Chiba and Byata, you’re excused from answering the question above.

You too, 2States.

After last episode’s elimination, people are just oozing love for Khia.

Chiba and Ms. Cherry dance, which I think is supposed to be taunting…

…but ends up looking like complete and utter joy. Seriously, have you ever seen anyone have a better time than those two in the gif above?

But the fun and bird-flipping all ends with a visit from Serch.

Don’t expect to find him dancing on a platform with Cherry anytime soon. Dude is pissed. See, it turns out that Khia’s final 16 during last week’s elimination was a track she had already recorded and released…

…which is in direct violation of the rules. And that means toodles to Khia and a triumphant comeback for Lionezz.

The girls are so happy to see her.

But you can tell they’re crying for Khia inside.

The girls sit around eating and we’re treated to this shot of Rece Steele:

Her personal style is off the hook. She reminds me of an eccentric aunt who’s really into potpourri sachets and borrowing new releases from the library. And probably cats.

Serch comes over and announces that it’s…

He jokes with the girls that they’ll have to take part in a swimsuit competition, which worries Lady Twist.

“I’m not puttin’ on no bikini in privacy, let alone on TV,” she says. Ha! She’s worse than Raj on What’s Happening!! (remember in the nude-modeling episode, when we found out that he took a shower in a bathing suit). Anyway, it turns out that Lady Twist will be shown on TV in a bikini. Wait for it…

Is dredging up one’s past to emphasize the discomfort of their present the ‘08 version of the gas face? I think so.

Anyway, no, there will not be a bikini competition. Instead, the team-captain challenge of today will be…

Helping judge this will be…

Charli looks great and doesn’t say much. Sounds like the perfect woman to me! ZOMG!!! JK! You know I wouldn’t do like that to these females whose commodity is their words.

Anyway, check the fashion show:

And, yo, you gotta see the full get-up to get the full femme-cave girl effect of Lionezz’s outfit:

I don’t know what it is, but Byata looks very Gore Vidal’s Caligula Aerobics to me, if such a home-workout tape ever existed (and don’t you kinda wish it did?).

Apparently, decadence and elevated heart rates appeal to the panel, because Byata is chosen as a winner, along with Lionezz. They choose teams and guess who’s the last woman standing.

Again. When something happens repeatedly, does it count as foreshadowing? Or is it straight up motif at this point?

The performance challenge of today is a little something called…

The girls have to write about what turns them on. Expect many to stick with the provocative-and-alluring theme only tangentially.

Practicing commences.

Byata’s team not only has a hook…

…but also a two-step. A hook and a two step! A hook and a two-step! Readers, sing along.

The girls get to the club where they’ll perform their tracks, which is filled with women. After getting a few looks from eyes that are lacking in makeup, they see the sign…

Nicky2States apparently has a hard time dealing with this.

Because it’s such a change from the house she just came from? Like, what? Nicky interviews, “I did not know that that was a gay bar! I didn’t see a rainbow. I still don’t believe it! And I started going, so was that a regular smile, or was that a flirtatious smile?”

I think that disbelief and outrage are the two states to which Nicky’s name refers.

The performances begin. D.A.B. represents, much to Nicky’s surprise.

“D.A.B. did an excellent job. And I was very…shocked!” She sounds like Bill Cosby. Perhaps she was eating some of Thing 2’s special banana-pudding recipe.

Nicky’s verse is nasty.

Is that a regular butt tooch, or a flirtatious one?

Oh, and Ms. Cherry goes and forgets her lyrics.

Again: foreshadowing or motif? Wait till the end of the recap and decide.

Byata’s team goes with its hook-laden track.

Byata, too, forgets some lyrics, makes note of it and keeps going. That, people, is how you finesse a situation. And though Chiba’s pissed that people deviated from her choreography, it doesn’t matter - their team wins and Byata nabs the title of Miss Thing. Her reward in the Salt-N-Pepa suite?

Apparently, he’s packing vinyl heat, too.

But who needs a sex doll when you’ve got Chiba to bicker with? Chiba dramatically tells Byata that she needs to start taking things more seriously. Uh, she just, like, won the challenge. What the hell else does she have to do to prove that she’s taking this seriously?

Later, Chiba rants to Bree outside, while a few yards away, Byata works on a rhyme that goes in part: “Someone tryin’ to school me, when they need to be taught.” Chiba takes this as a message to her and calls Byata out on this.

Byata transforms into Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny for a second and goes…

“Whatta you, retarded?” Apparently, Chiba is not. They kiss and make up.

Meanwhile, Nicky sits with D.A.B. and explains…uh, this: “When I’m on stage, it don’t matter that I’m shakin’ my ass, shakin’ my ass. You still gonna hear what I’m sayin’ because I could sit here and have this conversation with you and shake my ass the whole time.” Here is the visual she provides:

Now she can shake her ass for all eternity, and we still gonna hear what she’s saying.

Oh, and just a note: the lines on her butt in the above gif are from image-compression, not because Nicky has stretch marks.

Just to set the record straight. Nicky also feels that D.A.B. relies to heavily on the help of others, causing a rant that expresses, you guessed it, disbelief and outrage: “If there’s somebody there to help you through each thing, then who are you? Are you you or are you us? And if you’re us, then who the hell are we?” Who’s on first? What?

Elimination comes. Byata’s team is safe, having won the So Seductive challenge. The final challenge calls for Lionezz’s crew to spit a 16 about what turns them off. They write and go:

Ms. Cherry’s 16

Lionezz’s 16

Lady Twist’s 16

Nicky2States’ 16

D.A.B.’s 16

In the end, it comes down to Ms. Cherry, whose 16 was full of pauses, which the judges think is cocky, but I think is another case of her forgetfulness, and D.A.B., who underwhelmed.

D.A.B. goes.

But look at how soft and humble she looks! This world was not meant for her.

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