"Sing or Strip:
London" - November 30
A night in the jungle led to Jermaine sleeping on the
job.. and getting the axe for it. Next stop on Branson's
Big Adventure: London.
Meanwhile, Steve &
Jessica are still making cutesy faces at each other...
at least Steve is, as Jessica says, "Steve and I have a
forbidden love. Steve loves me. And I forbid it."
Branson meets the
players at the crypt, as we rock out. Jessica & Steve
are chosen as leaders... of the opposing team! Jessica
thinks that she has the edge because of her three rules:
respect, admire, and fear.
The teams arrive at a
mansion as Steve goes shirtless... and you can see his
tanlines. Ew. He gets dressed for dinner and a drink as
the group takes in the London scenery. Meanwhile, some
playing around with Michael & Jessica gets Steve a bit
miffed. And by a bit, I mean seriously foaming at the
mouth. He has it out with her at the ladies' room,
saying "I can make you look so bad." And now everyone
thinks that Jessica doesn't really like Steve that much.
The two later meet to discuss professionalism and
manipulation. "I think I'm scared that if I keep hanging
out with you, I'm going to start feeling more." They
agree that they could be each other's downfall, which
opens the door for Steve to begin planning Jessica's
downfall.
The next day, the teams
meet Branson at V2 Music (home of the White Stripes).
After detailing the history of Virgin Records (which in
and of itself is the history of the Virgin empire),
Branson sets the challenge: find an unsigned band of
four predetermined bands and bring them to V2 and V
Fest. The winning team's band will play V Festival. The
losers will go to elimination challenge: sing or streak.
The four bands: 1)
Rachel Mari Kimber. Indie rock. The music's alright, but
the presentation's lacking. So says Jessica.
2) Exit Ten. Progressive
alt-rock. Jessica is moved.
3) The Naked Apes.
Another rock band. "A great career in commercial
jingles." -Steve.
4) RED. Hardcore
rock'n'soul chick band, wearing lingerie on stage. "Took
me all of six seconds to realize that they have no
musical talent." -Steve again.
Team Steve go to sign
Exit Ten. Shawn and Team Jessica want... RED? Well,
we'll see. They have the band, but now they need to sell
it. One of the potential buyers, Chris Allen, manager of
the All-American Rejects ("Swing Swing"), who are
playing at V-Fest. They agree to hear Exit Ten at a van
parked outside. Jessica, meanwhile, is preparing her
spiel on RED at the Megastore.
Chris Allen... likes
Exit Ten. Shawn.. REALLY likes RED. Steve needs the
panel to feel them, so he's resorting to... theatrics.
Will it work, though?
RED is up first at the
Megastore against Branson, James Kidd (brand director,
Virgin Mobile), Kelly Bryant (formerly of Eternal), and
Emma Banks (director of Helter Skelter agency). The
band... looks FINE... They rock, but Jessica was a
little disappointed. The night before was better. Kelly
believes that they have to be capable musicians and have
to develop a sound as a band. Talk about tearing Shawn
apart.
Steve shoulders the
entire spiel himself. Here comes Exit Ten. A bit over
the top, but it grabs the judges' attention. Exit Ten
backs up the talk. But Kelly is a hard sell, thinking
that the challenge was about bringing something more
than just the band to the table. She's not pleased. But
who wins the challenge? We'll find out at V-Fest...
Tomorrow.
And it's tomorrow...
Opening up for V-Fest... Exit Ten! Steve's team wins,
and Jessica is faced with a hard decision: who to pick
for the elimination challenge. She picks Sean. Branson
has questions on that choice, as Jessica says that Shawn
wants to lead all the time. Shawn says that he wasn't
more proactive in this task.
So onto the challenge:
One will sing. One will streak. Shawn doesn't streak on
religious beliefs (Like Lena & Kristy, Ken Jennings, and
my best friend from high school Rachel Kenney, Shawn's a
Mormon). The song Shawn must sing, that old reality TV
standard... "Oops! I Did It Again". How does it go
over?
"You fat bastard!"
Something like that,
yeah. Get him off! And as for Jessica? She gets to run
around as God made her... plus a few body paintings: RED
and Virgin (of course). Steve is very "disturbed".
Now Branson has yet
another tough decision to make. The time has come and
the ... helicopter is fueled. Nicole hopes Shawn stays,
and Steve echoes that sentiment. Richard holds Jessica
accountable for taking in the wrong band. That said,
Jessica gets the sole ticket... which leads directly
back to America. Shawn says that she was a strong
competitor, while everyone wonders why Steve, who wanted
to get rid of Jessica, is now so emotional. Branson
doesn't believe that she has what it takes to run his
company, but Jessica believes that she had the best four
weeks of her life.
Meanwhile, the remaining
players remain in London, waiting for their next task.
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