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Tough Enough 2
Original airdate: 3-28-02Al Snow does not like vanilla ice cream...
Danny, as you may recall, was not intended to be a member of the Tough Enough 2 cast. As the first alternate, he was cast after one of the original choices failed the physical. Whether or not the producers knew in advance that they would have to call in an alternate isn't important. What matters is that they didn't choose Danny right off because in spite of his excellent athleticism, he was missing that certain something.
Namely, a personality.
After failing to show anything remotely resembling charisma, Danny was dismissed last night, beating out the early favorites for the next cut, Jessie and Alicia, who were first on the trainers' list of potential discharges.
Alicia's back is still hurting her, and she's bravely working through the pain, if by bravely you mean, "grimacing a lot, whining about the painkillers and muscle relaxants she's taking and totally underperforming her bumps."
Jessie's starting to give in to the physical strain as well, and Al is concerned at her symptoms; dizziness, a racing heartbeat, and numb hands and feet. He sends her to a heart specialist, so she misses this week's superstar guests: the Dudley Boyz.
They weren't invited to teach ECW-style craziness, or how to "get the tables" or even to wrestle with the contestants, but to do what they arguably do best: cut promos. Bubba Ray emphasizes again the need for a character. The worst thing, he says, is to have a match and hear nothing from the audience.
None of the kids are very adept at it, but they've barely settled on their personas and aren't expected to be great on the mic yet. From the brief montage of stick-work we saw, I stand by Jake as the male winner, though I have a feeling Matt's got a lot more to show us. (Of course, next week he's injured, so maybe not.)
While Jessie's visiting the specialist and being fitted for a heart monitor, Alicia takes the opportunity to badmouth her. Kenny, Hawk, and Pete are put off by her attitude and discuss whether or not they should mention what Alicia has said, in voices so loud as to render the whole question irrelevant. The two cat-fight for a bit, Jessie makes Alicia cry, and Jake tries to soothe the sobbing Alicia.
Then he says girls aren't as tough as guys. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet. Email me if you've got any idea how to take that.
So Al makes the cut as before, walking in front of the contestants and telling them to sit down or if they've been eliminated. Danny cries, and says this was harder than not making the initial cut, because he's been close to it now, and has to say goodbye. Poor Jessie has to wear her heart monitor throughout the ordeal; don't tell me that's not going to give a skewed reading.
Next week, they go to Raw and Matt is hurt. So many superstars, so little time.
