I could've sworn I got that trivia right. I do know that after a few years, you get used to getting absolutely no e-mail response for B-shows unless you prompt to the reader hard. (And that wasn't one.)

Random Tough Enough Bio Tidbit: Shadrick is a rapper and sells merchandise for Coke. What's with almost-wrestling types and Coke? I cheated and did this after I did the rest of and picked someone who was important this episode.

So, I'm done watching Smackdown, quickly stopping to see the Cubs loss (for seconds - it was too sad), and then flip to MTV. The show's already a couple minutes in! Why do they have to start with out us? Stupid MTV. STUPID MTV. 

Previously on Tough Enough: Victoria and Bobbie Jo decided they didn't want to be wrestlers. Tazz thinks they weeded out the crap. Darryl and Al didn't get along. Darryl and everyone else didn't get along. "Darryl's managed to alienate everyone in the house."

Trax. Tori's giving Chris Ni. push bumps. Al: "Whoa, Ritalin Boy, whoa!" Paulina's turn, and she's moving a lot slower. Paulina talks to us again about being hurt. "I am hurting." We believe you already. Shadrick's turn and he's not doing it right. I know this because Al keeps telling him "Do it right!" Al: "You look like a drive by shooting victim." Darryl. Oh my god Darryl looks completely awful. He's slow falling back and landing akward and looks like a ton of crap. He's not even in the same league as the others. Chris No. chimes in: "Darryl stands out, having picked up the least. Beyond the athletic aspects, he's still the least." Al just shakes his head. "Better work on that, Darryl. That's terrible." Darryl: "I'm still pretty confident about how I'm doing in the gym, about how I'm doing in my training. I'm pretty still confident about being the overall winner at the end of this." Darryl's living in his own very special world.

After training is done, Big tells them that Pat Patterson will be coming by for dinner. Someone asks who Pat Patterson is - Al explains that he used to be a booker and he's been around for years and years. Chris No. explains they wanted to impress him and have a good meal, so they went shopping. Super market montage. It looks like Chris No., Maven, Taylor and Nidia doing the shopping. Before they got to the register, Chris figures that they've spent about $100, but they'll split it with the rest of the house mates. They go to the register and reveal that they won't be winning at Supermarket Sweep any time soon - their total is $184.61! Chris is the only one without enough money on him to pay, so he does. 

Back at the mansion, Josh is doing his Ultimo Dragon kick impression to Maven (I guess - ever notice how he looks a little bit like American Dragon?) while Darryl and Chris No. are arguing about payment. Darryl figures that they over spent, so it's there problem. Chris explains that everyone else was fine with it, except Darryl. Darryl's in the midst of throwing a fit about the extra 8 dollars. Chris disagrees. Josh: "Watching those Darryl and Chris fight that night was like watching two girls fight over a hair brush." Okay. At any rate, Chris gives Darryl back his money and is pretty annoyed with him. 

Montage of Dinner Preparation! Are we supposed to note that Darryl is in the shower and not helping cook? Nidia's drying her hair. Is it supposed to look like Taylor's doing most of the work? Did they really need to make a name tag for him? There's the door bell.

Here's some Pat Patterson clips - one bit of the match with Sgt. Slaughter. Is the blond Buddy Rogers? Isn't that the Grand Wizard?

Taylor greets Pat at the door. Big, always looking for a free meal, I guess, is with him. There's Chris Ni. and Nidia to shake his hand as everyone filters towards the door. Nidia's hair is till wet, and that dress is barely hanging off her. 

They all talk in the living room. Pat asks why they want to be wrestlers. Taylor (who's all excited compared to the rest) talks about the "perks and benefits." Maven (who seems so comfortable talking there) talks about "three weeks ago, none of knew how to put a simple headlock together." Darryl is so bored. Taylor talks about how she knew this was something she wanted to do. Paulina to us: "Taylor's a big suck up. Big time." That's not nice at all. I thought Nidia was gonna be the girl the other two didn't get along with. Pat talks about how he got started - coming to the US (he's French-Canadian) not knowing one word of English with money borrowed from his sister and having to set up the ring. Shot of Greg looking interested. Chris Ni. may be falling asleep. There's Shadrick. Shadrick to us "That was big. We're meeting a lot of people behind the scenes that we didn't expect to meet." Okay, now you can go disappear again. 

At the dinner table, Taylor asks Pat what he thinks the future is for the women in the WWF. Pat says there's a great future, and we cut away before that Chyna person can be mentioned. Chris No.: "Taylor wants to say something and be noticed." Maybe she realized the way things were headed the first few episodes. Taylor: "I've got to all I can do, to show the trainers, whoever is judging, you know, that I really want this." Pat offers a toast to everyone, and wishes them good luck.

