Dear Nigel: Ricky's not the one not connecting with the audience.

WORD.

eta:

Her solo was some of the weirdest shit ever. NO musicality at all.

Pretty blonde writhing on the floor. Nigel's kryptonite.

Ashley Solo/Lovely – Just a light dancer. She’s not unpleasant, but her dancing is really immature.

Chris/Scars – Ok, he’s kind of ridiculous. Oh, the move with the foot where he extended it in like a heel stretch? And the flips? And the Chbeeb like popping with the wavy arms? He turned it out. So, so good in his own style. That was a save your ass DoD.

Jordan/Commander – She’s a better dancer than this. Why all the stripper moves? Why so much floor work? Why so many HMV leg extensions? She’s better than that. Sigh. She makes it so hard to be a fan of her dancing.

Tadd/1-2-3 – Oh my god, doing old school pop locking to Miami Sound Machine? And it’s so inventive and clever and the last 10 seconds were just crazy difficult and forget about it. Love this kid! Free Tadd, y’all. Seriously.

Will Chris' solo be enough to make the judges split up a partnership? I’m not sure. They damn sure won’t take Chris over Tadd (and they shouldn’t) but Nigel might try to blame Ricky for putting his pretty, pretty princess in danger week after week. So Ricky had better bring it tonight in his DoD because Chris laid it down.

If there were any justice, Ryan and Ricky would go home. They have not been great (her especially) any week since the show began, whereas both Chris and Ashley and Tadd and Jordan have had at least one standout routine. And tonight their solos were the weakest. Ricky’s was the weakest by a lot! No chance this group will let Ryan go, though. Ashley didn’t make an unequivocal case for herself and absent that, they won’t break up the partnership. Also, if you thought Ricky/Ryan was bad, Ryan/Chris would be a disaster and a guaranteed trip back to B3 next week for Nigel’s blond pet. Nope, bye bye Chris and Ashley. You should’ve stayed, though.

Not even one token dancer? Too good for it, Florence and the Machine? Then why is your ass on this show screaming about stars and moon. Ugh. I don’t even dislike you really, but you are dismissed.

Who cares about Kim Khardashian? What the hell is Nigel talking about? Aww, poor Chris is in tears. “Dance is a lot more than developes.” Amen, Nigel. Amen. Awww, poor pretty black girl. To go home before Ryan is just wrong. It’s wrong. But she really hasn’t been that great on the show. Why does Ricky get the “You’re not connecting” speech? Bitch, please. Ricky would be shining on this show if you hadn’t saddled him with Ryan. Chris going home is right. He’s out of his depth in this competition now. But he’s still a cutie. And he did awfully well for a b-boy with very little training.

They’re just gonna keep saving Ryan until they can’t save her anymore, I guess. Damn, Top 10 can’t come soon enough. Poor Chris and Ashley’s sad little faces. Damn.

Has anyone ever gone to an Anthony Bourdain appearance? He's coming to the Paramount in Oakland in October, and I am trying to decide if it's worth going to or not.

Yeah, I saw Bourdain and Ripert together, and it was FAB. Expensive, but great. Not sure how much I'd pay for just one of them, though. But I heart Eric.

Master Chef - Ben (his silly hats aside) seems to be finding his pace. I like watching him do well, he seems so enthusiastic. And I was kind of relieved when they announced who was leaving (am I allowed to say who?) - it was someone who seemed to be floundering.

I'm not surprised, although I did think it was going to be the first person they talked about.

That's what I thought - and, obviously, she did as well. But I think she's too entertaining (seriously - she's out-cussing Ramsey!) to let go before they have to.

I think since I just watched it on Hulu names are fair game. I like her because she's spunky and she may be a bit on the weepy side, but at least she never seems to give up.

I hope that Suzy gets an attitude adjustment fast, I know she's skilled but her ego is almost as bad as Max's. and speaking of Max, I noticed the show didn't waste any time in portraying someone as the new "villain".

Esther has a blog with some behind the scenes info [link]

I was feeling sorry for Esther - she was looking like the one person in the room who wasn't "getting it".

If it's aired, it's fair game. Although I might be reticent about naming the ultimate winner of something just as it's aired on the East Coast, just as a favor.