Paying Your
Dues
November 5
Last time, we met eleven beautiful, talented, and troubled women
who had dreams of rock'n'roll stardom. Now they have one last chance to get
their time in the limelight, as they realize what's at stake by witnessing the
first one of them, Toni, go home in a heartwrenching elimination.
Now 10 women remain on the road to redemption.
Joie basically said that the first elimination
was a wakeup call. Meanwhile the rest of the house is working on one thing...
rubbing out the current front runner Jazmin, who sees Angelica as her biggest
competition. The feeling... more than mutual. She does however point out that
she's the only "blonde, blue-eyed bitch" who can belt. Joie thinks that she's a
bit offensive.
Next morning, Chris enters saying it's time to
make the donuts. Out front in five minutes. Let's go. Hustle, hustle!
They start their morning... with a run. At this
time, Esther relates this to a moment in her life when she was in a bad bike
accident and couldn't walk for a while. She sees this as a reaffirmation. The
rest of the girls... wouldn't stop complaining. Wait. It gets better. "Since it
took you so long to get that done, you have to do one more lap." Which Nyia
calls "some (^_^)ing bull(^_^)." For that, Nyia has to drop and give us 20.
Sob story time. Nyia's mom is a crack addict. She
blames her for a hard upbringing. To win this is important. She wants a
foundation for her children.
Music note! "It takes hard work to get from the
bottom of the music world to the top, and you all need to pay your dues." That
takes them to a catering hall, where they will have to do some event planning
with an event planner. And by "planning" we mean the grunt work AND providing
entertainment for a birthday bash.
But first, you have to set up the party. Elisa
and Kendra are captains tonight.
Elisa's Team: Angelica, Mixi, Farah, Esther
Kendra's Team: Jazmin, Kededra, Nyia, Joie
You have one hour to set up... and it starts now.
And it's good to know that the leaders can't even
do the simplest tasks like blow balloons, make champagne fountains, or go one
task without crying.
Angelica thinks that from an aesthetical
standpoint, her team wins. But it's not up to her, it's up to the party's
host... some chick who's throwing her super sweet 16. "This is MY sweet 16, so
it's all about me... and me ONLY." I don't remember sweet 16s like her growing
up. I blame that other music television network. You know....
And surely enough, Candace was your stereotypical
brat. But she does award the W to Elisa's team.
Time to go see Mauli B. He's got a music note.
Mauli B will be coaching the winners while the losers cook dinner. The losing
team will get to rehearse with him ONLY when the winners AND the chores are
done.
Tonight's numbers:
- Elisa's Team: "Pocketful of Sunshine", Natasha
Bedingfield
- Kendra's Team: "Too Little, Too Late", JoJo
Aside from teaching the songs, he's going
to teach them how to use their voices, how to preserve them. Farah comes
off as overbearing... which goes against EVERYTHING the song stands for.
Angelica is the only one in the group to hit the notes.
Angelica says it's fun to be, in her
words, "bitches". Farah says that it was funny to a point, but we could
see the tension between her and Jazmin.
That night, Mauli B. comes and Jazmin has
a mocktail for him... Can he take it to go? The others needed more
time.
Winners go to the hot tub and drink.
Losers clean. And it seems that the hubris finally gets the better of
the teams, as Nyia goes off on Kendra for taking a piece of her
sandwich. Being away from her kids is really starting to take a toll on
her.
Fleeting expletive from Nyia, as she
says, she's tired. The rest of the girls focus on that. Meanwhile,
Jazmin is quick to note that Angelica and Nyia weren't getting along...
Angelica and Kededra weren't getting along... and Angelica is quick to
note that the two "black girls" she stays with all the time constantly
bitch about everything.
Angelica admits in a confessional that
she's once called a friend's Mexican kid an... N-word, because
apparently he did something "n-word"-ish. "This would make me
sound terribly racist, by the way." Don't worry, it's only because you
are, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
We're heading to the sweet 16 party, and
the losers are busy squeezing in some practice.
Challenge 2: It's My Party (Sweet 16
Performance)
Judging tonight's performances are Mauli
B., Geffen's Dennis Dennehy & Julie Hovsepian, and a special guest
judge... 'Nsync's Chris Kirkpatrick. Oh, and Candace and her friends,
they'll be judging as well. They'll have to choose their favorite
singer. They're being judged as individuals, though they are on a team.
First is Elisa's team with "Pocketful of
Sunshine". Farah has completely the wrong tone for the song (she admits
to being "the guy with the glasses from Boyz II Men"... you mean Nathan
Morris?). Esther... also had the completely wrong tone for the song. She
admits to "eating it." In fact, the only one who killed tonight was
Angelica (a case could've been made for Mixi, except she flubbed a
lyric).
Next is Kendra's team with "Too Little
Too Late". Kendra was shaky. Sounds like she's holding herself back.
Joie just does something to stand out. Nyia gave it her best.. and it
showed. It seemed like the second group was a lot better than the first,
but what do the judges say?
Candace's favorite tonight was...
Angelica. She's this week's winner. Angelica... still can't believe it.
The bottom three tonight are... Kendra
(second time in a row), Esther (she didn't feel it, she didn't own it),
and Jazmin (wasn't happy with her performance).
Back at the house, Nyia was strained and
distraught about being away from her kids. She just wants to hear their
voices... once.
Meanwhile, Jazmin has to swallow her
pride and prove her case to Angelica. Angelica... pretty much rebuffs
her offer.
Time for an elimination. We start by
removing Jazmin's record off the wall and replacing it with Angelica's.
Esther was weak (and she forgot a lyric)
and perhaps not ready for this competition. She hasn't been able to
prove herself. Jazmin had a lot of potential, but she lacked confidence.
She's strong competition. Kendra conformed to her group and decided
against being herself. She doesn't want to go home. She wants Angelica
to go home... and so does Jazmin, who calls out Angelica as being a
racist.
Kededra agrees with her. Farah... not so
much. "I don't think Angelica is racist at all. Racism, to me, is
behavioural, not what comes out of somebody's mouth."
Needless to say, she says that she's not
a racist. She keeps Jazmin around if only to have someone to kick
around.
Leaving tonight... is... wait a second,
Nyia wants to say something. She breaks down in front of everyone,
saying that she needs to be home with her children. She's willing to
forfeit her record to do so
Chris asks Nyia twice if this is what she
wants... This is what she wants.... Mauli says that it's not about Nyia...
it's about her... but it's too late. She breaks her own record. And
Kendra is VERY lucky because she was the one who was going home this
week.
So that's what she wrote as she tells her
kids that she's coming home. Moral of the story... never second-guess
yourself for ANYTHING. If you're sure of yourself, you go for it... If
not... don't bother. That's your redemption this week. Back next week
for more. |