Pure Common Sense

I do not routinely watch reality TV shows.  In fact, I find them kind of trashy and fake (despite the name.)  Nevertheless, I have been watching the second season of Tool Academy since it began.  It was somewhat of an unintentional endeavor.  There was nothing much else on TV and my friend Carl convinced me to watch an episode or two with him.  I ended up watching the next one and the next and hence I got addicted to it.  It’s like Law and Order or CSI.  I find it overrated but once I start watching I can’t stop.  Fortunately I do not see this addiction going past the end of this season finale.  And since there are only four contestants less, this season’s days are clearly numbered.

For those of you who have not seen Tool Academy, it is a show on VH1 about guys who were bad boyfriends.  They’re girlfriends signed them up for Tool Academy, where they go to learn to be better boyfriends.  Each week has a theme like maturity or fidelity.  They accompany their girlfriends to a therapy session and then compete against each other in the challenge of the day where one of them wins a date with his girlfriend.  At the end of each episode, a guy is expelled from the academy and has to go in front of the mansion where all the girls are standing.  His girlfriend then decides to either keep him even though he’s a tool or dump him on the spot and move on.

Anyhow, like I said, the show is down to the Final Four – Tyler, T-Shaw, Stew and Charm.  There’s still a little ways to go, but as far as it goes in terms of who will win and who should win, one name comes to mind.  And that name is Charm.  Charm has had his ups and downs throughout the course of the show, but he has proved to be genuinely through-and-through and he ended the last couple of shows on a positive note.  He has taken a lot of crap from people on the show, but he’s proven to be strong and straightforward.  It’s that kind of attitude that is going to propel him through the finish line to claim his reward of $100,000.00 as well as the title “Mr. Awesome.”  Then he will go on to a better life with his girlfriend Andrea, whom he has not taken on a date yet this season, but whom he has expressed a deep love for.

His nemesis Frank was kicked off the show last week.  The tool definitely deserved it.  Frank always lies because telling the truth is too much trouble and blames his own problems on Charm when the two are in the household together.  Charm told him off a couple weeks ago, stating quite defiantly that Frank needed to take some personal responsibility for his awful relationship with Christina, his girlfriend.  Christina did the right thing and left Frank when he was expelled.  Frank whined like a little kid.

The other three finalists:  Tyler, T-Shaw and Stew, each have their own issues holding them back.  Tyler has an issue making and keeping promises.  He even gave and took back promise rings from his girlfriend Shea repeatedly over the course of the series.  Promise rings?!  Are you kidding me?!  A promise ring is a fake engagement ring you give you girlfriend in junior high so you can feel more grown-up.  T-Shaw always tells the truth, to his credit.  But the truth is often an ugly one, as we have seen again and again on the show.  My money is on him to be eliminated in tonight’s episode.  As for Stew, he said himself in the last episode he cared more about winning the $100 K than fixing his relationship.  His girlfriend pretended to be okay with it, but something in the back of my head tells me it will lead to his ultimate undoing.

It seems clear to me.  The rising star Charm will claim the prize!