The Men of The Cougar

We're now down to nine guys in the house. As Vivica explains, there will be two dates: a group date and an individual date. At this point the stress levels are rising as the guys attempt to do what it takes to spend some time with Stacey on one of these dates.

There are a lot of things that need to go into a relationship in order to make it work, and I believe that trust and honesty are two of the most important pieces. In today's first challenge, we were given a few minutes to think of a deep, dark secret that we would reveal to Stacey. Some of the guys seemed a little nervous about it - myself included! 

Winning this "Deep Dark Secret" challenge today is more important to some than others. For instance, Jimmy is definitely getting frustrated with the challenges, and has yet to leave the house. Travis seems to have fallen off the path a bit and needs to step it up here. Joe's date last week went really well for him. Ryan is a good guy -- some alone time with Stacey may help deliver that to her. The intent of revealing my secret was to show Stacey that I am an honest person who does make mistakes. I was 17 at the time, and really hadn't had a serious relationship. I can only hope that she will be receptive to that.

Stacey ultimately picked Ryan and me to join her on an awesome date to Paris Valley Skydiving for some indoor adventure. She chose Ryan first for some one-on-one time to talk about his secret, and where he was in his life when he went to rehab. I think Ryan explained himself, but Stacey may have been looking for something different.

When Stacey and I had our chance to talk, it gave me an open opportunity to let her know that my secret was a secret for a reason. It's not something I tell everyone, but I felt that I didn't want to hide anything from my past. We talked for a while about it, and I told her I was NOT proud of it at all. It gave us a chance to talk about how we handle relationships, which was a little relieving. But I was not so relieved when Stacey announced, "On any date I can let somebody go..." When she called Ryan over to begin the kiss-off, I thought, "This is it, I'm definitely going home!" I was really shocked to see that Stacey sent Ryan home. I knew my secret was much more damaging than his, which made me pretty nervous at this point. Sorry to see you go, man - the house won't be the same!

It was my turn for what I thought for sure was the same door Ryan had just walked through. Stacey began to explain her opinions of my secret and what we had talked about on our alone time. Nervous as hell to be sent home, I gave it a last-ditch effort to say something that might just change her mind right there and then! Well, it turns out, by some twist of I don't know what - she kissed me and at least for the rest of the day I was safe... but there is of course the elimination kiss-off, which no one is immune to.

Thankful as hell that the kiss-off was over, we could finally relax and enjoy the indoor skydiving. The feeling of being weightless was an unreal experience! It was just like jumping out of the plane - with the best part being the free fall. Unfortunately, it had to end, and we were back at the house.

Colt - I appreciate the opinion, man - but to be honest, I wasn't there to meet a dude.

Stacey is really narrowing down the guys now, and may be flipping roles a bit.  Originally, she seemed to let the guys ask the questions and see how that went.  But, at this point in the game, she is trying to pull some deep conversation out of everyone....  mainly to find out why each guy is here.

Joe: The first guy invited up to the "Cougar Den." Good work, man! 

The next challenge is to reveal our feelings to Stacey... in song. We have 30 minutes to come up with a song? Don't professionals do this stuff over the course of weeks and months? Joe seemed to have some writer's block, and Austin did more of a haiku. Adam throws out his "country side," and Jimmy hopes to win one this round! But in the end, who could compete with Colt (Mr. Ascot) and his traveling band? 

While Colt was away on his date, the rest of us at the house were trying to relax and think about the upcoming elimination. Who will stay, who will leave?  "Should I wear a tie tonight?" "Hey, who's got the iron?"  "There's no hot water!" 

This experience has been surreal, between the challenges we were given and the abundance of alcohol. Let's just say it's made for some interesting stories.

Keep watching - there is much more on the horizon.

After not getting picked for the first TWO dates I knew I had to step up my game. I had no idea why I didn't get picked for the first date, but hey, what can you do? When Vivica said that there was a talent show I knew I had to pull out all the stops. I was thinking of all of my hidden talents, and I'm not going to lie - a puppet show was NOT the first one to come to mind.

I knew Stacey viewed me as a macho athletic guy, but I didn't know if she knew I had a sense of humor. That's why I decided to go with the puppet show, even if it made me look like a fool.

Some of the guys' talents were just ridiculous: Nick's lap dance was by far the most disgusting thing I have ever seen, and you can tell from Stacey's face that she was not into it.  Jimmy, c'mon, buddy -- after the whole getting down on one knee when you first met her and then hearing J.D.'s Shakespeare, you should have come up with something better than doing Shakespeare again. No wonder why you haven't gone on a date yet!