Trax. Somersaults into back bumps. Hey, look, Darryl does one right! Paulina does hers fine. Shadrick walking around. I wonder if they take time to get shots of everyone looking nervous, and just use the ones that fit the story that week. Chris Ni. does one and only exists to set something up this week. Here's Shadrick and he provides the counter example, landing as much on his side as on his back. He tries to treat it like nothing unusual happened, but Al stops him. "Wow. Do that again. I'm amazed by you." Greg says Shadrick has a (lack of) confidence problem; Shadrick told Greg that he thought was going to be the first one eliminated. The back bump is worse the second time. Al makes him do it again. Shadrick says that he's nervous when he does it, and he doesn't do it right. Al pulls his ears and tells him that he's got to pay attention to what he's doing. 

Shadrick tries a fireman's carry on Paulina, who lands more on her neck than anything else. She tells us that she hasn't taken bumps really well. Al makes them repeat. Paulina looks so skinny in that half-shirt. By the way, this is tough for her.

Josh giving people hiptosses montage. Shadrick, fine. Maven, lands somewhat on his head but that's his fault. Chris No., who's a lot bigger than Josh, fine. Taylor, lands partly on her head because, like Maven, she didn't pull it in. And then there's Darryl. Darryl is so awful. He gets about halfway over and lands right on his head, taking down Josh in the process. Al winces in pain. So do I. Al pulls him aside. That was so totally Darryl's fault. Chris Ni. tells us that if he had to get rid of someone, it'd be Darryl - he tries a little bit, but he needs to try a lot harder. Al tells Darryl that it was horrible, and Darryl's gonna hurt himself and probably someone else if he keeps on doing it. If Darryl continues to do them like that, Al's gonna make him stand outside and watch from now on. Does Darryl want that? "No." Al tells (more yells) Darryl that he has to do exactly the way Al wants it, every single time. "You're not even close! You're not even in the ballpark! You're not even down the godda[bleep]mn street!" Darryl to us: "You know, I feel like I can win, inside I think that I can win, but right now, I'm not winning." Al: "Do it the way I want it done." Break.

Trax. Look, it's a WWF banner. Here's Taylor giving Darryl a hiptoss and Darryl managing not to land straight on his head this time, though it still looks ugly. Darryl: "This contract is mine to lose, but there are several things I have to over come with in myself." Sometimes, I wonder if there was a "I try to think that" before that last quoted sentence. He can't be that messed up, can he? Watch him back of a hiptoss attempt from Chris No. as he tells us "Learning to flip is a huge step and learning to trust myself is a huge step, for me." He tries with Nidia and does it beter. 

Paulina chain wrestles with people, and ends up taking a hiptoss (well) from Josh. Paulina tells us that she's not doing as well as she could, or looking as well as she could. Taylor feels sorry for Paulina. Paulina knows that she could do better, but physically, she's not feeling well. 

Shadrick takes the hiptosses. His legs keep hitting the mat first on the bump, making the whole thing seem awkward. Shadrick is scared of going back home - after all the expectations, failing would be very bad.

In the vans. Darryl complains that his neck hurts - and it's because the other people were to small to give him an adequate boost. He can't get up enough.

Back at the house, where apparently all the beds were stolen, Nidia, Shadrick and Darryl are lying in the hallways. They're all pretty much dead from their work outs. I think Shadrick is putting on some Ben Gay. That or toothpaste, which doesn't work as well on your arms. Shadrick apologizes to Darryl for ever saying anything behind his back, because at least he's here and trying and it's hard on everyone. Paulina (I guess she's there too) rolls here eyes. Darryl starts talking about the other guys talking bad about him: "I think it's because my, I'm bigger than them, I'm much bigger then them, and the WWF is the land of giants, and has a whole lot of big dudes." Shadrick tells us that he's gotta give the dude a little bit of credit - he's still here, three people aren't. 

Big talks to the group in the living room. He tells them that he's unhappy, because the house is starting to get messy and they've let it all get out of hand. "And with that, who wants to go out?"

Greg, Josh, Darryl and Maven go with him to a local bar (name kept from being visible.) Big has an idea - they'll all play a game of darts, and the loser has to do ten push ups and say "I'm [person's name]'s bitch" for each push up for each winner. Forty push ups in all, but they can use them whenever they want. Big has to explain the rules a couple times. Any time they want them. They all like the idea.

