kerrieway

It's probably best not to assume that she sees herself as "Kelli, the ruiner of dreams". We're all the hero of our own movie. She thinks she did the right thing but know others think she's full of it, that's why the crocodile tears. To garner empathy and sympathy and to say poor me...I had a tough decision to make.

Insightful comment. That's why Kelli broke out with the crocodile tears. She knows she's on the team's s* list and didn't want to appear like the monster they all think they are. I think we forget that these girls are trained dancers, they know who's struggling and who have what it takes. They saw Alora-Rose and Jessica in training camp and they know there is no way in Hades she should have taken Hannah's or Brennan's spot.

Who is Kelli's niece?

I have never disagreed with cuts more than I have tonight. Let's call a spade a spade--Kelli likes the shiny new things. She'd rather have a cute but struggling rookie than an established vet. Alora-Rose wasn't better than Brennan or Hannah and she'll probably get cut next year. In fact, if Meredith had been dancing at Brennan or Hannah's level, Kelli would have never even called her into the office. If they had just cut Lily (though I think she deserved to be on the team last year) I would have understood because she is stiff at times. However, when they cut Brennan and Hannah, my mouth dropped. Kelli & Judy deserved to be cursed out, so I thought the vets gave them better responses than they deserved. This is embarrassing.

When people are looking at one another no one is wondering what specific percentages of different races you have in your DNA , they judge you by what they see. I think that is the point you are making and in that point you are absolutely right. Vanessa Williams is 56% African and 44% European, she looks mixed and is mixed and yes, any attraction or repulsion towards her would be based on whether a person likes mixed or mixed looking women. However, she does not know these non-black ancestors the way a mixed/biracial/multi-racial person would. She's been ethnically and culturally raised like all black Americans with both Black American parents and is Black American from a cultural standpoint only. Again, I will not disagree with you, I wholeheartely agree she is racially mixed. You can find both of the people I'm going to discuss on Youtube, they made videos on their Ancestry DNA tests. This girl, Paris (youtube name LeSweetPea) has green eyes and fair skin, she is 69% African descent and 31% person European and other. This guy Jonathan Champ (youtube name is his name) is 70% African and 30% European. I would say Paris looks mixed (she states that she is mixed but also acknowledges that she is culturally and ethnically Black American, she doesn't personally know these white ancestors) and Jonathan looks Black but they have nearly the identical African/European percentage. We have no control over which features will be dominant when we are born. Again I agree, anyone that is exclusively attracted to Gabrielle Union with Afro-centric features would not like Paris because Paris looks mixed (though she's no more mixed than millions of other African Americans.)

You didn't offend me, I found your comment refreshingly honest actually. I too was listing names off the top of my head but had no idea about Rihanna's white grandparent. As far as Meagan Good, yeah she's black even if she wishes to delude herself otherwise, I've seen her parents (her mom looks like should could be mixed but both her parents could be any black Americans). In Meagan Good's statement about her race she seems as misinformed as the average person. She said, "my mother's mother is Jewish and African, so i guess that would be considered Creole (No Meagan that is not Creole, Creole is French, Spanish, Native American and African usually found in Louisiana/Mississippi and the Southern US. So her grandmother is part Jewish?). My father was Cherokee Indian and something else (another Black person claiming to be Cherokee...OMG it's like the only tribe any of us have heard of and statistically it's not true at all for 99% of black people. The Cherokee everyone thinks they are is used to explain away non-black features people unknowingly inherited from white ancestors they never knew. Also, what is this "something else" she's talking about being mixed with? Mixed people usually know what they're mixed with and personally know or their parents knew the non-black ancestors they are discussing). My dad's mother's Puerto Rican (Puerto Rico is an island not a race, this Puerto Rican grandparent could be black or a mixture of black, Indian, Iberian/Spanish etc...anything for all we know) and black, and his father was from Barbados (again another entire country, this does not mean she is of a different race.) Meagan is uninformed and looks about as mixed as Ciara IMO. Yes, I'm from South Florida and understand you perfectly. I know we all understand Latino is not a race but an ethnicity, there are black, white, and mixed latinos but yes you make an excellent point, mixed people in Dade and Broward and Orange County can and will tell you what they are mixed with because usually they know the parents and grandparents that they are telling others about. Again, I appreciate and thank you for your comments, this continues to be an interesting and educational convo for many of us, I suspect even the lurkers, though it could be considered a little off topic.

Ok, on to the fun stuff! Who's going to make it? I think Austin and Jessica for sure!

I like your commentary and would love to be wrong, time will tell!

Vanessa Williams is black with two black parents but is multi-generational mixed just like Steph Curry so may have percentages of non-black DNA close to a mixed person. You and I agree, Brandon is not awkward, he does not like Taylor. People are just being naive or uniformed because they see two attractive people and hope for love and don't know the underlying issues. Well I am not a woman of color, I am black and would like them to either pick black guys who like black women or just get some other cultures in the mix if they can't do that i.e. Indians/Asians/etc. I won't beat this topic further on this particular episode discussion, I'm sure it will come up later anyway. Randomly, I think Katie looks a lot like Derek's mother (who has a marked Spanish from Spain accent). This IMO slightly improves Katies' chances, though I'm not sold that they will make it.

