Lluvy was eliminated last week, and in sort of surprise, Rebecca was second to last. She clearly wants to do better, but just doesn't know how to vamp it up. Let's all admit it, she is quite bland. The only person who may have less personality is Kahlen, and no surprise, they are best friends.

We really jumped into the recreational portion of the episode when the girls went out to dinner at Dolce. If you didn't know that is Aston Kutcher's (part-owned)restaurant, and if you are going to be in Los Angeles, it is on Melrose and Sweetzer in West Hollywood. Dolce is a medium-nice restaurant, and they were shuttled off to the VIP section, but Tiffany had no clue what she was doing. Whenever you are in a situation you can't control, it is best to roll with the punches. For Tiffany, those punches did not include tuna tartar or calamari (if you go, try the carpaccio, and the penne). But come on, enjoy the moment. What is the worst that can happen? You get sick and throw up all over the place? You already did that, why so gun shy?

Our instructional portion of the episode centered around acting. As much fun as it was to watch the girls pretend to be sick last year, this year's challenge was going to be even better. The girls had to learn cockney accents, and if you want to know the meaning of hilarious, it is watching these models as they try and perfect that cockney accent. It's also fun because everybody out there has tried to pull off the cockney accent, and it's a particular affliction among guys when there is some sort of English or Irish beer around.

After a quick refresher course, the girls were tasked with learning not just a cockney accent, but a whole set of lines that they were going to act out in a scene the next day. And you know what happens when the girls have to act out a scene - they get a gorgeous male actor to do it with them. Last year, it was Taye Diggs(cool guy, B-side introduced me to him at the Ghost Bar in Vegas), and this year it was Boris Kodjoe, best known for his role on Soul Food. Soul Food was on Showtime, and was the place to find high quality dramatic acting among black actors. Well, at least it was until HBO came out with The Wire.

Predictably, the girls went crazy over Boris. I am actually surprised that Tiffany didn't pass out like Rebecca did a few weeks ago. The excitement was so contagious that even Kahlen looked like she had a pulse. Her eyes were bugging out more than Christina's:

Kahlen: "Once you go Boris....."

But this is not a game, this is "ACTING" and things had to get serious. Our contestants were whisked away backstage of this little Shakespeare theater that is on Kings, also in West Hollywood. If you are forced to watch one of your struggling actor friends perform there, make sure and try the margaritas at Marix, just a few block away. If it's breakfast you crave, try Hugo's, which is right next door. It's, uhhh, slightly dainty for me, but some may like the potato pancakes. But enough with my citysearch.com impression. The girls had to get dressed as a peasant and do their own makeup, which included blacking out one tooth to make it look like it was missing. Somewhere out there, Brandi is cursing herself for getting kicked out early. This would have been the perfect challenge for her.

If you didn't see the show, the acting was hilarious. Most people forgot their lines, and the accents were interesting to say the least. Brittany had a good accent, and Naima had a great performance. But it was actually Michelle who seemed to have locked this one in the bag, or at least she was telling us that it was going to be easy at ever chance she got. Michelle actually had four years of stage training, and let's not forget that she is a wrestler, which does take athleticism, but also requires you to act in character. Michelle did OK, but she was overacting more than a scene with Ryan and Marissa on The OC.

Naima was chosen the winner, and she picked Michelle and Tatiana to go with her for the grand prize, which had them splitting $10,000 worth of diamonds. You have heard me say Naima is very sweet, but you could tell she has as sense of who she was living with when she picked the people to come with her. Part of the reason was surely because she doesn't want to seem like she is playing favorites, but I think she could also tell how devastated Michelle was at not being picked first, and knew it would do wonders for her confidence to have her performance validated. She's gorgeous, seems smart, is a complete individual, and is a good person. I bet she even does her own taxes.

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Posted by J-Unit on April 14, 2005 12:14 AM