Back at the mansion, Taylor writes in her journal. Taylor tells us that, before she came here, she was the most unhappy she's ever been. "I can't really figure out how it all got to be like that - (clip) - I was going to school, because that I feel that's what my parents wanted me to do - (clip) - and it didn't turn out that well at all, and I'm glad to have left that situation." I've never known anyone who called college a "situation". I'm thinking either Taylor doesn't compact her thoughts into good sound bites and clips had to be made just to fit it all in, or there's something else (a failed relationship? that's a 'situation') that we're skirting around. Taylor asks someone on the phone what else she could do if this didn't work out - she doesn't want to go to University of Washington anymore. Taylor tells us she worries about going back to the rut she was in.

Back at the bar, the historic dart contest is on. Darryl (to Josh): "I'm gonna whoop your ass and everyone else's ass." Darts montage. Maven laughs after one of Darryl's throw. Josh gets something big and Greg and Maven are happy for him. Darryl just shakes his head. Greg's last score and he gets whatever he needed. Darryl is the loser and that's so right. Maven has him do one right there. "I'm Maven's bitch." Darryl separated himself from everyone else during this whole bit, I guess I should point out.

The five of them are walking down and alley. Get that boom mic shadow out of the shot! Darryl has to do the push ups - if he doesn't, he automatically out of the house, Big half-kids. I think Darryl figured he'd just refuse and get out of them, because he's sad now. Van, and Maven offers to give two push ups for Darryl to run the long driveway back to the house. Josh (I think) and Greg chip in 2 of their own, and Darryl agrees. Darryl gets out of the car and stands in front of the van - Maven starts the car going towards him  Darryl starts running. Or a close approximation of that. The three guys in the car are having a good time at Darryl's expense. Maven says it was very funny. Darryl (to himself): "You guys are a bunch of f[bleeping]cking idiots." 

Morning. C'mon, they gotta have a bed for Josh by now. Chris No. starts the morning in the hot tub.

Trax. Big talks about what happened last night, and Darryl now having to do the push ups. Darryl's embarrassed. Big explains that one stipulation is that you can pass on the push up rights to anyone you wanted to - so he's giving his up to Al. Darryl is so screwed now. Al promises one at a time. Moving on, Al brings up the chair reminders of those who have left them already. He says last week, they had three leave, so I guess Bobbie Jo and Victoria must've been just a couple days later. This week, they'll have another cut, but this time, they'll probably make the decision. Do what you need to do so their chair doesn't end up there. Shots of Darryl, Shadrick and Paulina as we go to break.

All the dramatic shots in the world don't make up for the fact that they're down three girls. If they did cut Paulina, we'd be down to the finalists already; Taylor and Nidia couldn't be cut (and if they dropped out, the suspense would be over.) It's really just between Shadrick and Darryl, and if Shadrick gets cut - I think we all know who should win that, based on what's been shown. Of course, the trainers see a lot more of these two then we do, but it still is gonna be hard to explain to the home viewer.

Calisthenics. There's no real point to this other than show of their new found ability to do split screen shots. Woohoo! As they move on to kip ups, I guess I'm supposed to be notching Shadrick not feeling well - because he just threw up on the floor. Thanks for showing us that, MTV. Actually, they show less here then they did in some of the previews. Big comes over and offers a chair, though I'd think a bucket might be more helpful. Shadrick tells us that he feels like an underdog. Big tells Shadrick to relax.

Here's a shot of Paulina looking nervous. See, she's anxious about the cut, because she's not feeling well and not taking the bumps right. (I think I'd want to kill if they expanded this show to an hour, but just said everything twice more. And you know they will.)

Josh takes a bump all nice. Darryl does not. Darryl talks: "They're looking for somebody that they can legitimately put in the ring, in the WWF and wrestle." That would be the general idea. "My presence gives me a certain advantage over everybody else." Whatever happened to that Mark Henry guy? Josh says that if Darryl was his size, he'd be gone. Get this: Paulina doesn't think she's any good and ranks herself among the girls. It's almost as if she has a problem with her confidence or something!

Darryl Screws Up A Bump. Al makes him drop and do a push up. "I'm Al's bitch!"  Tazz is there, and Shadrick and Chris Ni. practice locking up with him. "I'm Al's bitch!" Paulina and Al lock up. "I'm Tori's bitch!" Taylor and Al stare each other down before locking up. "I'm Al's bitch." "I'm Tori's bitch." I'm gonna miss Darryl when he's gone. More of the stare down. Chris Ni. (who were not at all interested in when he's not drowning people) says Taylor is a tough chick. Josh says Taylor wants the contract and doesn't have strong ties back home. Taylor tells us she's having a blast; this is exactly what she needed.

