African is really just warmed over Ailey, but we'll get to that in pieces I wanted to love but didn't. As for this piece, bravo Cheesman. Loved the eight counts of handwork.

Pieces I wanted to love but didn't Quite:

Lauren's tango with Pasha. I didn't quite buy the chemistry between the two. And it killed me that no one mentioned the botched lift at the end because dammit, it was a good attempt but they missed the lift. And despite what Nigel tried to imply later on in the show, I think the miss was mostly Lauren's fault. It didn't look like Pasha had the perfect hand placement in the small of her back, but it also looked like once that happened, Lauren didn't really hold her weight correctly and so the whole lift fell apart. The impressive thing was how they saved it and made the end still looked polished and not rushed. That takes mad skill.

Desmond and Dwight's piece for AdeChike and Kathryn. The piece was not my favorite from Dwight and Desmond. It felt a little to frantic and look at this, now look at this, now look at this. I don't know, it didn't really gel. That said, Kathryn was serving. And Ade wasn't. As usual. The notes that the judges keep giving him about being too stiff through his upper back and needing to release and really stretch through moves apply as much here as they did to, well, every other time they've told him that all season. His dancing just feels constricted. And you know, he's not a star. I think as a dancer he is limited. He's competent. But he doesn't have the thing, whatever that thing is, the secret sauce that makes me excited to see a dancer perform. And yet, I take umbrage for AdeChike tonight. Even if I think from a talent standpoint that he probably should go tonight, the judges were so condescending to him and his "journey" on the show, that I'd almost like to see him make top 3 just as a big ole fuck you to them. And WTF with not showing his video package until the (continued...)