Well, not much surprise for us tonight. The two we thought would be eliminated were, and on the women’s side, our second pick for elimination was in the bottom two. Ade was the only dancer that did not belong, and we thought it like last year when Twitch was threatened, but really, had no business even gracing the bottom anything.

By the way, we would like to mention we met Twitch at one of the performances last year in Boston. Twitch was more gracious and more willing to please his fans than any dancer we have seen. He signed and took pictures and tried to please everyone in a very chilly environment in which he could have easily waved and departed. Twitch was not our favorite last year in the dance competition, but he is our favorite personality from SYTYCD to date. He is our favorite SYTYCD performer since its inception because he has grace and presence with his audience as well as on the stage.

All that said, we were sad that we were right about Randi. Randi got a “luck of the draw” elimination. The Paso Doble eliminated her, and the costume directors eliminated her, and Kubono’s weak performance eliminated her. There was way too much weight on the poor girl. Tonight, she showed her incredibly cute personality, and you could see it was an error to have sent her home this week. But that draw of the cards was drawing a 2 on a high card draw. No matter how well you drew the card, it was still a 2. But she bowed out holding that two with total grace and personality, something we will remember her for.

On the men’s side, we were surprised that Ade made it to the bottom 2. We think perhaps it is his kind of goofy look that, at times, steals from his ability to be the leading man. Joshua had no such problem with any goofy smile. Oddly, Twitch did, but it endeared us to him and he better controlled it. Ade’s smile does not endear, it just makes you think he is a goofy kid. That is sad to say because we love his talent and think it nearly unsurpassed this year, but it may be his undoing. But then, Twitch learned and recovered, and so may Ade.

But the fact is… Kupono called it a night, and the audience called for Ade. Kupono was done tonight and had to be. Again, this was a partially because of a draw of the cards. That Paso Doble was very difficult. But the champions like Joshua pull those dances out of the fire and make them memorable. The lesser dancers cannot present the strength and personality necessary, and Kupono went down in flames taking Randi with him. Kupono dances much like his mentor, Mark Kanemura, but he has a feminine look and no evil or strong persona that could have pulled out that dance like Mark did in this one… He lost because he deserved to lose, combined with the luck of the draw because the dance he was forced to dance did not match his personality.

So there you have it. Kupono and Randi are gone. Randi should not be, and Kupono deserved to be. Melissa is skating on thin Nutcracker ice. We think she is in definite danger to be next. On the men’s side it is totally up in the air.