For Love or Money, Episode 2: The Claws Come Out

They arrive at Huntington Botanical Gardens where Rob is waiting in a fine cream-colored suit and straw hat. They stroll through the grounds, the ladies admiring the foliage while Rob admires their décolletage. They come upon a large picnic spread laid out on a table beneath a canopy. Everyone digs in and starts enjoying the meal when Rob decides a bit of showing off is in order. He walks out to an open area and begins to try to set the world record for tossing grapes up into the air and catching them in his mouth. After going 1 for 2 with the grapes we see him walking off with Alima, who tells us that she really likes Rob and wants to get to know him better.

Next, Rob takes some private time with Melissa. Her message to us is a bit less romantic; “In the back of my head I kept thinking, a million dollars… a million dollars!”

Rob gets to decide whom he wants to ride back with and he chooses Stacy and Erin’s vehicle. Melissa and Alima grouse a bit about his decision to ride “with the supermodels” but this could simply be because he wanted some time to chat with them, having already given the other two some one-on-one time. (This of course assumes that he didn’t spend private time with Stacy and Erin that ended up edited out of the broadcast.)

The next “event” on the calendar is that the ten women are to cook a dinner for Rob. As the girls get together to plan the meal, Christina and several others get upset as Kelly takes over. She demands that they cook pasta and make a corn, onion, and tomato salsa. For unknown reasons, the other women go along with Kelly’s demands and soon dinner is underway. Rob arrives and within moments has spirited Kelly away for some privacy over a glass of cabernet. The other women quickly notice her absence and begin to get upset. They complain of being lost without her guidance and help in the kitchen and all but bleat like the sheep they seem to have become. Finally Melanie suggests that Paige should go and find Rob and Kelly. After all, Paige sacrificed her chance for a date with Rob and deserves some time with him. The others quickly join in and soon an uncertain Paige is strolling the hallways looking for the missing couple.

She finds them chatting and plops down beside Rob after trying to keep his attention long enough to give him a refill of his wine. She tells Kelly that the other women need her to help with the pasta and Kelly reluctantly gets up and leaves. Now that Kelly is gone, Rob suddenly turns his full attention on to Paige. As he did in the first episode, he asks her if she might not be too young for him (she’s 21) and she tells him that there is a lot they can teach one another. He asks her about sharing a kiss and she becomes embarrassed, blushing hot enough that he could have cooked an egg on her face. He leans in close and tells her, “You don’t have to,” just before he plants one on her. After he pulls away she pauses for a moment and then returns the favor.

During the brief dinner, which actually involved steak, chicken, pasta, and enough food to feed the average family for a week, Rob asks why everyone voted to keep Kelly off of the date. He gets a lot of noncommittal grunts and a few no comments in reply.

After the meal, everyone decides to waste away again in Margaritaville. Rob gets a little drunk and suddenly asks the women to help him take his boots off. Most of them are a bit nonplussed at the request, but Christina shrugs her shoulders and steps forward. She pulls off one of his boots while displaying so much cleavage that I was waiting for Rob to plant a flag in the middle and declare the land for Spain. One boot down, one to go. Lauren steps forward to tackle the remaining footwear. He asks her to turn around and bend over, pulling the boot off. As the others look on in horror, Lauren reluctantly does as he asks. As she begins to pull on the boot, he plants his other foot firmly onto her backside and shoves her with it. He then rises, takes off his pants (revealing boxers/swim trunks) and invites them all to join him in the hot tub. With the grim resolve of soldiers marching to war, most of them follow him. A million dollars buys a lot of tolerance.

I think it’s best to allow the narration of the women to describe this scene instead of trying to put it in my own words.

“In the hot tub he just moved from one girl to the next, rubbing and touching. It was disgusting.”

One by one the women leave the tub and head upstairs. “He’s a jerk!” one of them proclaims. A million bucks may buy tolerance, but apparently it doesn’t even make a down payment toward degradation.

Rob climbs out and follows Kelly, kissing her hard. Paige comes along and catches them in the act. Don’t cry for her, Argentina. She will soon show that she will not let anything as trivial as her own observations slow her down. Kelly heads off upstairs and Rob walks over to Paige. He tries to kiss her, but she turns her face away and offers him her cheek. This however, is the limit of her chastisement. Within moments she is whispering to him, “You will go the farthest with me!”

Upstairs all the women are in agreement that Rob is a complete toad. They are repulsed by his behavior. It’s unanimous that they are all now officially in it for the money. All but one, that is. In interview, Paige is swooning. “I have had the best night ever. He kissed me… *sigh*… my breath is still taken away!”