Pastor Cal himself is not a self-hater and though I think is aware of the issue doesn't see it as a deal-breaker. I don't think he wanted Tristan on the show but was overruled, but I do also think Pastor Cal hopes (foolishly) that the men who aren't as blunt and honest as Tristan was about his prejudice preference will be open enough once they see that the girl is attractive. But these men aren't looking at attractiveness, they are looking for features and complexions that black women don't have. I think sadly it boils down to the fact that finding Black men who date their own, meet the eligible bachelor criteria, and would be willing to be on TV would really be way more work for whoever is doing the casting for this show. They would need to be casting a year or more in advance just for the black male candidates alone. We are the minority (what 13% of US pop?) in a given city the number of childless, non-married black men who look decent enough to be cast on TV are already making out well with black women. Also black men get married at a lower rate than any other race in the US, so we are also talking about marriage averse men. Then let's tie in the ages: Katie is 25, Derek is 26, Meka is 25, Michael is 31, Mindy is 34 and Zach is 32, Brandon is 33 (and still picky and smug) and Taylor is 27, both Jessica and Austin are 31. A 6 YEAR age gap? They would have had a hard time finding the black version of Derek (tall and good-looking) willing to take himself off the market and get married at his age. Heck, none of the black girls got anyone with less than a 6 year age gap. The only decent black men on this show have been Greg, Keith from season 8, and maybe (still not sure about him) Keith from season 9.

I agree with you but want to make a distinction: Colorism, featurism, and a preference for non-black/racially ambiguous/mixed women are three different things that can overlap with self-hating black men. Meagan Goode is black (2 black parents) and doesn't look mixed but she is lighter browned skinned, I wouldn't say exactly light skinned but close. However she is pretty, with a nose that isn't overtly afro-centric. Everything else,: cheekbones and full lips are pretty afo-centric IMO. However, Halle Berry, Mariah Carey, and Alicia Keys are MIXED, not black--they all have white mothers. A light skinned black woman would be someone with two black parents. However, looks can vary because most black Americans are 70% - 85% African descent so some black people can and will look like mixed people. Loni Love and Tamar Braxton on the Real are both black but Loni is 83% black and is dark skinned and Tamar is 84% black and is medium brown skinned. You can see this on their DNA video on youtube. Light-skinned black people who look mixed would be actress Bianca Lawson and Steph Curry and his wife. These people may be 70% black or more but their non-black genes are dominant in their appearance. I don't follow the one-drop rule but a lot of uninformed people do. Thankfully, more and more black women are waking up to this nonsense and mixed women like Meghan Markle (who has a black mom/white father) will honestly relay that they are mixed because they are self-aware enough not to pretend to be black because it's not an accurate or fair comparison to black women. Trey was mixed so I can make an allowance for him wanting a mixed or non-black woman. Jephte's cheating self is trash. Tristan is trash and is newly engaged again to a lighter/prettier version of Meagan Goode. I knew Will didn't like dark girls with Jasmine's features (wide nose, kinkier hair etc) ---basically the female version of himself. It's like layers of a self-hating preference onion. When a guy wants a lighter brown-skinned woman he may just want a girl with less dominant black features but still black, i.e. Megan Goode or Ciara. Then we go down to more features. Maybe Rihanna who'd look very black if she had very dark skin but has a feature, i.e. light eyes and a darker caramel color that would maybe make you question whether she was "completely black". Then a step down, perhaps Bianca Lawson because she has light skin and probably 3c hair, more neutral features but would also look black with darker skin. The inner layer of the onion would be mixed people. Meghan Markle. Then finally non-black women who tan, Kim Ks and Jennifer Lopez. Check out Chrissie's youtube vids if you want more examples.

One other random thing, I think Katie has game--really good game. She may or may not be aware of this fact but whether this is just naturally how she is or not I think the girl knows how to turn on the charm with men. She seems a little immature/maybe naive and her manner of speaking makes her sound younger than she actually is but I have to say that she also gives off a whimsical and effusive little girl vibe that can be very appealing to certain men. Interestingly enough, she doesn't come off as desperate but just innocently smitten/head over heels. Examples: 1. She steps up to the altar (having already seen how good looking Derek already is) and looks Derek in the eye, maintains eye contact and then says wow. 2. Every hug she gave him was a full body hug. 3. Every look she gave him was a gaze. She's a cute girl but this effusiveness can be very very charming and I think made Derek like her much more than he would have just on looks alone. I mean, one of his first comments about Katie was that she "melts into him." If a guy is not a player and has never been in love before this kind of approach could be disarming. If she can keep the bratty behavior to a minimum and keep this intensity up the girl may have him for good.

Yeah Brandon doesn't like Jessica, period. Despite his words of finding her "attractive" I think we've all seen enough seasons to know that when the guy is timid in his initial reaction to his wife that the relationship is not going to last. I remember Matt being a poet when talking to the cameras during the matching episode and then he deflated like a balloon once he saw Amber. Men are visual, they don't grow attraction like women can, I think the same thing happened with Will and even Keith (though Iris is gorgeous I really don't think she was his type. Bobby questioned Keith's attraction to Iris a well when he and Danielle did the last episode of Couple's Couch.)

Derek is 26, Jessica is 31, I think it would be too much of an age difference and we also have to factor in what Derek's preferences would have been as well, he may not have wanted a girl as tall as Jessica or with her particular look.

She didn't say he was for sure gay. She said he could be gay or that he could be attracted to another type of woman. I don't know if he's gay but Brandon is coming across as effeminate to me. Oh and it's not about being some mountain man, Austin is far from a mountain man and comes across as straight and more masculine, Brandon is awkward and giving off an odd vibe so far.