The Benefactor, Episode 6: The Winner Takes It All

Welcome to the final episode review of The Benefactor. Let’s start off with a quick recap of last episode. You can read my review of it or I can simply give you the short version: Dominic goes home … NOT! … vacation in Mexico … hidden tests … random acts of kindness … homeless people … sumo suits … Spencer gone … Tiffaney gone … Dominic returns.

So here we are with three players left in the game and tonight, Mark Cuban, self-made billionaire, will give one of them one … million … dollars. The three players are pretty-boy Dominic, pity-favorite Linda, and how’d-she-make-it-this-far Femia.

Mark tells them that, in order to give the money to the right person, he needs to get to know them better. In order to do that, he wants to visit each of their homes and chat with their family and friends. Dominic says, “right on!”, while each of the ladies buries their heads in their hands. I wonder what they are hiding?

First off, Mark flies off to Boston (home of the recently de-cursed Red Sox) to visit with Linda at her home. Mark says that he’s under the impression that Linda comes from a poor part of Boston and that she could deserve the money because her mom suffered a horrible tragedy at the hands of a drunk driver.

Mark disembarks from his private jet and meets Linda and her fiancé, Dan. Now, what I want to know why Linda wasn’t on the jet with Mark. Was she able to fly ahead and meet with Dan to brief him on what to say? That makes it seem like Mark wouldn’t be able to surprise people very well if the players could fly ahead and prepare everything for his visit.

Anyway, Mark meets Linda and Dan and they hop in the car and are off to meet Linda’s mom. She seems like a wonderful lady and proudly shows off her collection of Elvis trinkets, such as a velvet Elvis and an Elvis cow. Hmm. I might have to look for an Elvis cow on eBay.

Mark then heads off to Linda and Dan’s house. As they grow nearer and nearer to the house, Mark slowly realizes that the retail value of the homes in the area is rising steadily. They arrive at Linda’s house and Mark thinks he could be very much at home living in such a mansion. The cameras pan through the house and it is filled from top to bottom with luxury accommodations. Mark realizes that Linda doesn’t need the money for her mom – she could sell a couple of candle holders and plasma TVs and have more than enough to pay for her mom’s new legs. Mark senses that Linda knows that she’s blown her chance at the money.

The drive back to the airport is a long one, and Linda tries to make small talk. But the mood in the car is definitely one of defeat. Linda actually slips up and tells Mark that she uses the Internet all the time. As you may recall, several episodes ago, Linda claimed to not know how to use a computer and had to have Mark run the computer for her. And then we get to see where ABC cut out parts of two episodes to make the final one, because we hear a quick voiceover telling us that, oh by the way, Mark also visited Dominic and Femia in their homes and they were exactly who they claimed to be.

And now we’re back in Dallas. Mark hems and haws, but everyone knows who he will cut. With minimal fanfare (or maybe it’s the editing), he sends Linda packing. He tells us it took everything he had not to rip into her like he wanted to. Linda presents a weak smile and begins packing. She confesses to the camera that her biggest mistake was taking him to visit her own home – she should have gone to someone else’s home.

He tells the two remaining players that tomorrow will be the final test. And then he tells them the test. He will simply ask them why they should get the money and they will get one minute to answer. Well, that seems like a bit of a let-down – they’ve each told him many times already.

Dominic tells us that he’s gotten this far by being off-the-cuff and lucky, so he doesn’t plan to change that tactic. Femia tells us that someone as stupid as Dominic doesn’t deserve the money.

And so, the next day arrives. A car arrives to pick up the players and whisks them off to Mark’s office at the basketball center. Dominic tells us of a dream he had last night where he opened his mouth and nothing came out. Hmmm. That doesn’t sound like a dream to me – it sounds like a recap of his whole stay on the show.

Femia arrives first. A shot clock begins the corner of the screen. She fumbles through her time, saying pretty standard things for the finals of any reality show. It’s all about playing the game, she adapted to changing conditions better than everyone else, she grew a lot during the competition, and so on. It’s the kind of speech you’d hear at the end of any season of Survivor or Big Brother.

Mark tells her that it’s a nice answer, but that it’s just not good enough and that she didn’t win the million. It looks to us at home that Mark was planning on giving Dominic the money all along, since he hasn’t even talked to Dominic yet. She takes it well. She hugs him and thanks him for the opportunity. She’s disappointed as she walks off.

And then Dominic arrives and we know it’s just a moot point. He spends his 60 seconds telling Mark that he rocked the house and that’s why he deserves the money. He calls Mark one of his new friends. Mark agrees that Dominic is now one of his bestest new buddies and that will never change.

Unfortunately, he won’t be giving Dominic the money either and tells him so. Dominic also takes it well and hugs Mark. As he’s leaving, though, he smirks into the camera and says, “game over, man.”

So, no one gets the money! Well, of course, anyone who saw the preview from last week’s show knows that Mark just lied to both players. He just wanted to see how each would react to coming this far and losing. This is their final test.

But, despite the testing not being over, he tells us that he already knows who has won the game and writes the name on a piece of paper and puts it in an envelope.

Mark tells us that it is important to react well to failure. He says that he’s been fired from more jobs than most people have ever had and kept bouncing back.

Meanwhile, Dominic and Femia are heading towards some grand finale where the winner will be revealed. Of course, each thinks they are the loser. Mark has set up camera crews and production staff to record their reactions to losing and to ask them a million questions, such as what it feels like to lose. Femia finds a card from her boyfriend in her purse which says that he believes in her. She draws comfort from that. She says that she’s ready to move along to the next challenge.