The Entertainer, Episode 4: The Battle of the Lounge Acts

Last week, The Entertainer ran what their web site claims is a "bonus" episode, which was chronologically out of sequence with the previous two. So picking up from episode two, the contestants were broken into teams and worked at the concierge desk of the Aladdin Hotel / Resort. One team helped put together a wedding; the other a bachelorette party, but Paul had doubts about continuing in the show and didn't show up at all. Wayne Newton eliminated him from the show, and had the team captains Nathan and Theresa each pick a person (they choose Sarah and Jennifer) to go to the Lake Las Vegas Resort for a romantic dinner later that evening.

The mood back at the high roller pad is that of relief. Paul apparently created tension, and the place is more peaceful and happy with him gone. Jennifer says Paul was annoying.

Sarah gets a special delivery - flowers, and a note from Joe. He's the one she really connects with on the show. She's in a relationship back in Nashville, but she likes the roses.

Dinner time, and Nathan is thrilled to be going with three beautiful women. Over the meal, he tries to size up his competition. He thinks Jennifer is old school, but he thinks he can psyche out Sarah and Theresa. He asks them which contestants can handle the pressure of headlining. He tells Sarah she might become huge in Nashville, but perhaps not in Vegas. She disagrees, thinking Las Vegas is a stepping stone. Nathan notes that only himself and Joe see Las Vegas as their destination; the others look at it is a starting place for a career elsewhere.

Time for Wayne's next challenge. He says the lounges of Las Vegas hold a special place in his heart - he spent five years of his life doing six shows a night, six days a week in one. He says they are one of the toughest places to work at, but ultimately are educational and rewarding. He's going to break them into two teams and it will be a battle of the lounge acts. The goal is to get people in the seats, and get them to stay for the show. It doesn't matter how well they perform if nobody is around to hear them. The people they are entertaining will score them on their performance with their comment cards. Tonight they have to study songs they might not know - a challenge even for the best performer. Tomorrow they have one hour to rehearse with the band for their one hour show. It's an opportunity for them to show off their talents. He expects outstanding performances.

Since they did so well in their last challenge as teams, he's keeping them the same for this round (the Black Team has Nathan, Sarah, Joe, and Jacquie; the Red Team has Delisco, Dave, Jennifer, and Theresa). As always, Scotty and Francis will be monitoring their performance at each lounge. The winning team sticks around - the losing team may lose somebody for good. Wayne finishes up by telling them to "Knock 'em dead." He privately notes that in his lounge days, anything could - and did - happen, from people throwing things at him to people in the audience dying. He thinks this challenge will show him if the contestants can cut it in Las Vegas. It may be one of the most important challenges in the show.

Over on the Black Team, Jacquie isn't thrilled to have the same teammates - she didn't feel she had any rapport with them. However, Sarah isn't thrilled to have Jacquie around either - she thinks she dwells on negative stuff too much. Joe figures he'll do some bits from his act, Nathan will do some magic, and the girls should go over the songbook to figure out what to sing.

On the Red Team, Jennifer says they freaked out when they examined the songbook. She knew about the songs, but had never performed them before. Theresa is in worse shape - she's only familiar with one set of lyrics in one song. She's stressed.

The next day the Red Team makes their way to the Shimmer Lounge at the Las Vegas Hilton, where Francis shows them their venue, and says it's their chance to show the world what they are made of. They'll be on in 60 minutes. Jennifer is worried because she doesn't know the melodies to the songs she'll be performing. Delisco has his own solution to the problem - make it up as he goes. With 40 minutes to go, Dave goes out to find an audience. He introduces himself as the emcee, and tells them Wayne Newton personally selected them to perform. Back inside, Delisco, Jennifer, and Theresa work with the band, and everybody is concerned for Theresa, who is trying to figure out how to sing "Moon River" while the clock is running. With 15 minutes left, Dave realizes they don't have a game plan as to the order of the acts.