Top 20 Results (6/15)

I have 3 wishes after watching this episode:

#1. I wish I had taped the group number that opened the show! That rocked. Except that Ivan was featured a lot and Benji was hardly visible, and they didn't even show Brian's face after Cat complimented his choreography. Which rocked, I say!!

#2. I wish Ivan were eliminated instead of Stanislav. Self-explanatory.

#3. I wish they'd shown Mary's reaction when Stas was eliminated instead of Ivan.

On to the quasi-recap! As I said, opening number was really, really good, and longer than I was expecting (which was a good thing).

After a short review of last night's performances we have the couples take center stage two at a time (by genre of performance, interestingly), and we're looking for the 3 with the lowest votes.

Hip-hop pairs Benji/Donyelle and Dmitry/Joy are both safe.

Ballroom pair Ryan/Heidi is safe, but Stanislav/Erin are in the bottom 3. Really? She wasn't anything to write home about but he was fantastic, and last year Artem was incredibly popular, and isn't Stas the Artem of this year? Mary is confused too, she says they were in her top 3!

Contemporary couples Travis/Martha and Jason/Aleksandra are both safe. Travis was sooo worried & then sooo relieved! Not that he should be worried, but I guess it's nice he's not taking anything for granted.

Mamba/salsa pair Musa/Natalie is safe, but Ivan/Allison are in the bottom, as I predicted.

Lastly the disco pairs: Ben/Ashley are, surprisingly (to them too), safe! I was looking forward to seeing Ben's solo but glad he has no chance of being eliminated tonight. Which leaves Jaymz/Jessica as the last of the bottom 3.

Solos: Erin is ok; Stanislav is amazing (the crowd agrees, they love him!); Allison is pretty good, does some creative stuff (and later says it was all improv.); Ivan is really good at hip-hop, I'll admit, though he was a little flippant at the end for someone who's 'dancing for his life'; Jessica was pretty good, very powerful; Jaymz was good but he has yet to wow me, and for some reason I keep expecting him to. Maybe next week.

Nelly Furtado and Timberland (?) perform a song called "Promiscuous." I flip around to see what's on the other stations.

And it's time for eliminations. Girls are up first - Allison is asked to step forward, complimented, and told she's safe. Of the two left I think Erin should go... and she does. She gets a little goodbye montage.

Now the guys - I expect Stas to be called forward and sent to safety, but instead it is Jaymz. Nigel says they think he's one of the "most versatile" dancers they have (-which is a good thing *if* he's good at everything & not just passable, which I've yet to see). He's safe. So, ok, no-brainer & Ivan is gone, right? Not quite... each of them are called forward for a moment and pretty much reamed by Nigel - both are too one-dimensional and *if* they remain must work really hard to improve (in Ivan's case, so that he doesn't bring his partner down, again). Unfortunately, though it was fabulous, Stanislav's all-ballroom solo combined with yesterday's Paso Doble comfort-zone performance work to his disadvantage and because of his lack of versatility Stas is sent packing, while Ivan is safe. I just have to wonder what Nigel was thinking here?! I mean, Ivan is cute & all, but do we really need another Kevin Covais? I don't know, maybe he thought there's an overload of ballroom guys and Stas was the least versatile of the 3. I'm surprised, Stas is surprised, and I'll bet Mary was very disappointed (and outvoted). Ah, well, this is a Fox "reality" show after all, and disappointing surprises make for good ratings.

Ok, fine, I still have my favorites. :-) But I'm sad, and feel bad for Stas. And Ivan better kick some booty next week to show he deserves another chance.