Rather than last week, when Cat just called out four dancers and that was that (which I loved in all its cruel abruptness), Nigel calls forward Noelle and Russell, Bianca and Victor, and Channing and Phillip. Hey, look who agrees with me! Nigel says the bottom four comes from these six. Then he sends Russell and Channing to safety. Based on tonight, that seems fair, though Victor and Bianca better not be going anywhere.

After the break, it's solos: Noelle, to her credit, puts it ALL out there, leaping around with abandon and stretching her body past any normal limits; Victor doesn't really show off anything spectacular, save for his amazing legs; Bianca taps to "Tootsie Roll," earning her a place in my heart forever -- and maybe Cat's too, as she totally flips for her afterwards; Phillip's solo, to Nat King Cole, looks so tame and pale in comparison to Bianca. He's gonna be done, right?

After one last break, the judges make their decisions. We start with the girls. Bianca or Noelle? Nigel says neither of them did particularly well in their pair routine earlier; I keep waiting for him to mention how awesome BOTH their solos were, but he doesn't seem all that impressed with Bianca's. They really liked Noelle's, though, because she's staying. DUDE. Disagree. Nigel said it wasn't unanimous, and I would love to know who dissented. Cut to the other dancers, and Jakob is SHOCKED. Bianca takes it like a champ, to her credit. Her goodbye package reminds us of that killer dance-off with Ryan.

Boys. Victor's staying, right? RIGHT, NIGEL? He says this decision "upsets [him] personally, more than anyone can really know" which I guess is because of the tap thing because Phillip is leaving. THANK GOD. And by now, all the dancers are in tears, for one reason or another. After his goodbye package, Phillip mentions that his father died a week and a half ago and "more than half of the Top 18" attended his funeral, which Phillip appreciates. I wish I didn't find him to be a complete fake, because that seemed very touching

So Phillip's gone a week too late, and Bianca's gone several weeks too early. Is that balance? Not sure. But next week, America gets to decide! Kind of!

Joe R blames Tyce for Bianca's ouster. Agree with him at joseph.reid21@gmail.com.