Getting picked for my talent was something I was definitely pumped about.  I knew that I had to make a great impression on this date and was curious to see what it was... aaaaaaaaaand great, the one thing I was hoping it wasn't was what we were doing: DANCING. For it to be salsa dancing made it even worse. OK, I know Johnny knows how to dance and I can probably hold my own against Austin and Adam -- but that's not saying too much. I know Stacey is going to think I'm this smooth dancer. WRONG! I may be tall, dark and handsome but this brother cannot dance.

Finally I had some alone time with Stacey. I felt that it was really good. I got to know what she's looking for in a man and that she can handle someone who is confident and has the attention on him instead of her. I'm still not sure if there's emotional chemistry between us, but the physical chemistry is definitely there.

Austin, Austin, Austin. "Green light," buddy? C'mon, I know it's a popular song now, but not something you should yell right after you get a kiss.

Poor Johnny; I guess the third time is NOT the charm.

Vivica is not making it easy on us guys to win these competitions. Picking a dress for a sexy older woman is something that I thought was going to be easy. Not so! The selection we had was HORRIBLE. Out of all the pieces in the store there were maybe three that I could picture a normal person wearing. Johnny going with the '80s prom dress was the best he could do because it was either that or a Pepto Bismol colored dress. So my man Joe definitely had this won when he picked his gown. If Stacey was going to a nightclub she would've definitely picked mine -- she even told me that herself!

I got to know Joe pretty well because he was my roommate in the house. Prior to the dress challenge, Joe and I had a talk about how he needed to step it up because he felt that he was getting overshadowed by all the other guys here. The fact that he found the perfect dress out of all of us couldn't have worked out better for him.

When he got picked he had literally five minutes to get dressed and mentally prepared for the date. He impressed me with how quick, calm and collected he was in such short time; he did a much better job than I would have because I know NOTHING about wine, and Stacey was impressed as well. When he got back to the house and the cameras were off he mentioned how he felt that he had the upper hand on all the guys because he knew he impressed her, and that Stacey will want more of him so he'll continue to lay low and have her keep on wanting him. Joe had better watch it -- if he doesn't pursue her, what happened to Adam may happen to him.

I would like to thank all of my fans -- and I promise there will be more coming from me (without my shirt on, of course). 

"Twenty men entered

But only 15 would stay

My quest for Cougar love

Sees another day." – J.D. 

With our first day in the house, came our first test of might. Well, not so much in our actual might, but our ability to facilitate such to Stacey in a one-on-one fitness tutorial as her personal trainer. While some of the guys were champing at the bit to take their shirt off, and if there was time, maybe deepen their connection with Stacey, my head was spinning on how I was going to even scratch the surface. It was like I was back in a college marketing class preparing an elevator pitch. Well, I guess you could say I had a little more time than a standard elevator pitch, but that’s what it felt like! In five minutes, how am I going to convince this beautiful woman I’m not as loony as my poem made me sound, show her I’m a cool guy who's worth keeping around, and manually instruct her through a bench-press routine all while trying to keep my muscles flexed and not getting too excited? Easier said then done, as you can tell by that smooth introduction we shared. I did get to bench press though -- at least THAT made me feel like a man. 

While I was not there to share in the atmosphere and emotions of the skate date, I thought it was pretty obvious why she selected those guys. Colt, Adam and Travis appeared to have struck a chord with her from the beginning, and unlike other boys I thought had positioned themselves in that manner as well, they managed to keep their shirts on when the opportunity arose. Ryan was there because he had that in-your-face, uncensored personality, and oh, was in some testy waters with Colt. I think Stacey wanted to see how mature the boys could be in keeping their temperament at bay. Tom, I loved you and you were funny as hell, but you were the sacrificial lamb of the date – someone had to go.

While Ms. Stacey was off running around with Jon, the rest of us groomed for yet another birthday surprise for her. While most of the guys fraternized with her friends, Mici and Kelly, I remained a bit more stand-offish and in my cocoon. At this point, I knew my time was near. There was never that initial getting-to-know-you time, especially after that face I got the first night! You know that face; you know what I’m talking about! Anyway, in a normal setting, if I couldn’t gauge that chemistry during an encounter, I would pack up and move on -- I know too well the abundance of fish the sea provides. Well in this setting, you can’t just run off and I knew that I was up against it. While some men could impress The Cougar to preserve their survival, I simply could not.