The girls came back from the last elimination to find that their house was condemned. The models have been nasty in seasons past, but these girls were apparently full-on swine. Tyra picked on them for leaving leftover eggs on the stove, and for having piles and piles of clothes all over the floor, and the bathroom was so gross that ants were everywhere! Tyra said that the girls could no longer live in their nasty house, because they were going to....Hawaii! Hawaii's cool and all, but a) not exactly a fashion capital, and b) not even an international destination. It's a freaking American state. Those girls kind of got gypped, but I guess that's what happens in a bad economy.

We got our "Top Model" jet! But their heads weren't bobbing. Boo. The new Hawaii house was amazing. They had a pool and a waterfall. Christ. Hilariously, Teyona's Seventeen cover was on the wall, and it looked ghastly.

Minor drama: Brittany is over Erin, calling her the most annoying girl in the house. Erin was markedly more chipper this episode after her disastrous performance last week, and she even made up a cute little song regarding all of the girls in the house. (Apparently Sundai likes noodles, and Jennifer likes to fart. Good to know.) We've seen Erin being super competitive, but never really annoying. So that was kind of new.

The girls headed out to the beach and met Buzzy Kerbox, a surfer/model, who taught the girls how to surf and model. The show attempted to justify the ensuing madness as somehow modeling related, but basically it was an excuse to watch these short bitches fall in the water over and over again. But in actuality, most of the girls got the hang of it pretty quickly.

Then Jay came and ruined everything by telling the girls that they would be in a photo challenge in which they had to share the frame with a male surfer on the same board. The girls basically got one shot to get it right. Sundai blew it, Laura loked like an amateur, Brittany and Erin killed it, looking like actual models on the surfboard. Erin won, and she got a helicopter tour ride of the island, and took Brittany and Nicole with her. The views were incredible, but Erin said she was disappointed since she has yet to win anything tangible. Well, that's pretty ungrateful. Then she went home and actually bitched about it to the other girls, who called her a brat. I guess Erin isn't getting that redemption arc I was expecting for her.

Meanwhile, Laura got a serious sunburn all over her body, and was bright red. OUCH.

The girls then traveled to a sugar cane field for their actual photo shoot, and Tyra was revealed to be shooting the girls again. This is the first time Tyra has shot the girls twice in "Top Model" history, which she ascribed to being so inspired by the girls that she had to shoot them again. I think these are very photogenic girls (probably the best photo crop in years), but I suspect that decision had a little more to do with budget cuts. But that's just a guess.

Anyway, the concept of the photo shoot was to turn the girls into biracial sugar farmers. It was awfully similar to the photo shoot in C4 where the girls were made over to be totally different ethnicities, and I found that exercise fairly cringe-worthy, so I was worried about this one too. Tyra gave each girl her ethnicity assignments: Laura was Greek and Mexican, Erin was Tibetan and Egyptian, Sunday was Morrocan and Russian, Brittany was Native American and East Indian, Jennifer was Botswanan and Polynesian, and Nicole was Malagati (from Madagascar) and Japanese.  The clothes were essentially stereotypes of the various nationalities, however, each individual piece was also stunning. And the girls were slathered in make-up.

Erin really looked good, but Tyra critiqued her for being too posey. Laura looked fried, and Tyra kept changing her costuming. Laura told her to be brutally honest, and Tyra was, at which point Laura got it and performed well. Nicole looked crazy until they put a gorgeous wrap on her head, and then she was totally transformed. She also smized the shit out of her shoot. Girl is a rockstar. Jennifer just didn't look right at first, and Tyra called her a mess. They had to force her to hear music in her head, and although she didn't move, at all, she seemed to do better. Brittany looked great, but was deemed too catalogue. She also looked a bit old and stiff. Sundai was the only one that looked remotely modern (loved her dress), but she kept doing that goddamn duckbill face with the pursed lips. Jay said she nailed the shoot. I thought she kept giving the same damn look over and over.

Panel. The new set was like Hawaii puked all over the place. Supermodel Kirsty Hume was the guest judge, and if they thought Celia was too old last cycle, this woman looked like her grandmother. Nigel described Jennifer's photo as "National Geographic," saying that she looked exotic, but not necessarily a model. Laura was praised for her close-up, and for being totally transformed in the photo. Erin was dinged for not having intention in her photo, and Miss J called her "beautifully bored." Tyra said she wasn't present on the set, and grilled her a bit, which the other girls seemed to love. Nigel said that Brittany's photo lacked energy, and J wanted her to give more shapes with her body. Tyra called it catalogue. Ooh, that's rough. J finally called Sundai out for her same face, same angle, although Nigel said it was the first time that face and angle really worked for her. Tyra said that she photographs short. Yeah, she's 5'3"! Nicole's photo was totally stunning - several judges said it exactly that - and basically was given the praise she deserves.

Callouts: Nicole (duh), followed by Jennifer (no way; overpraised again), Laura, and Sundai, leaving Brittany and Erin. I had been reading spoilers that those girls were going to be the inevitable F2 for the whole series. So much for that rumor! Tyra told Brittany that her photos were becoming formulaic instead of inspiring, while Erin was self-sabotaging herself by becoming intimidated by the judges. And Erin was spared, meaning Brittany went home. Kind of a shocker there, since she wasn't prominently featured in the episode at all. She's also a much better model than Sundai and possibly Jennifer. So: boo.

Next: Marisa Miller teaches the girls how to model in bikinis, and we have an underwater photo shoot involving scuba diving and hyperventilating. Whee!