Thursday nights elimination show opened with a group Broadway number to "Money Money" from Caberet. It was choreographed by Tyce Diorio. It was a great routine and ended with the dancers throwing 100 dollar bills around. Of course these were "Nigel dollars" because his picture was on the bills. We also find out that Tyce has historically been the nicest judge during audition shows - that is, until this year. It seems he quickly became one of the grumpiest. We were treated to a montage of "Grumpy Tyce".
After a reintroduction of our judges, Twitch and Kerrington and Katee and Joshua are brought to the stage for the first round of eliminations. After a review of how both couples performed the night before, we find out that both Katee and Joshua and "Twitchington" are safe.
Next up were Kourtni and Matt, Courtney and Gev, and Chelsea and Mark. After the review of their performance, we find out that Kourtni and Matt are the first couple in the bottom three. They are then joined by Courtney and Gev. (I was surprised!) When Cat asked Nigel what he thought, he quipped maybe America just doesn't like little people. Courtney and Gev are both quite short.
Finally our last two couples came out for judging. Jessica and Will and Komfort and Thayne have their performances reviewed and we then find out that Komfort and Thayne were the last couple dancing for their lives.
We are treated to a perfomance by Robert Murain. He was the insane popper that evidently dropped out of the competition either before or in Las Vegas. Once again he was AMAZING! He danced to C+C Music Factory's "Everybody Dance." There were a few quips from Nigel who mentioned being disappointed that Robert had dropped out of the competition and then there was discussion of a dance of between him and another popper who Nigel thought might be better.
On to the solos! Kourtni danced a contemporary routine to "No Man" by Nina Story. Matt danced a contemporary routine to "Sweet Contentness" by Bradley James and the Roadies. Courtney treated us to a contemporary routine that she danced to "What's Another Day" by Maria Nina. Gev did a B-boy routine to "Everybody Loves a Carnival" by Fatboy Slim. Komfort's hip hop routine was to "Hit the Floor" by Twista with Pitbull. Lastly, Thayne preformed a contemporary dance to "I Want To Break Free" by Queen.
One Republic performed while the judges discussed the eliminations.
Before the eliminations, Nigel says that, for the first time during any of the reality shows that he has been involved with, this was the hardest cut that he felt he had to do. He really cared about this group of dancer and would be glad to leave the eliminating up to the public soon.
We find out Courtney is safe. The decision was not a unanimous one for the girl who was going home. Nigel felt it was time for Komfort to go, but the other judges felt it was Kourtni's time to go.
Gev is well loved by the judges and he was told he was safe. The judges felt that they have seen growth in Thayne each week. Matt came in such a good dancer that they haven't seen the growth with him. Unanimously, they send Matt home.
Next week we are down to only 6 couples, and Curlio will be back in the driver's seat.
I was sad to see Kourtni & Matt go, but I can understand the judges decision. Clearly something wasn't clicking with the rest of America, as they were in the bottom three for the last few weeks. If Comfort & Thayne don't stay out of the bottom three next week, I think the judges might send them packing too.
"Now you know why lions eat their young" Capt. Phil Harris
