BOOOOOOOO! Robbed. That's how you spell Celia from here on out: R-O-B-B-E-D. It's markedly different from S-T-U-P-I-D, Aminat. Don't get me wrong, I never thought Celia could win this entire competition. It would be nearly impossible for her to make it through the Cover Girl shot and commercial unscathed, because while she is many things - smart, a strong model, great on the runway, impeccably stylish - she is not easy, breezy, nor conventionally beautiful. So I knew she would never make it past F3. But being beaten by Aminat? That's just bullshit.

The episode started with the girls learning a samba routine, which turned into a challenge as Paulina judged them on how well they could fake their way through the dance while remaining modelesque and picture-worthy. None of them did particularly well (Allison was predictably, hilariously gawky; Teyona did surprisingly poorly), but Paulina gave Aminat entirely too much praise while viciously ripping down Celia. I love Paulina, but I thought her comment that Celia was too old and too desperate to ever be a model came out of nowhere, at least vis-�-vis her performance in that challenge.

Ultimately, after a night of practice, Celia ended up unclenching a bit and took the win (I wonder if Paulina was overcompensating for how brutal she was earlier?), and chose Allison to share in her jewelry prize. That further irked Paulina, who clearly thought she should have taken challenge runner-up Aminat. The only problem with that is Celia doesn't particularly like Aminat, and Celia won, so she should take whoever the hell she pleases. I'm not sure what Brazilian bug crawled up Paulina's ass last night, but man she was off the mark.

The photo shoot involved some ridiculous, pointless interlude with the girls venturing into the jungle via bus and finding Tyra and her jeep broken down in the middle of the road. I don't know why Tyra persists in doing hokey stuff like this. I'm sure she's a big goofball in real life, which I actually really admire, but I usually end up feeling embarrassed for her when it's totally extraneous like this was. Anyway, Tyra was the photographer (and she's a damned good photog), and the girls were given heavy make-up and outrageous feathered outfits, placed in overgrown "nests," and told to act like birds. Allison's specific instructions, per Tyra, were to be a "birdy owl/pterodactyl thing." Well, naturally.

At panel Allison's photo turned out great - it was sexy and coquettish, and she got first call out (although I would argue that we've seen that look from her before). At first the entire panel seemed to love Celia's shot. The only quibble they seemed to have was with her mouth, which admittedly lacked tension. Meanwhile, I thought Teyona's and Aminat's pictures were dreadful. Teyona's didn't even look like it came from the same shot - there was nothing birdlike about it, and weirdly, her face looked more like Aminat's than her own. With Aminat, Tyra pushed her hard to do SOMETHING with her face, and she ended up looking like Chaka Khan. That's not a bad thing, as Chaka's a gorgeous woman, but it had nothing to do with the assignment, and it was just the latest in a string of shitty Aminat photos.

And so of course Aminat got to stay. Why throw away a contestant who has somehow made it to the Final 4 despite never having taken a decent photo, and who has no idea what to do with her face, when you could discard one who arguably has an even more challenging, angular face but worked hard to translate it into good photos? A model who turned in a photo that you largely raved about just minutes before? Mind boggling.

Again, I knew Celia wasn't going to win the competition. But she certainly deserved a spot in the Final 3 over Aminat. Aminat LOOKS like a model. She is beautiful, has luscious skin, an absolutely killer body, and a strong runway walk. But she has proven herself incapable of taking a good photo week after week. Celia has a great body, is great on the runway, and even with a few bum photos, has an overall better portfolio than Aminat. She may not be as strong as Aminat in person, but her performance in this competition was leagues better than what Aminat produced. I don't think we've ever had a contestant with such a crappy photographic record ever make it to the F3. Has Aminat even ever had a first callout all season? Celia has. And Aminat has consistently landed toward the bottom of the pack almost every week.

I suppose you could argue that since Celia was basically screwed when it came to the Cover Girl campaign, Aminat makes more sense for the competition at this stage. And I can see that. But it's not like Aminat's likely to do well with the CG ad either. In fact, NONE of the Final 3 seem likely to produce a decent commercial at this point. Aminat's nasally voice is irritating, Allison is a kooky nervous wreck, and Teyona sounds like she just bounced right off the turnip truck. (How have her awful voice and pronunciation issues not come up even once yet?)

At this point I think we can pretty much write off Cycle 12 as the worst since Cycle 9. I don't think any of the remaining ladies have a shot at a legitimate career. I don't even like most of them. Allison is talented and adorable, but she needs to start taking herself more seriously. I find both Aminat and Teyona largely intolerable. I had come to love Celia, even with - or perhaps because of - her physical shortcomings. Yes, at 25 she was old to be starting out in the modeling industry, and she had unconventional looks. But by god she had a lot of grace and spirit, and she took her limitations as fuel for the competition. And she's got a great personality and sense of style. I read in a blog somewhere that she was very hurt by initial internet reaction to her casting photos. I feel kind of bad; I believe my initial reaction to her was "manface." But I hope she has kept reading the blogs, because I think most people came to realize that she's a pretty awesome lady, a good model, and she deserved to go farther in this competition.

At least we'll always have her throwing Tahlia under the bus. Good times. Good times.

Next week: Finale. Teyona freaks the hell out during her CG commercial shoot. Brazilian guys writhing in some sticky substance on the runway. And most likely, the crowning of the least likable winner since Saleisha. Blech.