Paradise Hotel, August 4: Sacrifices

When we last left Paradise, Holly had joined the cast and took possession of the single room. This left the couples living together as follows:

Toni and Scott: Yellow Room
Amy and Keith: Bird Room
Charla and Dave: Monkey Room
Tara and Beau: Blue Room
Kristin and Alex: Butterfly Room
Holly: Single Room

The hotel has become a battleground with Tara, Charla, Dave, and Keith in one faction, Amy, Kristin, Scott, and Alex in another, and the remaining three in the middle. Beau has sympathy with the Amy/Kristin/Scott/Alex faction but is being ostracized from it as well. Toni also thinks she's in with the latter group, but hasn't yet realized she isn't a full member of the alliance. Nobody knows where Holly stands, and she's the most important person in the game since she'll be making the decision to send somebody home.

After breakfast one morning, the girls decide to ambush the guys with water. They get into a pool overlooking a pathway fully clothed, then splash the guys. Dave gets some, but doesn't take it seriously. Dave and Charla tell the cameras they have an alliance with Tara and Keith. He doesn't trust Scott. Scott gets Holly to admit she sees two sides; Holly says she's not on either side. Amy, Toni, and Kristin wonder why they can't win this since they have four original girls and three original guys. They are going to put the pressure on Charla, thinking she's weak. Charla concedes she's in a hard situation. Toni comes into her room to comfort her, but Charla starts crying, and says she can do it for hours.

Time for Holly's second romantic getaway night. She picked Scott for the first one, but isn't sure who to pick next. The men think it will be Beau, but he thinks it will be Alex. However, Holly does pick Beau, and he's thrilled. Amy, however, wants it to be a reconnaissance mission. Amy says she'll pick Beau as the next roommate so if Holly picks him, she's out of the game. Holly and Beau depart for the evening, but Beau kisses Amy goodbye. They go back to the same penthouse suite Scott and Holly went to in her last date. Holly admits she'd hang out with Toni, Kristin, and Keith. Beau says that every girl is scared, and they intimidate them upon arrival. He notes that Toni thinks she's after her, but Holly says she likes her the best. They swim, then Holly pours candle wax on his stomach. He jumps in the pool, then he wants to pour wax on her. She suggests the legs, but he goes for the breasts. In bed, she says she won't forget their excursion.

Alex confronts Keith to find out again why Keith kicked out Zack last week. Keith asks him how a newcomer can get ahead in the game with the originals are all against him. Alex doesn't understand why kicking out Zack was strategic. Keith sticks by his guns, saying he had to break them up. Alex admits Keith was the first new person to open his eyes to how the game worked and admits he is going to have to change. Amy is crying all alone and says she misses Zack tremendously. She vows Keith will leave before she does. She goes to bed alone, saying she'll cry herself to sleep.

The next day at breakfast, Alex claims to have dreamed about having a date with J-Lo in a Hummer. Beau returns and says his date was awesome. He reveals that Holly isn't targeting anybody in the game. The only person he wanted to find out about was Toni, just so he could tell her she's not a target. The men agree Toni is paranoid.

Holly goes to the girls’ table and says things went well. Toni starts her paranoia by saying her instincts are back up and telling her something is going on. She doesn't want to hear anything more about somebody wanting somebody gone. She then names Charla and Tara as being against her. She says for them not to lobby Holly, because she'll make her own choices, and warns them not to use the new people to get her kicked out. Toni, let me explain the facts of life - Holly is the ONLY person who decides if you go or not. Unitil the producers change the rules again, it's not a democracy; it's absolute power. Toni storms off, saying she needs time to calm down. Understatement.

Charla returns to the Monkey Room and reveals the conversation to Dave. Dave notes Toni is simply paranoid and taking it out on her, which is uncalled for. Charla can't believe Toni is arrogant enough to think that only her clique of friends should stay. Dave is concerned Toni might be getting to Holly.

Indeed, Toni seeks out Holly and tells her she is prettier than Whitney (the other hopeful Holly was up against). Toni can't wait for her to suffer the same paranoia as everybody else. Holly agrees they are all paranoid. Toni says they have just formed bonds and everybody thinks she's as cool as hell. Beau and Scott also want Holly to stay and agree Charla should be kicked out. They don't think their words will get back to Charla.

Scott and Charla talk in the saloon. He wants to try to get to know her better, and concedes she's talked to Dave, Tara, and Keith. Charla tells him she feels threatened by him. He asks her if there have been sides formed over the past few weeks. She denies it to his face, but in confessional, she admits she used to be attracted to Scott but now doesn't trust him at all. Scott says he trusts Charla and hopes she trusts him. She doesn't answer until pressured, then concedes "they" want her gone.

