Tough Enough August 19 Update: Maven Out Longer, Nidia Getting Better, Linda & Jackie Apartment-Hunting

Great news for RealityNewsOnline readers! I have recently completed an exclusive interview with our favorite contestant Danny "the Danimal" Carney! Find more about the friendships in the house and Danimal's thoughts about the series. This exclusive interview will be posted in the next week, only here on RealityNewsOnline!

The news for Maven isn't quite so positive. According to a story on www.wwe.com, Maven learned that he'll miss at least two more months of ring time as he rehabilitates an ankle injury that went undiagnosed when it happened in May.

Maven broke his right fibula and right ankle and tore ligaments in that ankle during his match with Christian on the May 28 taping of SmackDown! He was expected to only be out four to six weeks. As we know, his down time kept growing a "couple of weeks" at a time. Know we know why.

Two weeks after the injury, doctors realized his ankle was also broken. He was placed in a protective brace. Two months later, the pain and swelling had not gone away. Last week, an MRI finally revealed torn ligaments in the ankle. According to WWE, had the ligament injury been diagnosed immediately, Maven would have had surgery but at this point surgery would do more harm than good.

At this point, Maven faces another two months of rehab. But Maven isn't discouraged: "It's very frustrating," he said. "But if you can't handle being injured, than don't get in this business. Because it's going to happen."

All information and quote courtesy WWE.com.

Last week on Smackdown, Nidia defeated Torrie Wilson (who appeared on TE2 late in the season). The match was said to be a distinct improvement on Nidia's OVW matches. Having seen the OVW "Spring Break-Out" match vs. Synn, that wouldn't be too difficult.

To be fair, Nidia is said to be working hard to improve her performance, and it has obviously paid off. In addition, she is really getting into her character. As a prelude to her match, Nidia took the gum out of her mouth and placed it onto the ringpost. Then, when the match was over she popped the gum back in. It's little touches like that which add to a good wrestling gimmick.

Tough Enough 2 winners Linda and Jackie are looking for apartments in Louisville. Again, according to WWE, they will be sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville for an "extended development run." I'm sure Linda would make a fine addition to the quality wrestlers in OVW. As for Jackie, I'm sure the New Davis Arena will need plenty of popcorn vendors and janitors.

Finally, I'm sure everyone remembers Aaron, the TE2 contestant whose heart almost exploded after taking a supplement with high doses of ephedra. Ephedra is in the news, after the FDA launched a criminal investigation last week against Metabolife, makers of many ephedra-containing supplements. According to the Chicago Tribune, Metabolife has allegedly lied about the safety of ephedra, and has "refused and resisted" the FDA's attempts to obtain reports on the drug.

For the full story, click here. You'll have to register to read the full story, unfortunately, but it's free (at least for now). I will keep you updated on this story.

Anyone with any information on Tough Enough contestants past and present, please e-mail me at mikmaria@earthlink.net.

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