Hope Solo is out on DWTS. Rob Kardashian shines.

Hope Solo was jettisoned from the ballroom Tuesday night on Dancing with the Stars (DWTS), leaving Army veteran JR Martinez, actress Ricki Lake, and reality star Rob Kardashian to compete in next week’s finale.

The results went pretty much as expected this week: Solo’s elimination was right on schedule, leaving the three most deserving competitors standing at the end.

Ms. Lake and Mr. Martinez have been finale shoo-ins from the beginning. Mr. Kardashian, however, has been this season’s pleasant surprise. Starting out as a solid middle contender in the initial field of 12 celebrities, his willingness to work hard and learn, not to mention his cheerfully game attitude regarding the steady stream of embarrassing costumes and cheesy voice-over lines that the DWTS producers are constantly throwing at him, helped him surpass contenders that were initially more skilled than he was. He has emerged as the most improved star in the bunch.

Considering what his famous family has been through this month, he’s probably the most popular and likable of all of the Kardashians right now. Not bad for a guy who, prior to DWTS, was the least recognizable person on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians."

On Monday’s show, Kardashian earned his first “10” of the season, and even soared past perennial leader board toppers Ricki and JR at one point, grabbing the top score when the four remaining celebrities competed side by side in a “Cha cha cha relay.” He earned second place overall on the evening, within two points of leader Lake and a full nine points ahead of third place Martinez, who was slowed up by an ankle injury.

As it happens, Kardashian’s surprising dancing prowess may provide key insights into his personality, and, happily for him, his initial attractiveness to women. According to a study from the University of Göttingen, in Germany, reported by Live Science, a man’s proficiency at certain types of dance moves can be strong indicators of certain favorable personality traits. The study found that men whose dance moves were attractive to women also scored high in the categories of “conscientiousness” and “agreeableness” on a personality questionnaire.

The study asked 48 men between the ages of 18 and 42 to fill out the personality questionnaires, then dance to a drum beat in front of a laboratory camera. Each man’s moves were superimposed onto a computer-generated avatar, then shown to a group of 57 women, ages 17 to 57. The more agreeable and conscientious a man’s personality, the more likely the women were to view him as a good dancer.

The results also suggested that extroverts tended to be better dancers, and men that scored high in the neuroticism and openness categories were usually the worst dancers.

So does Kardashian’s blossoming skill on the dance floor provide a window into his soul? Probably not, but he has had consistently buoyant spirits throughout the grueling and occasionally humiliating competition – unlike every other contestant, he has yet to have any sort of tantrum, and he never fights or argues with his professional partner, Cheryl. That suggests that his “agreeableness” level is probably quite high, a quality to which he may owe his superior Samba skills.

In next week’s finale,  we’ll see if Kardashian’s great attitude can bump him ahead of either of the two front-runners.