Bromance › Ep. 101

There's friendship, there's romance, and then there's Bromance.

What is Bromance? In most cases, it's a bond between boys that is both manly and intimate. In this case, though, it's a chance to buddy up with a privileged heartthrob from The Hills, Brody Jenner.

Nine lucky guys have been chosen from a pool of thousands of applicants from all across the United States who put their hat in the ring for the chance to meet Brody, become part of his entourage and, ultimately, score the keys to a posh penthouse in L.A. But this won't be an easy feat. Brody and his pals are going to put these guys through the ringer, picking them off one-by-one until the wingman with the best potential is discovered.

Snug in hotel beds and sound asleep after flying into L.A., the nine hopefuls are rudely awoken by Brody's security guards. The boys are shown no mercy; whether in full PJs or their birthday suits, each is dragged from his bed and blindfolded by the guards.

Contestants Chris P. from Louisville, Kentucky;, Gary from Mattapoisett, Massachusetts; Jered of St. Cloud, Florida; Femi from Jacksonville, Florida, and Alex from Falmouth, Maine, cooperate and sleepily let security escort them to an unknown destination.

Other contestants, however, aren't so cooperative. Jacob from La Habra, California worries he's being taken to prison. Chris F. from Orlando, Florida, swipes a hotel blanket for the trip. Michael from Matawan, New Jersey, is outraged at losing out on beauty sleep and fights every step of the way. And Luke from Medford, Massachusetts, is caught off-guard in his birthday suit, and barely has time to grab a hand towel as he is towed down the hallway by a pair of Brody's beefy security guards.

The guards pack the blindfolded Bromance contestants into vans and bring them to their new home: The Bro-Mansion. The contestants will be disappointed to discover that this house is no typical, gorgeous reality-show mansion. Instead, it more closely resembles a frat house after a raging keg party has ended. The still-blindfolded guys are led inside and told to kneel on the floor.

Finally, Brody steps in and instructs the guys to remove their blindfolds. Tensions from the rough morning quickly dwindle when the guys see each other, and Brody, and realize that their quest for Bromance has officially begun!

After laughing over morning hair-dos and sleepwear, Brody lays down the game plan. He presents the guys with their first

Bromancechallenge: finding two girls to bring to a Fredericks of Hollywood lingerie party that night!

Before heading out into the streets of Los Angeles, the guys take a tour of the house and claim their beds. Once on the town, they find the girls of L.A. can be harsh; most won't give the guys enough time to drop Brody Jenner's name before rudely dismissing them. But some guys think they did well, especially Chris F., who brings his party invitations to an L.A. Hooter's location.

Before the party, Brody meets with his boys Frankie and Sleazy-T to go over strategy. He instructs his friends not to let the guys in unless they're accompanied by two girls. If, by 9 o'clock, a guy is still waiting outside without girls, he can be let into the club, but there will be consequences.

The contestants arrive at the club a little after 8 o'clock with hopes that their girls will be waiting. Gary is thrilled to see his girls already standing by the door, but the rest of the guys aren't so lucky.

As Gary waltzes into the club with a girl on each arm, the others begin to make frantic phone calls.

Luckily, other girls begin to show up for some of the guys Brody mis- judged, like Michael and Chris F. Jacob panics and wanders to a nearby corner to try and convince random girls to be his guests. Undistracted by all the lingerie, Michael gives Brody a birthday card, announcing himself as Brody's new BFF. Frankie feels threatened by Michael's bold move, and confronts him, telling him the card was a little bit rude.

Meanwhile, Chris P. and Femi are still waiting outside for their girls when the clock runs out. At 9 o'clock, Sleazy T lets them inside, but lets them know they'll be cleaning up the whole club after the party.

After partying it up with Brody for awhile, each contestant gives Brody a toast. Some guys give sentimental speeches, others are witty but touching, but a few, like Jacob, are offensive, and immediately give Brody a bad impression.

At the end of the toasts, Brody chooses a winner for the night. Luke, who brought the hottest girls, gets to hop in a limo with Brody and the girls for a private party. Meanwhile, the losers stay behind to sulk and clean up. Michael is especially disgruntled. Not only did he lose, but he realizes this challenge wasn't made up of all fun and glamour like he thought it would be.

The next morning, Brody surprises his hung-over bros-in-waiting by bringing breakfast to the Bro Mansion. While they all laugh at the events of the previous night and gossip about girls, Michael looks increasingly uncomfortable. Finally, he asks to speak to Brody in private. He confesses that while he appreciates the opportunity, his heart just isn't in the game, and he's ready to leave. Brody respects Michael's courage of being so upfront and offers to drive him to the airport.

After Michael leaves, Brody invites the rest of the bros over to his penthouse. A welcome change from their dirty Bro Mansion, the guys are stunned when Brody reveals that the penthouse will be given to whoever he chooses as the Bromance winner.

The guys are ecstatic at the good news and the competition inevitably becomes fiercer. Brody announces that another contestant will be sent home that night, trimming the field from the initial nine to just seven. He tells the guys to get changed and meet him in the hot tub upstairs for the first elimination ceremony.

The guys nervously enter, trying to ignore the awkwardness of a gaggle of guys together in a Jacuzzi. Brody points out a few guys that really impressed him with the first challenge and dismisses them from elimination, letting them live another day in hopes of nailing a Bromance with Brody.

It comes down to just Femi, Jacob and Chris P facing Brody in the Jacuzzi. Brody tells Chris and Femi he was disappointed that they couldn't get any girls to come to the lingerie party. Jacob, although he managed to get girls, tried to break the rules and also gave a belligerent toast, dropping one too many F-bombs along the way. This double disappointment ultimately leads Brody to send Jacob packing.

The rest of the guys re-join Brody in the hot tub, and celebrate their successful completion of round one. But any way you look at it, the pressure and the game is on. Who will take the Bromance crown?