Donny Ketchum

Challenge those two? As we saw, Joshua was way overshadowed by Kimberly and Meghan (who's on Blake's team), so I don't think he's infallible at all. And until the voting closed, Kimberly actually beat Sawyer this week! Sawyer only overtook her again after the voting closed.

Meghan's alleged "bitchface" can be annoying, but at least she backs it up with good cooking. Honestly, I was shocked that Alison messed up with the lobster. Granted, that was her only slip-up, so I hope she calms it down and gets back on track next week. When the women lost, it was obvious that Sarah and Christine both had to go up. Alison screwed up, too, but she didn't deserve to be on the chopping block. I thought Sarah might pull off another reprieve when she said she'd work better with the men. (Though I kinda liked Bret's "hell no!" face when she said that.) But Ramsay saw that she was no longer worth the effort, and thank goodness that he did. Sorry, Sarah. Your team didn't like you, but that was your fault, not theirs. You couldn't cook for jack shit and rightfully paid for it. French training be damned. But yeah, Christine should've gone with her. She messed up something as simple as garnish repeatedly. How do you mess that up? She'll be going home soon, I think, and we'll have a solid enough women's team of Meghan, Michelle, T, and Alison. Randy and Milly remain the only truly competent men.

Not terrible enough. She's next-to-last. Brian is last, not even in the top 200.

Team rosters/cheat sheets for the top ten: Team Adam Joshua Davis (saved by America) Deanna Johnson (saved by Twitter vote) Team Pharrell Sawyer Fredericks (saved by America) Koryn Hawthorne (saved by America) Team Christina Kimberly Nichole (saved by America) India Carney (saved by America) Rob Taylor (saved by America) Team Blake Meghan Linsey (saved by America) Hannah Kirby (saved by America) Corey Kent White (saved by America) Given that Hannah was among the bottom three on iTunes, I'm in shock that she avoided having to sing for her life! And despite her high iTunes sales, I'm just as shocked that Deanna hit the bottom three! Guess her phone votes weren't enough. Mia I already knew was in the bottom. Brian was obvious, too. Only one not to make the top 200. Glad Christina's team went unscathed. Not so glad with Blake's team. (Corey really needs to be gone, and soon.) I'd rather Pharrell's team have stayed unharmed. Christina's team performance? Love! Blake's team performance? Loved Meghan and Hannah in it. Corey, not at all. As for the save . . . I'm glad America decided to get rid of Sominex in a hat. Brian was so uninteresting (despite his good voice) that it would've been a travesty had he been allowed to marinate too long in the competition. But damn, did that vote come close. I really didn't want either woman to go, but I imagine Deanna's time will come sooner or later, anyway. She'd better step it up next week with a better song choice. A very tense episode. But one with an okay result.

Close. It was "Don't be creepy!"

Numbers as of now: http://www.livepopbars.com/lpb1024.php?Region=143441&Albums=0 3. Kimberly Nichole (Team Christina), "House Of The Rising Sun" 6. Sawyer Fredericks (Team Pharrell), "Imagine" 7. Meghan Linsey (Team Blake), "Girl Crush" 33. Joshua Davis (Team Adam), "America" 40. Koryn Hawthorne (Team Pharrell), "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" 51. Rob Taylor (Team Christina), "I Put A Spell On You" 56. Deanna Johnson (Team Adam), "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)" 64. Corey Kent White (Team Blake), "Why?" 68. India Carney (Team Christina), "Take Me To Church" 75. Hannah Kirby (Team Blake), "Edge Of Seventeen" 88. Mia Z (Team Pharrell), "Miss You" 262. Brian Johnson (Team Adam), "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You" So Kimberly maintains her lead.

Numbers as of now: http://www.livepopbars.com/lpb1024.php?Region=143441&Albums=0 5. Kimberly Nichole, "House Of The Rising Sun" 6. Sawyer Fredicks, "Imagine" 7. Meghan Linsey, "Girl Crush 34. Joshua Davis, "America" 42. Koryn Hawthorne, "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" 55. Rob Taylor, "I Put A Spell On You" 57. Deanna Johnson, "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)" 65. Corey Kent White, "Why?" 71. India Carney, "Take Me To Church" 77. Hannah Kirby, "Edge Of Seventeen" 92. Mia Z, "Miss You" 272. Brian Johnson, "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You" Yeah . . . unless he's getting enough phone votes, Brian's in the sing-off, for sure. Even a lot of last week's performances are beating him, which is, frankly, kind of dire. Mia might be in danger, as well. Just a question of whether or not Hannah can pull ahead of India in time or not. On a side note, how very interesting to see Sawyer not winning for the whole group, for once! ETA: Oops! As of a few minutes later, a few people nosed up, and Rob actually moved ahead of Deanna! Yay! :)

