SNAKES ON A MUTHA FU%&IN' MODEL

This week, the models had to pose underwater with a boa constrictor named "Lemon." Casey, who's petrified of snakes, got in the tank with the boa like he'd been wrangling the things all his life. He ended up with some amazing shots that wowed the judges (GO CASEY, my sweet, ski slope-nosed Adonis!).

Later, on the runway the models were asked to wear really large, avante-gard headpieces while walking one of several animals down the catwalk. Names of animals were drawn from a bag and assigned to each model. Casey reflected on the challenge in his blog:

The catwalk was great, I don’t know any designers that would use animals in a catwalk but I think having the animals was more about problem solving. Rising to a difficult challenge on short notice and progressing through.

Jacki, was sequestered to the bottom three (shocking!) after being unable to rock the runway with a trained poodle. Because she had the easiest animal to control, the judges said a lot more was expected out of her.

Holly was sick and therefore her performance suffered, but luckily she wasn't sent home for it. I like Holly a lot. I think she has a cute, girl-next door look that can cross over to edgy when she wills it to, but the whole "I can't take my clothes off because my fiance and I are waiting until we're married and my faith would frown on it, blah blah blah" shtick is soooo old. If you're going to work as a high fashion model, you're going to, at one point or another, get naked. PERIOD. Having said that, I was glad she hung in there this week.

Surprisingly lock-me-up-and-tie-me-down-behind-bars boy, Ben, didn't impress anyone this week with his stale snake shots and dull catwalk. Hence, he's "up" for the vote. So is Perry, whose ego has been busting at the seems lately. I suspect his holier-than-thou attitude is a defense mechanism. I was, however, shocked to see how flabbergasted he was when the judges called him out on his behavior; He even went as far to say, "I feel like I'm in a dream."

Frankie was asked to cut his hair and after some hemming and hawing, he agreed to do it. If this had been ANTM, he would have been given a dressing down by Jay Manuel. Later, he would have been lectured by Tyra and company for being unwilling to do what it takes to be a supermodel. The judges on this show, however, were muy impressed with Frankie's willingness to forgo the Fabio look. He ended up liking his shorter hair and so did I. Very modern and there's still enough of it to play with.

The week's winner was Ronnie, whose rocking runway strut with a cute little sheep sent him miles above last week's performance.