by Mike Bandy

This week's episode of ANTM All Stars began with Angelea's surprise that Bianca got eliminated, and her sadness that Kayla had to go as well. However, she was excited to now be the "spice" of the competition. Lisa was relieved to have won best photo, and Laura was proud of how far she's come.

The Tyra Mail featured an ADORABLE little girl named Madison, who is a YouTube phenomenon. She told the girls that she hoped they could keep a beat. This was shortly followed by a visit from Mr. Jay, who informed the girls that they'd all get an opportunity to write their own song AND star in a music video for it, in the hopes of it going viral on YouTube. A top music producer from CBS records was on hand to help, and the girls were given 20 minutes to listen to the tracks that were made for them, and write their lyrics.

Whomever wrote the best lyrics would be deemed the winner of the challenge, and they'd have someone special flown in for them. Most of the girls seemed excited about the challenge, especially Lisa, who already has a background in music. Allison wasn't having much fun at all - she'd decided to write a song about her father, who had recently passed away. Lisa ended up being the challenge winner, after a win that was decided before ANY OF US got to hear the song, which seemed a little unfair to me. She decided that she'd have her fiancée visit her.

The next day, the girls headed off to the studio to record their songs, which is where we got the first listen of how ridiculous most of them were! The challenge was made more ridiculous with the announcement that each girl would have to work in "Pot Ledom - Top Model Backwards" into their songs. I seem to remember this kind of subliminal mind screwiness in an episode of The Simpsons once. Remember the one where Bart joined the boy band? Not important...

Angelea's "I'm Here" was all about how she was...well...there, Shannon's "World Go Round" was about her husband, and Allison's "Underwater" was actually a really moving song, despite the fact that she was in tears just before recording it. Alexandria felt she could really be a recording artist, and her "Go, Go, Go" was indeed catchy. But, as usual, Lisa blew everybody out of the water with her sure-to-be-on-my-Ipod hit "I Be Like Whoa".

Back at the house, Lisa's fiancée showed up, and it turns out that they have a really cute relationship. He balances out all of her crazy, and they seemed to be really happy together. In fact, Lisa said that this is the happiest she's been in a long time, and given her well-documented struggles, she definitely deserves that. Bravo!

Then, it was time for the girls to head off to their video shoot, with special guest director Game! Oh yeah, and Tyra showed up with another YouTube sensation, Keenan Cahill, to basically screw everything up by being in the videos too. Anyway, on to the performances!

Angelea was definitely freaking out with Game there - too bad that that didn't translate into a great video shoot for her! He didn't like how stiff her performance was, and Jay didn't either. Dominique dropped it low too much (to be fair, her song WAS about the booty tooch), but it was really a cover for falling over camera equipment. Alexandria was deemed to be rigid and awkward, and indeed, her posing on the vehicle in her song looked forced. Lisa's rapping killed the competition, Laura was sweet and lovable, and Allison was hauntingly beautiful (and quite Taylor Swift-like, if I do say so myself). Oh yeah, and Shannon was cute and commercial, as she's always been.

At panel, Dominique was told that her voice was good, but her face didn't sell in most of the shots. Laura looked sweet and innocent, and though Angelea had a pretty good voice, her performance was a bit flat. Alexandria's performance didn't impress anybody on the judges panel, Shannon didn't have light in her eyes, though she did perform well, and Lisa gave the energy of Missy Elliott, according to Andre. Allison was truly the star of the whole shoot, and Game said that she was weird, but so beautifully weird, and Tyra said that her song touched something inside her.

After a pretty routine deliberation, here's what the judges panel decided:

1. Allison (yay!)
2. Lisa
3. Dominique
4. Laura
5. Shannon

Would Alexandria and Angelea please step forward? Alexandria was told that modeling potential brought her back last cycle, but this cycle she was brought back for more than that, and she didn't show it. Angelea's video was uncomfortable for the judges to watch, but somehow, she got another chance in the competition, and Alexandria was eliminated.

Alex was told that they were looking for a bigger potential. She said that she's still very proud of herself and that she'd been through a great learning experience. She said that ultimately it was a really good experience that she learned a tremendous amount from.
What do you think? Did the judges make the right decision??