The Baggage Game: Monday, August 2

Ah, time for another installment of The Baggage Game! Tonight's contestant is Mark, a 40s-ish real estate guy from California who wants a younger girl. His potential daters? Nadia, a cute blonde bartender from Chicago who looks kind of like Jenny McCarthy, if you switched the thickness from up top to the backside; Oksana, a jewelry designer with a James Bond femme fatale accent; and Livia, by far the cutest of the three, a headhunter from California, who needs to buy a vowel (an O!) for her name. She looks sort of like Liv Tyler.

First Round
Nadia: I talk like a baby to get my way.
Oksana: I judge men by their car.
Livia: I am legally blind.

Mark seems to be most concerned about the car thing, which would also worry me the most. He says that it is a superficial thing to judge a person on. I'd be more worried about the fact that I drive a no-thrills Toyota Corolla. Nadia's example of her "baby talk" was more cute than anything else. Livia can still see with corrective lenses, meaning she isn't actually blind.

(Mark expressed distress that she doesn't like to drive at night, since sometimes he likes to have some drinks and she might need to drive home. Holy hell - When did chivalry get this bad? Howdareyou, Mark! When you go out with a lady or your girlfriend, I don't think it's outlandish to compose yourself enough that you don't get a stinkin' drunk on.)

Second Round
Oksana: I'm a big loner.
Nadia: I only date rich and powerful men. (Jerry remarks, "I'm still in the game!")
Livia: I'm $70,000 in debt.

Mark doesn't really express initial disgust with any of the three, but chooses to eliminate the $70,000 in debt one. Personally, I would have eliminated rich and powerful, because I will never be rich and powerful. And surprisingly, Livia is the one eliminated! She knocks him on the way out though, saying that she also likes young and vibrant people, and he's a bit too old for her.

As a note - Nadia and Livia are wayyyyy out of Mark's league. Nadia used to date a Major League Baseball player, and is thus used to rich and powerful men. Oksana reveals that she is from the Ukraine, meaning if I went out with her, I would constantly bring up the Seinfeld thing.

Final Elimination Round
Nadia: I want to get married now.
Oksana: I don't speak to my family.

I don't find either of these to be that big of a deal. Nadia notes that she is almost 30, and starting to feel the clock tick. Mark immediately shies away from this, which adds to my suspicion that he's a bit of a douche. He even expressed displeasure about Oksana's situation - Hey Mark, why the heck do you want in-laws? Mark has been favoring Nadia throughout the interview portions, so it's not surprising when he eliminates Oksana the Spy. Moving on to Mark's baggage, which is one of the three...

- I enjoy wearing women's lingerie.
- I've had an affair with the cleaning lady.
- I lost $1.9 million in the stock market.

The lingerie thing is definitely the freakiest, to me and Nadia, and the cleaning lady thing is the least concerning. Mark has seemed a bit like a rich douche throughout the game, so the money thing wouldn't surprise me. While having an affair with the cleaning lady isn't a great thing, it's not as weird and gross as the lingerie thing, and unless he's banking like $50 million a year, the stock market thing suggests worse judgment.

Mark reveals that his baggage is losing the $1.9 million in the market. He says he's a risk-taker, and that's how he made a lot of money. He said he's working his way up to get back in the game, and he will be back in the game quickly. Nadia, who definitely seems like a gold digger, said that she accepts his baggage - I imagine she thinks he'll get that fortune back pretty quickly.

As a reminder, Baggage is on Game Show Network every weekday, with the initial airing at 6:30 p.m. EST and a replay at 9:30 p.m. EST. The Liv Tyler picture is from here.