'Step It Up & Dance': Surprise, surprise, surprise

There are more twists in this week's Step It Up & Dance than in a M. Night Shyamalan movie. But at least there were no forests involved.

Spoilers

Our genre this week is Latin with dance master Jordi Caballero. We even get to see Elizabeth Berkley work it a little with Jordi in a demo while wearing an awesome shimmy dress. He's looking to see the personalities of each contestant and how they interpret the style.

Jordi's assistant Vai Au-Harfho will be the third girl as they're taught a Salsa routine in 75 minutes. Janelle admits her weakness with partner work and she has no experience with the genre. Double whammy. Nick really wants to show more fire when he dances since that's all the judges have been telling him. Miguel is going on and on about how he has this challenge on lock since he's Latino and this kind of dancing is "in his blood." Snore. And Mochi's confident because she's worked with partners before and she has some Latin experience. She's also doing fantastically and being complimented by Jordi.

Unfortunately, once it came to her audition (paired with Cody) Mochi blanked. They gave them another shot and Cody, being a stand-up guy and a good partner, really helped her through it but the damage was already done. Jenelle and Miguel are second and do well enough. Nick gets to dance with Mochi. He says in his confessional, tongue-in-cheek, that if he messes up he'll blame her.

Jordi ranks the dancers bottom to top - Mochi (who did the best during rehearsal but choked), Nick, Janelle, Miguel, and Cody. They'll be picking partners based on their rankings but they won't be dancing with each other, they'll be partnering with the one of the previously cut contestants. Surprise!

Elizabeth explains their callback number - a Latin dance combining Salsa, Tango and Flamenco styles. Cody says quietly that he'll leave Tovah and take Jess (whom Miguel is still ticked at for rushing off stage during Week 1) but Miguel says to do whatever he wants. Self-preservation wins out and Cody picks Tovah. Miguel remarks that Cody is two-faced in his confessional but, um...so is Miguel.

Miguel picks Jessica, who was shocked. Me too frankly. But, as he bitchily explains, Adriana got eliminated first and he'd rather "be with the girl who ran off stage." Janelle picks James, who doesn't seem entirely pleased about it and Nick picks Adriana (the only girl left) who leaps on him in joy. Or because he's cute. Half a dozen of one, etcetera. Now it's Mochi's turn and she picks Oscar, which isn't a surprise. But what is a surprise is that Michael did a little Latin move before making his exit and wishing everyone luck. Turns out he has some Latin dance training. Oops.

The couples will rehearse for 4.5 hours for a group number that will have spotlight moments. But, there's a second twist. To keep the pressure on the remaining contestants, one of the 5 eliminated contestants will be named a winner and will be back in the competition (which of course Miguel pitches a mini-fit about).

Jordi teaches the routine at a fast pace and there's a lift. A big old hold-the-girl-over-your-head-and-spin lift. And some people are less than happy with that. Cody & Tovah, of course, have little trouble with it while Miguel & Jess and Jenelle & James (mostly Janelle) struggle.

Nick discusses being worried about being sent home because the judges few him as being  "passion challenged" with Cody. Cody tells him to just go for it. Meanwhile, Miguel has a mini-breakdown and calls his mom while Janelle holds his hand. Also, in a moment too adorable not to mention, Tovah tucks Oscar into bed.

The next morning, a very upset Jessica is having equilibrium issues and must be taken to the hospital leaving Miguel partner-less. Perhaps this is karma? Thirty minutes before Callback, Jordi says that he'll have them run the routine twice, the second time with Mochi dancing with Miguel. They practice on stage and he gets a little snippy because Mochi is "smirking" when he momentarily blanks on the routine. Then, towards the end, they try the lift and Mochi ends up on her behind on the floor and very upset. It's crazy tense and Oscar steps up and tells Miguel that he can't treat a partner like that. Mochi then tells him to stop being so defensive, which naturally doesn't work because he's defensive. He decides that he'll just dance alone. Methinks this behavior will come back to bite him.

Before the Callback, Elizabeth announces that Jessica has an inner-ear inflammation and will not be returning. That poor girl can't catch a break.

All right, it's go time. Everyone performs the lift wonderfully and Miguel, ironically, goes off stage for that portion. He also looks odd doing his feature by himself. I don't know if he was just sticking to choreography but it looked...stilted. But, overall, everyone stepped up their games. The most pleasant surprise was Nick. He really got into it and even let out a "ha!" of emphasis a couple times (without being cheesy).

Jordi was really impressed by the returning dancers. They all got positive remarks but it was only Tovah and Oscar who didn't get improvement marks. In fact, the judges raved about them both during deliberation. James and Adriana are dismissed first, naturally. It came down to Oscar and Tovah yet again and Oscar wins, yet again.

Miguel got positive marks. They slobbered over Mochi, and rightly so. Janelle was really only criticized about her lifts, which was expected. Cody was told that he was a bit cold in the performance. Nancy was impressed by Nick and dubbed him her "official buttered biscuit." Which I'll totally have to call him every week.

I'd like to take a moment to relay that Vincent said Tovah looked "edible" during the judges' winner/elimination conversation. Moving on.

So, Miguel, Michelle and Nick the Buttered Biscuit are told to step forward. Nick seemed slightly surprised when they called his name. And the winner is...Mochi! Yay!

It's Janelle and Cody left on the chopping block. Jordi tells Janelle that she needs to work on the details and creating dynamics. Vincent tells Cody that he's a great technician but sometimes falls short of being a performer.

Elizabeth reminds them that she said that an eliminated dancer would be returning...but she never said anything about an elimination. That's right. No one's going home. How's that for a twist.

Should someone have gone home? Should Tovah been brought back instead of Oscar? It's a shame they couldn't both have been brought back but them's the breaks. Is there a frontrunner at this point? Last week it would've been Cody but now I'm not so sure. And Miguel is seriously working my nerves.

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