This week’s Scholar jumped into the quizzical early, just not the academic variety.

In a party game the girls are asked, “Who would you hook up with in the house?” Melissa was interested in Jeremy, but because he didn’t put up good competition she would go for Davis or Max.

While Max accepted the complement, he later revealed that he really fell for Alyssa’s eyes. Of course, those eyes are nothing compared to Melissa’s booty.

Long story short, 10 high schoolers in one pink house equals horny fest 2005. So before the scholars start evaluating the merits of the “base” system, let’s jump into the Captain’s Quiz.

Captain’s Quiz: Each of the following set of letter can be made into a word with the addition of the same, single letter. The scholars must identify the letter and as many of the words as possible in ten minutes. As always, answers are at the end of the recap.

ARAGED
RANE
THOU
RIVO

Only 3 scholars locked in and of those students, Milana did the best coming up with the correct letter, and three of the words. Jeremy locked in with the incorrect letter, and Melissa had none of the words. Thus, Melissa and Jeremy ended up being trumped Max who even though he didn’t lock in, matched Milana’s effort of the correct letter with 3 words.

After the challenge we learn about Milana’s Russian heritage and Amari’s sadness. Amari feels that she is the stupid person in the group because while all of her competitors are well accomplished, she feels that she does not compare. All of this was of course expressed in tearful agony in front of the confessional cam. After a talk with her Mom, Amari’s spirits were lifted making her prepared to take her next blows. Let’s continue with “Beat on Amari Day” shall we?

Poor Amari gets picked last. Maybe she’s right. Maybe she is less accomplished. Either way, she has taken resolve to be more aggressive, so we shall see.

Team Challenge: The challenge this week is to perform community service by helping youth groups improve their facilities and create valuable, lasting programs to enrich the youth.

The Milana’s Gold team set up an ambitious list of tasks, including a reading room and books, an enlarged outdoor play space, partitioning in the bathroom, and storage space.

Meanwhile, the Red Team is aiming to pioneer a reading program and provide the kids with musical instruments and additional tutoring support.

The teams took this challenge very seriously, somewhat reducing the entertainment factor of this episode. However, occasionally it is very nice to see genuine television. So, to recap the occurrences, here is a little Wall of Fame:

Melissa convinced her school to donate its old books to the community program at the end of the school year

Amari braved the phones and succeeded in obtaining high school involvement for their Read for Life tutoring program

Jeremy and Scot raced around like work horses, completing the physically demanding work that the others did not want to complete

And finally, Liz interacted wonderfully with the children, making them feel as if someone really cared about them which is very important for the youth in these centers who often don’t get the attention they deserve.

The only real mistakes made during this challenge include wasting time at Wal-Mart and installing cabinetry upside down, but other than that the scholars did a great job.

Now that the work is done, let’s introduce you to Lydia Templeton, the community service judge, jury and executioner. In drilling the Gold team, she was very impressed that the children were involved in the process of change at the learning center. However, the hole left in the outdoor play space from the removal of the fence was a big safety mistake in her eyes. Mind you, this is a blacktop play space and the hole is about the size of a soda can, so this really isn’t anything a little dirt/cement couldn’t fill.

Over with the Red team, Lydia can’t get past her first question about the Kids involvement. Maybe that is because they weren’t involved at all. Max, in speaking for the group stumbled around Lydia’s questions never really gave straight answers, constantly trying to over-justify his decisions. Regardless of this, Lydia was very pleased with the improvements that were made as the quality of the jobs and the proposals were very good.

As for Lydia’s final decision, it came down to whose team had the best leadership and the best leadership, she felt, came from Milana giving the win to the Gold team and sending Milana to the showdown.

Remember horny fest 2005? Well, the scholars went dancing post-challenge and Max was very conflicted trying to evenly split his dance time between Alyssa and Melissa. Of course the confusion stopped when Melissa caught Alyssa and Max kissing. Ironically, after kissing Alyssa, Melissa still allowed Max to dance with her. And the Leon Phelps’ Ladies’ Man award goes to Max!

The morning after there was no fall out as everyone seemed fixated on who would be in the showdown. Francine came in and announced who would be Milana’s competition. Her competition this week, as chosen by the admissions committee, will be Amari and Liz who both were praised for working magic behind the scenes. That’s right, after being picked last and feeling worthless, “Beat on Amari Day” is officially over. Will it turn into $50,000 is still to be seen.

Admissions Showdown The Topic: African Geography

For once, I can not give you a recap of all of the questions because the girls racked up enough correct answers that the editors had to do some work. At least 12 correct answers were given before anyone was eliminated making this Showdown longer than the previous 2 combined. Looks like the scholars have finally learned how to cram.

Lagos the most populous city in Africa is in what oil-rich West African country? Algeria is the answer that sent one of the girls packing and this time around it is Liz. Correct Answer (Nigeria)

Amari stumbled thinking the Aswan High Dam controlled the Zambezi River? (Correct: the Nile), but Milana could not capitalize, missing what country had the cities of Meru and Mombasa (Correct Answer: Kenya)

Then, stumbling again, Amari did not know that Gambia was surrounded by Senegal.

This gave Milana a second chance to take the money.

Questions: The Kruger National Park is located in the North Eastern part of what country? And the $50,000 answer is South Africa giving Milana the 3^rd spot in the final.

There are now only two spots remaining and the Scholar is half over, so kids if you got game, bring it. Next week, the scholars go Spielberg, and Davis goes Van Doren. It should be another great week. See you then.

Answers to the Captain’s Quiz: The letter is “Y” and the words are yardage, yearn, youth and ivory.