The results show opened with Cat addressing this season's disastrous injury record head on, referring to it as the "Curse of Season 7." This week, of course, that manifested in Billy Bell's knee issues, sidelining him from performing all week and automatically consigning him to the Bottom 3. What a mess this once-promising season has become.

The opening group number featured both the S7 crew (Billy was not among them) and the All-Stars dancing a Broadway routine to a funky version of "All That Jazz" from "Chicago." Robert got an extended solo focus and Kent was also given a couple spotlight moments, including one killer jump where he was launched into the air by two of the other guys. I really loved the piece. One of the best opening routines we've seen all season, and it was choreographed by Kelly Abbey, who I am not familiar with, but would like to get to know better.

Kenny Ortega was still sitting with the judges. He was useless Wednesday, so I wasn't all that excited to see him back again. Before we got into the results, the show took a moment to pay tribute to Denise Jefferson, director of the Alvin Ailey dance school, who died this week. This was interesting, because while Jefferson was clearly a huge force in the dance community and deserving of a moment of respect, I can't recall the show doing anything like that before, and certainly major dance-world figures have died during previous "SYTYCD" seasons. Curious.

Results: Cat called all five remaining contestants (not counting the automatically endangered Billy) to the stage. She started with Lauren, who had a solid showing Wednesday night, and as the sole remaining girl on the show, is more or less guaranteed to continue for as long as the judges are making the cuts. She was justifiably safe. Kent had a disappointing number with Kathryn, but slayed his challenging step routine with Twitch, and is clearly the screaming teen girls' favorite of the season. Our 21st century Lil' Abner was safe. That left Jose, Robert, and AdeChike to fill the remaining two slots in the Bottom 3.

But not before a duo from the American Ballet Theatre came out to perform a piece from "Don Quixote." I love that this show is featuring other styles of dance, specialties that its more generally trained contestants could not hope to master in a few short weeks. The ballet dancers were exquisite, and I was heartened to see that the screaming teen-girl mosh pit seemed totally into the performance. Wouldn't it be amazing if ballet caught on again with the teen set, like the way Lady Gaga is making tea fashionable again for today's youth? That would give me a little more faith in the next generation, I have to admit.

Back to results. AdeChike was up, and he should absolutely be safe after that outstanding hip-hop number he shared with Comfort on Wednesday. The all-male paso doble he pulled with Jose failed to impress, but he was clearly the superior dancer in that routine. I like Robert, but felt he was overpraised in his samba with S7 Lauren Wednesday, although his jazz piece with All-Star Lauren was pretty great. And then there was effing Jose. Sonya continued the streak of choreographers giving him very little to do in his contemporary number with Allison, and he was flat in his paso with AdeChike. Something actually went right with the show this season, as AdeChike was spared, leaving what I consider to be the absolute correct Bottom 2 for this week, joining the injured Billy, who was not able to perform a solo. Ruh roh.

Then the show brought back one of this year's Vegas auditioners, DJ Smart (I think? Cat's accent made it tough to tell), for a solo showcase. He danced to Kanye West's "Say You Will" in nothing but a VERY tight pair of trunk underpants and handcuffs around both wrists. It was fantastic. Why exactly was this guy not part of our Top 11 this year? The guy's body was insane. Like, he made S5's Brandon look like a 90-pound weakling.

National Dance Day update with videos of people doing the Tab Nap routine. Very cute, and if the show really is inspiring people to dance with this National Dance Day thing, I think that's great.

This week All-Star routine featured S3's Lauren and Neil doing the Wade Robson "Night of the Dancing Flame" number. I think the costuming may have been different the first time around. Weren't they burglars or something? Or am I confusing it with another Wade number? Regardless, I miss Wade. He's not on this show nearly enough anymore. Love those two dancers, and if the show does away with the All-Stars format, I'll miss the chance to see favorites like them back on my TV.

Cat mentioned this year's tour, which will feature Allison, Dominic, Courtney, and Ade from the All-Stars, plus Russell and Kathryn (the top male and female from S6), the top male and female from S7 (so Lauren is guaranteed a spot), and four others yet to be cast. Not sure if those four others are definitely from S7, or perhaps a mix of S6 or S7, but that's a pretty decent line-up. The tour is coming to Blue Cross Arena on October 13, btw.

Solos: Robert did a different solo than last night, which I appreciate. It was good, but it lacked passion. Whatever happened to "dance for your life"? Jose also did a different solo, this one involving lots of spins and kicks. It was a MUCH better solo than Wednesday night's, and probably the best floor work I've ever seen him do. I hate to say this, because Jose is a big part of what's driving me nuts about this season, but he didn't deserve to go home based on that solo alone. Fair being fair, Billy really should get cut. As someone else online pointed out, Billy was cleared by the doctors to dance last night, he simply chose not to. I understand that as a dancer he has to look out for his body - it's how he makes his money, and his art. But I'm sure all of the dancers this season are currently nursing some injuries, and Billy was just given an entire week off. If he gets a free pass this week, it creates an automatic disparity going into next week. He'll be refreshed while the other dancers will have yet another week of non-stop stress on their bodies.

Musical number. What is happening with Enrique Iglesias's hair, you guys? And I could have done without seeing Lauren and Allison tramping it up on stage behind him like bargain-basement video hos. I could not understand a single word Enrique sang due to whatever obnoxious filters they were running his voice (or the prerecorded track) through. Halfway through Dominic and Pitbull took the stage, and watching Dominic perform I was reminded about how much Jose sucks in comparison to his skills. Pitbull looked geriatric.

Back from break, Nigel explained that the judges had not made up their minds, but they had come to a conclusion. He told Robert that several of the judges don't feel like he's growing anymore. I can see that. Nigel told Jose that the judges felt like he has stopped growing in the other styles, but he has grown in his breaking abilities. Probably true, but that's because he was a fair to middling b-boy to begin with; he could only get better given this opportunity. As for his "growth" in other styles, he is being given almost nothing to do in at least half of his routines. The expectations for him are markedly lower than the judges have for his competitors. The entire situation is a farce. Nigel then told Billy that he set a precedent this week by electing not to dance after the doctors cleared him. Nigel basically parroted the argument I made above about the disparity Billy's choice created.

And the decision: nobody was going home this week (bullshit), but TWO people are going home next week. Double bullshit.

First, Billy really should have gone home. This show can't allow the precedent of a contestant just deciding to take a week off without any ill effects. The conspiracy theorists are arguing that Billy knew he was going to totally blow that step routine and he punked out so as not to feel the heat. Who knows if it's true, but it sure is plausible. If a dancer pulls another style he or she is not comfortable with - say, the dreaded quickstep - what's to stop any of them from here on out saying, "Oh, I really can't dance this week," and then coming back like a house on fire the next? Moreover, what happens if, say, Lauren and Adechike both have crappy numbers next week and fall in the Bottom 3 and then both go home, when neither of them was in danger this week? It really isn't a fair solution. Billy should have gone home. And barring that, Jose should have gone home, because he sucks.

After the announcement the crowd went wild, the safe contestants looked pissed, and Cat said, "We just make this show up as we go along!" She was joking, but sister was dead on, and I think she was actually annoyed by the turn of events. I know I sure was.

I ended the episode wondering when, exactly, the judges are butting out of the eliminations this season. At Top 10 the cuts have historically been decided solely on viewer votes. Next week we would have been at that stage in the competition (taking the All-Stars format into account) had the de facto save not just been played. Are the judges going to be making the cuts the whole show? Is there a timeline set for when viewer vote will actually count for something? Because otherwise Jose is going to make it into the finals, and potentially win this bitch. And then I'm just going to throw up.