The Benefactor: Finale
You Can't Win With A Plasma Screen
Recap By C.C. McCandless
October 25, 2004
ABC's scheduling choices for The Benefactor never really gave the show a legitimate chance at success but at the very least, unlike other networks (*cough* NBC *cough*), at least they aired the series finale without any nightmarish last-minute cancellation plans. And really, they owed Mark Cuban and this show that bit of dignity and much more.
For the last episode, only three players remained in the game: Linda, the tough-talking football player from New England; Femia, the scheming competitor; and Dominic, the spiky-haired rock star wannabe. With just one hour of show left for The Benefactor to decide which player had passed his test for success, Cuban elected to get a better feel for the players by visiting their respective home towns. First up was a flight to Boston for a revealing trip to Linda's house.
Throughout the season, Linda has stated that the main reason she wanted to win was because of her ailing mother, and how much the money would help. A valid reason…if only it were true. Cuban did nothing to hide his shock after arriving at the home of Linda and her fiancé Dan…considering that the place was a gorgeous, palatial, seaside mansion, complete with beautiful antique furniture, flat screen plasma televisions, and too many bathrooms to count. "This is not living in poverty," said Cuban succinctly. In addition to being dishonest about her wealth, Linda had perpetuated other lies as well. During one episode, she made a big show of how she couldn't even open a laptop computer, much less operate one. So imagine her shock when a friend of hers outed her as "an internet geek," while driving around town with The Benefactor. Ooops! "If I could have cut her on the spot, I would have," he said.
He didn't wait long. Back in Dallas, Linda got the axe immediately. Cuban then revealed that the next day, Femia and Dominic would each have one minute to make their case for the million bucks. Femia made it clear that she felt if Dom won that he would be "being rewarded for stupidity," although she wisely kept such comments out of her well-rehearsed one minute monologue. What she did do was regurgitate many of the lessons and points that Cuban had stressed during the course of the show. Femia spit out one catchy phrase after another about thinking outside the box and getting out of her comfort zone during her very well planned speech that took up almost exactly sixty seconds. But it wasn't enough, as Cuban informed her she wasn't getting the money. And this came with about forty minutes of show left. Was it really over?
Of course not. Dom followed with a heartfelt admission that he hoped that he and Cuban would be friends. He also called Mark "dude" about half a dozen times, and that was pretty much it. Cuban told him, too, that he wasn't getting the cash either. So what's up? "It's all a set up. It's all fake," Cuban explained. "I want to see how the winner deals with failure." And to do that, he watched them both during interviews with an ABC entertainment reporter. Cuban revealed that he had written down the name of the winner and that it was that person's game to win or lose based on how they reacted. To their credit, they each took the apparent loss with dignity and class.
From the looks of things, nothing that happened would change the final result. Each one gritted it out through the interview. Neither one snapped or called the other contestant names, probably much to the chagrin of the producers. Both Femia and Dom took the loss in stride, stressing that they had enjoyed the opportunity and would look forward to things in the future.
To reveal the true winner, a fake reunion was arranged back at the mansion. And here, some final high comedy ensued as the two players bumped into each other in an otherwise empty room and started to congratulate each other on winning. From all appearances, it took quite a while before they figured out what was actually happening. Cuban finally arrived after letting them squirm for a bit…and then he made them squirm some more as he dangled the envelope in front of them. Finally, he let Femia open it.
And it had her name on it. She won the million bucks and celebrated with her family, whom Cuban had waiting in the wings. They celebrated with a Dominicesque dive into the pool. But fear not for the young rock star, as he has indeed made a friend in the process-Cuban said as much, also stating that Dom will be going to college and some of his financial problems will be taken care of. This is a great gesture on Cuban's part, as Dominic really does seem like a nice guy. But Femia clearly played the game the best, showing Cuban exactly what he wanted to see at nearly every turn. She passed his test for success with flying colors, and now she's got a million dollars to show for it. Do you think Linda watched the finale back home on her plasma screen?
C.C. McCandless is an independent filmmaker and freelance writer. He has a Bachelor’s degree in broadcasting from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
You can contact C.C. here: ccmcc33@msn.com
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