By Francisco Salazar (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Apr 01, 2013 08:43 AM EDT

The third episode of "Nuestra Belleza Latina" was exciting as the contestants did a tribute to Jenni Rivera and the judges revealed the top 12 finalists for the competition.  

Before the elimination round, a video was shown of each judge taking their groups on trips. Osmel Sousa took his group to a beauty salon to change their image. Meanwhile, Julian Gil took them to a pool where they were asked to speak honestly after his teammate Audris revealed she had taken nude pictures. However, Julian asked the production team not to show what Audris had to say. Lupita Jones took her teammates to a walking class and after asked them to speak their minds about Audris' nude pictures.

After that Karina, Leticia, and Audris were picked out of the group of 18 women because one of them had the least votes from the auidence. Karina was the first to be saved but then it was revealed that Leticia had received no support and was therefore eliminated from the competition.

The judges were then asked to choose four of their favorite models which would go to the finals. Jones first chose Barbara, a Mexican from Texas while Sousa chose Marisela from Salvador and Gil picked Odaray from Cuba.

Sousa was then asked to pick his next candidate. He was reluctant and stated that he thought the program was unfair because his six contestants were the best in win the show. However he was forced to choose and picked Lili from Mexico.

Host Gisele Blondet took a break from the elimination rounds and showed a video presentation where the contestants were asked to talk about Jenni Rivera and how La Diva de la Banda inspired them. They then dressed similar to her and took pictures paying tribute to the great singer.   

Once the video was shown, Jones picked her next finalist. She chose Essined from Puerto Rico and Gil chose Fernanda from Mexico for his team. His choice was also one of the most interesting in the competition as she was the only woman contestant to be married.

Jones, Sousa and Gil next picked three more Mexican contestants;  Jones chose Zuleyka while  Sousa picked Marinaand Gil went with Karina who had been saved previously by the audience

The last three spots were chosen by the audience. Out of the final three from Jones' team the audience picked Vivianna from Puerto Rico and from Sousa's team, they picked Barbara from Colombia. The last spot in Gil's team was given to Audris from Dominican Republic. She was seen as a controversial pick after nude pictures were revealed on social networks.

The final 12 will next have to compete in modeling, acting and broadcasting challenges and will then be eliminated one by one by the judges.

The fourth episode of "Nuestra Belleza Latina" will be aired next Sunday at 8pm.

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