M: Top 8 (or 7...)

Alex: Super duper bummed that he got injured. Now I'm at a loss who my favorite of the show is... Seriously have no idea! I really hope it's not a ruptured Achilles because then he'll be out for good. I really want him to be around for this entire season!!! Not fair!

Adechike: I'm not really sure why Mia has so much hate for him. Maybe it's because her love Robert is consistently ending up in the Bottom 3? But I love that Cat pointed out to the judges that they commended Jose for bringing his personality into Bollywood then criticized Adechike for doing the same! Cat Deeley ROCKS and deserves not only an Emmy nomination, but an Emmy!!! I only felt ho-hum about Adechike's jazz routine with Courtney, but thought his Bollywood was cute. Not enough to make me want to vote for him; fortunately for him, I never vote (at least not this early on).

Billy Bell: I was thrilled to see Katee Shean back (though sad that there was ANOTHER injury!). This dance was okay for me, but all I kept thinking about was how skinny the two are. It was hilarious that Billy spilled the beans on Jose's obsession with Lauren Gottlieb's butt. :) Billy has been staying a little under the radar for me. Every week there's something he'll do where I can't help but think "eek, how does he make his body angle like that?!" but other than that he's just been good and not attention grabbing...

Lauren: I was really impressed with both of her dances this week. Smoldering sexy dancing with Pasha, then really sweet and not juvenile contemporary with Kent. I was worried that her and Kent being paired would end up in a very immature dance, especially given the story of "after prom." However, I really loved the dance and didn't feel like they were annoying little kids. Totally felt like Adam Shankman was playing matchmaker to Lauren and Kent, though... Very weird.

Jose: He cracks me up. And I love how he took all the ribbing about his crush on Lauren (or her butt). Really liked his dance with Lauren, and his dance with Billy was enjoyable enough. Still not one of my absolute favorites, but he still cracks me up.

Robert: Yeah, I understand what Nigel is saying about Robert and how us fans are making things up about him. Here's the thing for me though: Robert just isn't genuine to me. His modesty and humbleness are so plastic and fake to me. As such, it was kind of fitting that he had a dance where he was plastic and fake. I enjoyed the concept of Robert and Kathryn's dance together. They were both fantastic, but of course I still loved the dance more because I love Kathryn. I also can't help but resent how much the judges love him and are nice to him, especially given weird harshness against other dancers. (Ahem, Mia-Adechike.)

Ashley: Really, really enjoyed the NappyTabs "ninja dance." Thought she pulled that off well. The judges liked her in the quickstep but I only felt ho hum about it as a whole. Of course it does really suck that two non-ballroom people got quickstep of everything. It'd at least be nicer of the judges to have given them the Viennese waltz or something! Anyway, judges love her, I like her, but still... I just don't know that I have a favorite without Alex in the competition!

Kent: Well... Maybe Kent might be a favorite... He's a contender at least. I love how he is full of youthful happiness and you can see he's enjoying every moment and trying to learn and soak everything in. It was smart to model him after Justin for the hip hop number with Comfort. Truthfully I thought he was no better or worse than Billy Bell doing krump. Definitely not at the level of Alex's hip hop last week, though of course it was a different kind of hip hop. As I already talked about earlier, I loved him and Lauren in Travis's piece.

Overall:

• I thought it seemed a bit unfair how the pairings/genres ended up. I thought it was absolutely unfair that Lauren/Kent got contemporary; whereas Adechike/Alex got Bollywood. Huh? Or Ashley/Robert with quickstep! It was really good to see Ashley finally get something not contemporary/jazz, though. Got to see more dimension to her dancing.
• I really hope Alex isn't out for good. :(
• One final thing, the judges are going absolutely WACKY. Mia completely disagreeing with Nigel and then Adam just taking a lukewarm stance (on Adechike). Adam talking about big and small with Kent. Or Adam talking about how uncomfortable he felt about intruding upon Kent/Lauren... I kind of feel the judges should be asked to be more concise in their critiques because allowing them free reign is making the show go in crazy directions, and not necessarily for the good!