Looking at Tough Enough's Look Back

First of all, a little housekeeping. Thanks to those who bought a gold-dipped rose through the site, your patronage is appreciated. [Editor’s Note: In case you’re wondering what Mike’s talking about, see this Temptation Island 2 article – I’m not sure what the overlap between TI and TE really is.] For those who bought one, email me and let me know what you and your better half thought of it.

To those who asked what I got Maria this year, go to GroovyCandies.com and you’ll see it. Classic candies that I thought they stopped making years ago…such a cool idea, and it made a great Valentine’s Day gift. Make sure to tell them you heard about it from RealityNewsOnline!

To all those who ask me about Maven’s theme music: he uses the Tough Enough theme, which oddly enough is NOT on the Soundtrack CD. I have heard rumors that the WWF is coming out with another volume of theme music soon, but I have no idea if it will be on there. The theme is by Les Claypool of Primus, by the way.

We start Tough Enough – A Look Back with highlights from Maven’s and Nidia’s audition tapes. Maven’s shows him goofing around in front of the camera and posing, while Nidia dresses up in a hood and claims to be the “UnderNidia.” Which just goes to prove, folks, it don’t matter what you send in, the WWF knows what it’s looking for.

Much of the episode is highlights from the various Season 1 episodes, with comments from Maven and Nidia.

Quick clips of the Casting Special, including Maven winking at, and Nidia bickering with, Jackie. As they show the lucky 13 being announced, both contestants tell us that they knew their lives were about to change. Maven worried about having to quit his job and uproot his wife. So, yes, sorry ladies, he’s unavailable. [Editor's Note: Well, not really. See the "Casting Special" recap for a correction.]

Nidia, who at the time didn’t even own a television, was reminded of The Real World when she first saw the house. Wonder why she didn’t say Big Brother? Heh. Maven’s aim was to be as easygoing as possible, which I think he succeeded in doing.

Nidia thought Paulina would be her biggest competition, mainly because of her size. Maven was concerned with Jason. I’m still convinced that Jason was only there because the MTV Weasels wanted him to be there.

We get highlights of Tazz’ boot camp. Nidia tells us that what they wrestled in was more pig crap than mud. Yikes. Some of those “behind the scenes” details I really don’t care to know.

Maven, for his part, was really raring to wrestle in pig crap, because he was ready to see who’s “got it.” Nidia just realized how out of shape she was.

Injuries: Maven says you can’t be afraid of getting hurt, or you WILL get hurt. Nidia talks about how hard it was to see Paulina go, even if she was her biggest competition. Maven says Greg’s injury was heartbreaking, and he believes that Greg would be sitting there today if his back didn’t act up.

Quitters: Both were surprised by Jason quitting so soon. Nidia, however, was not surprised when Chris, Boobie Jo, and Victoria quit because they kept whining about quitting. Maven said he would never quit, he would be asking “what if?” for the rest of his life. Nidia felt the same way as Tazz – the gang got rid of the crap when the quitters left.

Speaking of crap, time to talk about Darryl. Maven says Darryl quit because the contestants were relying on each other, putting themselves in each other’s hands. Darryl wasn’t getting it, and he was endangering everyone else. Nidia agrees, saying that no one wanted to work with him and they were glad to see him go.

They both also agree that it was sad to see Shadrick go, that he was a great guy. Maven adds that it’s survival of the fittest, though, and in a short competition you have to keep up.

Maven corrects himself from earlier: he would have quit if his Mom had gotten any worse. I don’t know from bone cancer, but I’ve been told that it’s not pretty. I, for one, wish Mom Maven the best. My girlfriend adds that it was really cool of the WWF and MTV to let Maven go for a couple days while his Mom was hospitalized. I think they just didn’t want to lose Maven, but the idea remains the same; they didn’t have to let him go.

Nidia was relieved to see Maven come back from visiting his Mom. When he was around, he was a calming influence, like having your Dad around (heh…I would disagree with that analogy). Maven was glad to be in Tough Enough at that point. It gave him something to focus on so he wasn’t constantly worrying about his Mom.

Nidia and Maven share some of their favorite moments from the show. They both say that their favorite time was the four-day trip to Raw and Smackdown.

Looking back, one of the funniest moments was when Maven was roughhousing with Josh and tipped Taylor’s candles over. “Dumbass,” Nidia says. She adds that she has four words: “Stop, drop, and roll,” referring to Shadrick’s advice. Well, it WOULD have been good advice had anyone or anything been on fire other than the bedspread.

They also point out Taylor’s drunken flirting with Maven during the above-mentioned road trip, as well as Harvard Chris and Nidia egging her on. They loved when Josh became Al’s mini-me, the circle game, and Harvard Chris becoming Yale’s bitch.

Maven also says he enjoyed working out at the rock quarry, because some tried hard and did well, while others didn’t (as they show Harvard Chris stumbling up the rock hill).

They were looking forward to the match with the trainers, Maven says, until they realized that it wasn’t so much as match as it was an initiation. Ouch.

Maven claims he had no idea who would win until they read his name. He says that if Josh had won, he would have been the first to congratulate him. Nidia points out that Chris always felt like an outsider because he didn’t take the time to get to know anyone. Maven calls Chris pompous, and says they didn’t get along, but he still proved to be worthy competition.

Some highlights from Maven’s matches (like the ones we’ve mentioned here) are shown, as Maven says that dreams do come true. He’s learning so much, and every day is an adventure. To the winner of Tough Enough 2 he says: be ready to take what you learn and magnify it beyond your wildest dreams.

And speaking of which, we get some previews from Tough Enough 2! They’re in quick-cut MTV style, so we don’t get much good information. Highlights include a LARGE man named “Chisel” and a girl lying on her back with her head between her legs, spanking her own ass. Yes, you heard me. The Tough Enough 2 Casting Special will air on MTV Thursday, February 28 and will of course be covered by yours truly for RNO.

Hmmm… February 28… seems like something else is happening that day, but I just can’t think of what that could be… ah, it’s probably not important.

By way of final updates on the cast of Tough Enough 1:

Maven continues to hold the WWF Hardcore Title. Nothing is really clear about his future, except that the WWF seems to be very excited about him as a future Superstar.

Nidia has worked a few matches in Ohio Valley Wrestling based in Louisville (yeah, that doesn’t make much sense to me either) and one day hopes to be ignored on Raw just like the rest of the women in the WWF.

Josh has become a full-time wrestler with EWF Pro Wrestling in Indiana, and he is supposedly getting a “BMF Title” shot (?) against Ryan Paradise next time out. You can check out www.ewfprowrestling.bizland.com for more information. Thanks to Randy Nein for the info.

Harvard Chris is also rumored to have “called the front office of EWF” to say that he has “unfinished business” with Josh, so I would assume that he will be joining EWF as well.

Taylor has been wrestling some indy shows around the Portland, Oregon area and probably will continue to do so.

Finally, Shadrick has been wrestling in a Dallas-area federation called PCW, Professional Championship Wrestling. He has joined the “Playas Club,” the most dominant group in PCW. Shadrick will be fighting Chris Chronic at their next live event, March 2. You can go to www.pcwwrestling.com for info. Thanks to ‘Beezer Joe’ for the information.

Bobbie Jo has, to my knowledge, not yet posed for Playboy. I’ve been checking all the issues very closely, just in case.

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