With the contestants some place else, the three present trainers go over their thoughts on each person, to figure out who's getting cut. Tazz says Taylor is a spitfire. Maven has a charisma about him. Tori says one Chris is very hyper. Shadrick - Tori says he's got the physical prowess which makes you think he's going to do well. Tazz continues on that Shadrick looks like a good athlete, but he's got two left feet. Al says that he's got a good personality and tries very hard. Harvard Chris has size, speed and strength. Josh gets "true passion." Paulina - Tazz says she's clumsy. She's nice and she's all heart, but he doesn't know. Al says she's got a very marketable look and the size. Greg has an edge about him. Nidia is spunky. Finnaly, Darryl - Tori: "He's got some heart in some ways." Tazz: "Lazy, tired, bitching, moaning." And that's it.

In a van somewhere, Maven has an idea - for two of his push ups, and two of Greg's push ups, all Darryl has to do is run in a grocery store with his shirt off and do a football cadence. Darryl seems unwilling, so Maven ups the deal - all of his, all of Greg's, heck, he'll even do Josh's if Josh doesn't agree to it, if Darryl just does this.

We're left with that cliffhanger of a decision as we go back to mansion. The girls and Shadrick are all cooling off in the hot tub. How'd he end up doing that? Anyway, they start discussing the cut and Shadrick starts singing Taps (very badly - or some other song so bad I thought it was Taps) for his own benefit. Taylor tells us that Shadrick is worried. NO WAY! Shadrick tells us he thought he was going do extremely well, but he's more towards the middle. Back in the hot tub, the girls say Shadrick looks worried, and he says that if he's not getting cut tomorrow, he knows who is. 

An anything but suggestive cut gives us Darryl walking into the aforementioned grocery store. With his shirt on, however. He's got a "I'm about to do something really stupid" look on his face. Maven outlines the new plan - he'll buy a loaf of bread. Darryl will take off his shirt, catch the bread that's thrown to him, run up to the cash register, do a football pose while saying "breakdown! huh!" twice, spike the bread into the ground and he'll be debt free. Darryl agrees.

Maven calmly goes up to the cash register and purchases the loaf of Wonderbread. Darryl, waiting in the frozen food aisle with his shirt off, catches the bread thrown back to him, runs to the register, says the spiel as fast as he can (freaking out the clerk, of course), spikes the bread hard and takes off, out of the store. Greg's buckled over in laugher, and Maven's collapsed on the floor in his hysteria. Outside, Darryl says it was easy.

Morning at the mansion. Darryl says that if they were going to cut him, they couldn't after what happened last night - too much stuff he's been through. Shadrick makes a big display of taping his wrist to Chris Ni. All things considered, Chris seems like he rather eat his cereal than spend any more cameo time in this episode. Darryl ties up his bandana.

Trax. Everyone's nervous, everyone shakes Tori and Al's hands. Al explains how they're gonna let everyone know - everyone will go open their lockers, and the one person who has a red tag is done.

Lockers. We have locker cam in some of them, which is kinda disturbing. Paulina shows little hesitation in opening hers, and of course, there's no tag there. Men's locker room - Darryl opens his up, and stops for a second, before trying to act normal. The tag is there. He takes it down (Greg spends more time staring at the tag then Darryl did) and shows the tag. A little bit in shock, he starts saying his goodbyes to everyone.

Darryl stands out said the lock room, looking quite a bit in shock: "You know, I just kinda feel really really confused and really, like, lost right now. You know, I walked away from a lot to be here, and now I'm going back to a damn near blank compass. I didn't think I would be the first one cut, no way." Taylor asks Darryl what he's gonna do now. "I dunno. Try get a job. I'll probably go to summer school." Time for him to go - he says he'll see everyone later which is such a lie.

After Darryl's left, Al says he's sorry he had to go, but that's how it was gonna go. Paulina looks revealed. Shadrick looks thankful. Darryl's chair is added to the graveyard. "Darryl was obviously not tough enough."

Outside, the sadness has hit Darryl, but his voice over tries to put a happy face on things. "I came and tried the best that I could it, that's all I can really take. This isn't gonna break me. I mean, I had the experience of a lifetime. There are like thousands of other people who would have loved doing the same thing I did for three weeks. You know, character is revealed when you go through bad times. People last, bad times don't." And that's it. I hope Darryl watches this show and realizes how he acted and learns something. Maybe then the three weeks would have been useful.

Al tells everyone that he's giving 24 hour notice of another cut. Hey, Chris Ni. is featured - not a good thing in a cut week, probably. Also, Paulina. There's a shocker. Someone says they'd like to see someone dressed in drag. Someone does. Chris is told to stop doing whatever he's doing. Al asks Shadrick how bad he wants it. Miss Jackie breaks down and cries. "It got to me. It just did." Tears = ratings gold! Be with us.