Game Show NewsNet

Leap of Faith - June 30

Due to the 3.5 million people who have decided to watch the show in this time slot and avoid watching anything else, the show has moved to Wednesday nights, in hopes that something that would attract more than that would be there. I'm sure that Joel Silver isn't too pleased about that.

Speaking of attractions, the next Screen Test, called Leap of Faith, will be about attractions as everyone gets to do their first bed scene. Their 'moment' is interrupted by an intruder, and the couple will then need to jump a couple of hundred feet into a soft pad, hence, a "Leap of Faith".

You can't do something like that without training, so the group has to go to high jump training. They meet Brad Jones, who greets them by falling four stories into a landing pad. House is stunned, "I ain't doing that." Oh yes you are. Sharing House's reaction - John, who has a very nasty fear of heights, shares the same sentiment. Kurt Brynt and Brad Jones disagree with the sentiment, telling everyone that they have 15 second to decide whether or not to fall. You don't have to take the jump, but with eliminations staring at you, you may as well pack your bags if you don't.

Melisande starts it off - and jumps. Sean joins her, but House, Somere and Greg (who flaps his arms and makes chicken noises) pass. John is thinking about it way too much, and maybe he was psyched out by the fact that he screwed up a line on the last Screen Test, but he makes the jump and everyone supports him. "I got out of my mind...it was indescribable... I loved it."

Brenda brings the group back for self esteem class. She starts by having everyone drop to their skivvies. Yeah, that helps self-esteem. After that, she brings out wardrobe racks and has everyone pick out what they would wear to be action stars. Some people like Linda (who considers herself a show-off), have no problem doing this, while Corinne (who likes to be clothed) was described as Brenda as 'a challenge'. They don't think she has any self-esteem, while she says that there is nothing that she feels fits. Corinne and Brenda gets into it and Brenda decides that she can't win. Corinne picks her own clothing and you have to think that she, who probably would have been gone if it wasn't for Viviana's departure, could be in real trouble here.

The trouble gets deeper for Corinne, who doesn't want to the next exercise activity. Howard Fine created the activity by turning the living room into a bedroom, with a big mattress in the center. Corinne says that she in uncomfortable with being undressed in front of everyone, and the world class boxer found something that terrifies her. "Some people could jump off the roof, and some people couldn't. This is my roof - I'm not ready to jump off yet."

Howard asks everyone to dress in their undies for the next activity because they want everyone to be comfortable. He also says that everyone needs to respect everyone else's boundaries as he pairs everyone up. He reminds everyone that his pairing would not necessarily be the Screen Test pairing - which is good for Linda, because she wants nothing to do with him. The love scene turns more into a Starbucks coffee scene, but House and Mae get it on, with House switching positions with her by rotating her while she was on him.

Corinne finally has to go - and she realizes that from a professional standpoint, she has to do this. At first, she walks out on everyone and runs into the bathroom, but then Howard tracks her down. He explains to her that she is acting in terms of sex and it is not going to happen. She winds up doing it and gets a Casting Card for her efforts. Jared, for being able to improv the best during the scene, gets the other card.

Afterwards, House talks to Corinne about how impressed he was with her, and Corinne weakly smile back. Not nearly as happy is Jeanne, who is concerned that her actions would bring shame to her family who is watching it. Based on the ratings so far, Jeanne, I wouldn't be too concerned about it.

It's time to select the roles. Corinne, to no one's surprise, picks House, while Jared selects Melisande. This becomes interesting, as Jared has a girlfriend - but Melisande is single. Hmmmm.... The rest of the roles and pairings are selected by Howard, and he groups up Sean and Linda, Greg and Somere, John and Mae, and Mark and Jeanne. Mark, who already has been teamed up with Jeanne with pretty non-existent chemistry, curses when he hears about the pairings.

Its dinner time! This is a one on one date, where the girls decide who they want to eat out with. Melisande and Jared go out - and they discuss their lines. Jared - "She is someone who I'd love to ask out - if I didn't have a girlfriend who I'm not thinking about that often." Heh.

John comes in during dinner and says that there are last minute script changes. This happens at 10:30 pm as there is a new wrinkle in the competition. That brings an added stretch to Jeanne and Mark. Jeanne - "There are certain people who attract and there are others who repel. Me and Mark Repel." Meanwhile, Melisande is pining after Jared, saying that she really wants to do that sort of a scene with someone who is her boyfriend, or someone who she wants to have as her boyfriend. Like dogs in heat...

On the other side, Jeanne is terrified since there is no connection with her and Mark, who thinks they will pull it together for a professional purpose. Director Gerry Lively tells them to let their fear work for them, but Corinne's fear could cost her everything as she talks to Lively on her direction. They happen to start it off and it seems to work out well. Then there's Jared - "I thought sexy time went well."

What about the jump? It's much smaller than the jump that had to be made and John, who was terrified but made the practice jump, is excited and wanted to do it again. Jeanne and Mark's scene... still had no chemistry and Jeanne is convinced that she is gone. Mark is convinced that he is staying. Are either of them right?

Marki, Louie and Todd are back for the judging, and we see a montage of the clips. Corinne/Harold - mixed reactions. Jared/Melisande - Connection. Sean /Linda - Powerful. Somere/Greg - the chemistry was there, but was Somere losing focus? Mae/John - John is strong, Mae is mixed, Jeanne/Mark - Mark doesn't have good control, mixed results on Jeanne.

Tina hands the scripts to... Linda, John, Melisande, Harold, Mae, Sean, Corinne, Jared, Jeanne and Mark. So why are Somere and Greg knocked out? Somere did lose focus and Greg did not feel like he was a different person when he was on the screen, but I also wonder if the fact that neither of them did the voluntary jump had anything to do with the eliminations, and if they did, maybe they are still in the competition.

Regardless, ten people are still in the competition. That number will be reduced to 8, as we see fast cars, fast women - and fast exits. Tune in next week to see whose stay on the show gets a permanent overhaul.