As I watch: Team Adam Brian: Once again, good vocals. Once again, though, unmemorable performance. Really don't understand most of the good comments he gets from the coaches. He'll probably get saved by America's vote, though, for a couple of weeks. Deanna: Weak start, get a bit stronger in the middle, but petered out close to the end. I love her voice, but my mind wandered throughout most of it. Forgettable and unmemorable. Plus, I think nerves got to her in the first minute. Will still make it through with the vote, I think, if she gets the Christian vote. Joshua: As expected, a good vocal. And just as expected, boring and uninteresting. But he's constantly second behind Sawyer on iTunes, so he'll be good till the finale, boringness and all. Team Pharrell Mia: Great vocals and good energy, and she knew how to work the stage. But the band drowned her out a few times. She'll still make it through the vote, though. Sawyer: As usual, amazing vocals, but I think the guitar hindered him to the point where he couldn't work the stage the way the better performances are done. Nonetheless, he'll likely chart the highest again and survive the vote. Koryn: Will have to edit later, since I lost my signal due to a thunderstorm and rain. But it sounded like the coaches thought it was good, and she's courting the Christian vote again. Team Christina India: She took a risk, and I think it paid off, judging by how much the audience seemed to love her during and after the performance. She had some times when she was drowned out by the music, though. More production's fault than hers. I think she'll get past the vote. Rob: Strong start that got the ladies going! Actually, it sounded and felt pretty strong throughout, from start to finish! The audience gave him a lot of applause, so they very clearly loved him! Could get through the vote, but if he charts as low as he did last week, he might need the Twitter save. Kimberly: Saw hers, though! Fantastic vocals, and a great way to end the show! She'll get through with the vote, for sure! Team Blake Hannah: Vocals were beautiful, stayed almost perfectly on-key, and she worked the stage. It was good, fun, and full of energy, and one I wouldn't mind hearing again. Judging by her place on the charts, though, could be in trouble without the Twitter save. And she might've been hurt by going first. Corey: Good vocals again. But also just as unmemorable. But Christina has it right. He has the girl vote for at least a few weeks. Meghan: Lost the signal for her, but the coaches seemed positive it was good, so . . . I'll accept it. Might pass on the vote. As a side note, Hannah's mother's reaction to meeting Reba was adorable. :) Decent episode.

Having watched the results show a second time, I'm kind of tickled that Christina's entire team (both going into the Lives and after the playoffs) was and still is made up of minorities (three black, one Hispanic, and one Asian, now reduced to just the three blacks). Conversely, Adam dumped both of his two remaining minorities.

I didn't see Sansa, either.

Oh, I think Blake likes Corey just fine . . . as a person. As a singer, I think, beyond a doubt in my mind, that he thinks of him as a capable singer, but didn't want him to make his top three. I think he wanted Sarah there in his place since he already got Meghan and Hannah through.

No, Ava set him up, I thought. I'm pretty sure Kiki was in that poker game to get Morgan out of his debt before Michael blew the whole thing up.

I said this in the UO thread, but I'll say it here, too. Considering how much trashing of Nick and Gabi had to be done to prop up their asses (as well as Sami and E.J.'s asses), I'm one of the few who's fine with this story trashing them. Both of them.

I just wish she'd have pointed out Ava's crimes to Kiki -- including killing Connie. Something like, "You know what, Kiki? I'm no angel. I'm not perfect. But don't act like your mother is. For all I've done, at least I've never killed anyone like she has." Kiki knows her mother is no innocent, and yet she keeps acting like she is.

Did you mean Tonya? There was no Sarah on Adam's team.

No, on the last leg, Mike & Rochelle came in seventh to Laura & Tyler's sixth. They've only beaten Laura & Tyler on this leg and on leg three (which they won).

I saw that, too.

Aw. Jackie did so well on the Roadblock, too. But trouble finding that Detour, being last out of it, and then getting lost again is what doomed them. Sucks, because I really wanted them to stick around a bit longer. I hope something good came out of the Blind Date format for them, since they seemed to be the only team who actually seemed into each other.