The women get the letters telling them to pack their bags since one of them will be leaving. Toni tells Amy there is a change of plan - Amy needs to pick Beau. Amy responds she's going to Scott, but Toni again insists she go to Beau. Amy says Holly is going to Scott. Scott is told to be standoffish, and Amy says she'd do the same for him. Toni insists she's going, but the others chalk it up to paranoia. Scott indicates she can or cannot believe him. Amy calls Beau, but he won't talk since Tara's in the room. Alex gets into it with Amy, saying she's never wanted to room with him as her first pick. In the Blue Room, Beau tells Tara they are still talking about alliances. Toni tells Scott she won't go back to him because he wouldn't pick her. She challenges him to prove her wrong, but he says he doesn't have to prove anything. They lash out at each other and Scott tells her she just assumes things. He's had enough and leaves the room. Toni calls Beau again, but he won't talk. Later, he talks to Amy in person, saying he called back 15 minutes later, and she tells them they were arguing. He throws the last Pandora's Box game in her face, saying that when it was revealed that his so-called friends didn't trust him, he admitted it made him feel like crap. He tells Amy they excluded him from the group, and not to be surprised by what he does now. Scott and Amy fight in the Yellow Room, with Scott in disbelief he should trust Amy after the events of the day. He throws her statements about him not willing to pick her if he had a free pass in her face.

The guests arrive for the game, and Amanda tells them one of the women will be going home. Holly is told she has a big decision to make and is asked how the week has gone. She replies she's had fun. Flashbacks of her dates with Beau and Scott are shown. Amanda tells her she will not be leaving, and says once she makes her choice, nobody else can select her man. She picks Scott, much to Toni's disturbance. Holly says she's connected with him. Flashbacks are shown of her admitting her crush on him and calling him "hot." Time for the other women to pick. Tara can now pick, and while she loved living with Beau, she now wants to live with Dave. When asked, she says she feels safe with Dave, and we see the flashback of Charla telling her she wanted both Keith and Dave to stay and Tara agreeing to help. Kristin chooses next and grabs Alex. Toni starts to cry, and flashbacks of Alex and Kristin making out in the pool are shown. Toni is tearful, but picks Keith. Amanda notes that they have had their differences. She says that Amy doesn't deserve to go, and tearfully admits by this decision, she's sacrificing herself for Amy. Amy says her time with Keith was a blast (well, a dynamite blast maybe), and goes to hug Toni, but picks Beau. Amanda notes Beau promised Zack to look after her. Is that the reason she picked him? Amy says Zack trusted Beau more than anybody else, and the name of the game is trust.

A tearful and upset Charla is the last to pick. An Amy confessional says that if she doesn't get to the end, she'll still have been completely herself. Toni indicates she said she'd give up everything for Amy, and is apparently doing it. Kristin is more selfish; she's only going to look after herself. Tara says Charla is vulnerable since most of the others want her gone. We see Charla’s crying session with Toni as well as her telling Dave that she wanted Kristin or Amy gone before Toni. She picks Keith and is embraced by Toni. She tells Amanda that she trusts him and said she would do it. The couples take their seats on the couch and Keith has to make his choice. Keith says it's a messed up game, but he's bonded with Charla from day one, and apologizes to Toni. She takes it well (probably expecting it) and exits graciously. Amanda is told things will be OK, and Toni is fine with her exit. She had promised Zack she'd look after Amy and that was the only way she could do it. Flashbacks are shown from her Hulk stages to her sensitive sides, particularly highlights of her stormy relationship with Dave (and subsequent repentance). Her parting words indicate she may have left, but she'll always be there in heart, and that she loves Amy.

Charla has some remorse, blaming herself for Toni's departure, but Tara says it's not her fault. Dave says it will be very different without Toni and a lot of people will miss her, but he won't. Alex and Kristin are also upset by Toni's eviction but admit there was nothing they could do. Kristin wonders if things could get worse than to see her friends go home. Amy is shocked again and wants to blow up. Dave says that for the first time ever, the newcomers equal the originals (if they count Charla, who was always an outcast). Keith tells the group what happened was bad, but it would get a million times worse. Amy thinks selfishness is showing though. Charla thinks Keith didn't come there to make people miserable, just to win the game. Alex admits that the originals were always about the originals.

Next time, gambling is introduced to the guests - but the stakes are so high that some people lose control. A man from the past wants to check in. I'd guess it is either an evicted guest or a loser from the male auditions - or it could be Jason, ex-boyfriend of guest Amanda.

Jeffrey Clinard lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with his cats, Lam and Princess. He can be reached at jclinard@flashmail.com.

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