Sorry for the delay in getting this posted, I’ve been drowning in taxes, thank goodness for my DVR.

I have to say, now that we are 4 episodes into this show, I’m pretty disappointed.   The judges seem to be mere celebrities, or maybe just Oprah’s friends.   I would rather have known philanthropists or financial experts on the show.   I also think that we don’t see enough of a teaching philosophy that could really be used to help people.   I give an award each episode of what moment best highlights the old adage “you can give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach him to fish and he eats for life”.   Unfortunately this award is sometimes very hard to give.

Anyway, enough about my rant.   This episode was filled with money moments, just not too many financial moments.   This week, the teams headed to Miami.

Show spoilers to follow….

Upon arriving in Miami, the teams meet billionaire brothers Joe and Gavin Maloof.

The brothers give each person $100,000.   The contestants had 24-hours to give the money in the most dramatic ways possible.   But there are rules:

1.   Everyone must work as an individual – no teams.
2.   No one person can be the benefactor of more than $500.
3.   No more than $10,000 can be spent at any one location.
4.   Cash can not be directly given to any recipient.

Sounds easy, huh?   Well, in reality it must be very difficult as only one person succeeded, and that was Steve.   This show also had a twist that two people were going to be eliminated.

As I mentioned, Steve did the best job of getting rid of his money.   He spent $30,000 at 4 different stores and then drove around an impoverished neighborhood handing out the goods.  

Cameron, who converted his cash to traveler’s checks, did a few other things that were fun and impressive.   One thing he did was to go to an auto body shop and pay the outstanding bills of random people’s repair work.   Another creative thing he did was to negotiate the price of a boat down to $10,000 to give to an organization devoted to kids with disabilities.

Kim paid for a bunch of people’s gas at a local gas station.   She also donated a bunch of pet supplies to a pet shelter.   Kim had a hard time finding her way around the area.   She spent too much time in her car and too little time giving away her money.

Brandi seemed to have a lot of fun with this challenge.   The most dramatic thing that she did was to buy all of the flowers from a street side vendor.   She then handed free flowers to all the cars passing by.   She had a lot of fun, put a smile on many people’s faces, and in all honesty truly helped the people selling the flowers

Sheg’s most memorable moment was at a grocery store in an impoverished neighborhood.   He paid the groceries for the first 100 people.   The big winners here were the families that had all this food, and the store owners who made their margins.

Rachael impressed me in the early episodes, but seems to be struggling now.   The most memorable thing that she did was to have a $500 shopping spree for 20 people at a local Target.   (I’m beginning to think that Target is an official sponsor, maybe the teams are supposed to use Target wherever possible)

The eliminated players this week were Eric and Kim.   Kim had a very hard time getting rid of her money.   Eric gave an empty promise, which was a terrible mistake.   He had promised the family of a dead police officer to help pay the funeral costs.   This policeman was the first African American police officer in the Miami police department.   What could have helped make him win made him lose when he couldn’t deliver.

The best moment of “teaching a man to fish” was probably when Brandi gave transit passes to, Charlee, a place that helps abused children find safe housing.   Transit costs will allow some of these young mothers to travel to their jobs.    

What would you have done?   I, for one, would have pulled an all-nighter.