While I definitely don't have a problem with capitalizing on a team's mistake, something about the way they kept Jelani & Jenny's map felt a little . . . I don't know the word for it, but I didn't exactly feel too good about it. Still, Laura did a good thing by teaming up with Jenny at the Roadblock, as it kept another team with her and Tyler. Their navigation to the Detour seemed solid enough, but it was Tyler's turn to test my patience with his remarks about Mike & Rochelle during the task. They seemed to navigate poorly to the Pit Stop, though, since they dropped to sixth and next-to-last. Let's see if that's gonna continue being a habit for them. After this week, it'd offend me.

Well, Jenny seemed to devolve back into her nagging ways after the Detour was chosen for them, which is a shame. Still, she did the Roadblock very well, and they both seemed to do fine with their Detour. It was just navigation that hurt them on the way to the Detour and the Pit Stop, dropping them into fifth place. Dumb of Jenny to lose that map, though.

They had a lot to make up Matt's flight snafu. He killed the Roadblock, from what we saw, and they navigated well enough to their Detour. They did it fast, and then navigated strongly enough to finish fourth. Nothing too spectacular. Just solid racing on this leg.

The standby trick was clever on Rochelle's part, and I'm stunned the other teams haven't tried that thus far. Save for one small stumble at the end of the task, Mike did well at the Roadblock. They navigated a lot better on this leg, too, getting to their Detour first, but their struggles their got them out of it last. Oh, well. They still managed to navigate their way to third place, which felt oddly satisfying after Tyler's unnecessary comment about them being weak.

They fell out of first on this leg, but they still did a great job. Steve knocked the Roadblock out of the park, and despite some bad navigation en route to the Detour, they dominated the Detour. Better navigation could've netted them another win, but second place isn't bad, either. Good for them!

They finally had a leg without fighting! Hayley picked up the slack at the Roadblock, and their chemistry background helped out at the Detour. Great navigation got them to a first-place finish. Great job to both of them.

I did, too . . . until his comments at the Detour. After that, not even the suit could make him look attractive. I'm not sure I liked the unbalanced Detour much, though the blind aspect was nice. The Roadblock was okay. Self-driving legs are also good. The elimination was probably the one sucky part of this episode. The weird thing, though, was that this episode felt so much like a non-elimination leg. So I was surprised when a team got eliminated! But now the teams: Hayley & Blair: They finally had a leg without fighting! Hayley picked up the slack at the Roadblock, and their chemistry background helped out at the Detour. Great navigation got them to a first-place finish. Great job to both of them. Aly & Steve: They fell out of first on this leg, but they still did a great job. Steve knocked the Roadblock out of the park, and despite some bad navigation en route to the Detour, they dominated the Detour. Better navigation could've netted them another win, but second place isn't bad, either. Good for them! Mike & Rochelle: The standby trick was clever on Rochelle's part, and I'm stunned the other teams haven't tried that thus far. Save for one small stumble at the end of the task, Mike did well at the Roadblock. They navigated a lot better on this leg, too, getting to their Detour first, but their struggles their got them out of it last. Oh, well. They still managed to navigate their way to third place, which felt oddly satisfying after Tyler's unnecessary comment about them being weak. Matt & Ashley: They had a lot to make up Matt's flight snafu. He killed the Roadblock, from what we saw, and they navigated well enough to their Detour. They did it fast, and then navigated strongly enough to finish fourth. Nothing too spectacular. Just solid racing on this leg. Jelani & Jenny: Well, Jenny seemed to devolve back into her nagging ways after the Detour was chosen for them, which is a shame. Still, she did the Roadblock very well, and they both seemed to do fine with their Detour. It was just navigation that hurt them on the way to the Detour and the Pit Stop, dropping them into fifth place. Dumb of Jenny to lose that map, though. Laura & Tyler: While I definitely don't have a problem with capitalizing on a team's mistake, something about the way they kept Jelani & Jenny's map felt a little . . . I don't know the word for it, but I didn't exactly feel too good about it. Still, Laura did a good thing by teaming up with Jenny at the Roadblock, as it kept another team with her and Tyler. Their navigation to the Detour seemed solid enough, but it was Tyler's turn to test my patience with his remarks about Mike & Rochelle during the task. They seemed to navigate poorly to the Pit Stop, though, since they dropped to sixth and next-to-last. Let's see if that's gonna continue being a habit for them. Jeff & Jackie: Aw. Jackie did so well on the Roadblock, too. But trouble finding that Detour, being last out of it, and then getting lost again is what doomed them. Sucks, because I really wanted them to stick around a bit longer. I hope something good came out of the Blind Date format for them, since they seemed to be the only team who actually seemed into each other. Okay episode. Not great, but okay.