This week's challenge was that the Final 5 - Shayla, Reuben, Pinky, Mara, and Alicia - had to learn two different routines, one tango and one hip-hop. At this stage everybody performed at least adequately, and we had a several 10s in the midst -- a few too many, in my opinion.

For her hip-hop, Mara and Paul got "Get Ur Freak On" by Missy Elliot. Mara was really fun, and did lots of bouncing and shaking. It was an energetic performance and she was given plenty to do. If anything, her partner was barely present. She ended by jumping into a split. Damn girl! Mara got an average score of 8.7.

Pinky and Mr. Lucky got "1,2 Step" for hip-hop. I didn't think they were together at all. It looked a mess, frankly. And I love Pinky. And this is her STYLE. I thought the whole thing was a mess. The costumes didn't help, flopping all over the place. It was really distracting. The judges were WAY too kind to her, giving her an average of 8.3. She should have been pulling 6s.

Shayla is developing a little crush on her partner, and she and Mario got "Temperature" by Sean Paul. She was sure hitting it much harder than the previous two. She was giving FACE. I love this girl, I really do. He did a leap over her, and then she ended the whole thing by jumping up and wrapping her legs around him backwards. So good. Two judges gave her a 10, and she got a 9.7 average. Justly deserved! She's the shit.

Alicia won last week, so I was concerned that she wouldn't be able to pull a big weight-loss number this time. She and Italo got "Closer" by Ne-Yo, and the really egregious mugging was back. I don't think she knows how to not mug, though. I can't really hold that against her. Alicia unquestionably puts in a ton of effort, and I don't think she felt comfortable in hip-hop. She got an average score of 8. I think that was probably a touch kind.

Ruben looked totally ridiculous in his hip-hop number. The routine was supposed to emphasize his masculinity, and I'm not sure how rolling on the floor accomplished that. To me it was the least successful of all of the hip-hop numbers, and he hit it the least. I do agree with Lisa-Anne that he and his partner were the most in synch, but COME ON. Ruben has a natural advantage in this competition, being the only male left. Men drop weight much faster than women. Letting him off so easily when he failed to execute that routine believably is unfair to the rest of the contestants. He ended up getting an average of 8.3.

For her tango, Alicia got "Maneater." I was impressed by her rhythm, her dedication to the routine, and many of the moves. Her arms were not nearly as strong as they needed to be. Lisa-Anne called her out for her lack of dance posture, and Amen on that one. She got an average of 7.3, with a final dance score average of 7.7, which I think is fair overall. She lost another 6.4 pounds, which is just crazy, given how big she lost last week. That's truly amazing. She's lost a total of 35.6 pounds. Good on her.

Ruben danced to "Buttons" and the tango was much more in his wheelhouse. He was believable, and he was good - it was probably my favorite performance of his in the show's history. He was a very strong partner, and there were a lot of great, quick, precise movements. He got a perfect score, and I can't argue that. His final dance score was 9.2. He lost another 6.4 pounds - same as Alicia! - and he got an overall total of 11.60. He's lost a total of 54.4 pounds.

Pinky's tango was to "Hot N Cold," and it was kind of a mess. Her face showed how uncomfortable she was. The movements were stiff in the beginning, but once the song hit the chorus it got noticeably better. The judges dinged her for a lack of traditional tango movements, and Danny gave her a 9, which was crazy. Didn't matter: she lost 6.4 pounds - AGAIN! - which is 3.70 percent of her weight. That's wonderful. She's been struggling so much with her weight loss, and with that huge number it put her in first place above Ruben. Wow! She's lost 20.3 pounds since the beginning.

Mara got "Hey Sexy Lady" and she kept looking at the ground while coming down the stairs. I thought she looked incredible in her outfit. Unfortunately, there was very little tango going on - more paso doble, maybe, but not tango -- and she looked alternately pissed or dead while she was performing the number. The judges, however, loved it. I don't know. She lost 2.6 pounds this week, for a total of 20something overall this competition.

Shayla got "Poker Face," and she looked nervous. It was a very slow tango, with a lot of posing and extensions. That was impressive, but not necessarily flashy. I enjoyed it, but I was very worried. But the judges loved it. I was petrified at this point that she would go home. She lost 2.4 pounds, and has lost a total of 25 pounds. She's now almost 170, and I wonder if maybe Shayla has done a little TOO well in this competition. It's going to be tough for her to keep posting big numbers given how small she's getting.

I didn't want either Mara or Shayla to go home, and that left Alicia also in danger. In the end, Shayla got an average of 9 for the tango, which ultimately got her into third place. THANK GOD. I could not have lost her this week. She needs to be in the finals with Ruben. She's the best dancer on the show.

As for Mara, she got an 8.7, which was not enough to beat Alicia, so she went home. BOO! I loved her. What a totally charming woman, and you could see how much her figure has changed since the show began. It's getting so hard, it really is. And next week it looks like there's a big surprise, and I am freaking out that it's Shayla getting eliminated (since they showed Alicia and Ruben in the audience, with Alicia giving a full-on WTF face). Yikes!