Watching VH1

Three new series premiere on Monday night on VH1 CelebReality. However, VH1 aired a sneak peek of The Pickup Artist on Sunday afternoon. Did you catch it? I did! You can read the recap after the jump and then tune in tonight to see it for yourself.

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We start out with a montage of clips of our nerdy guys who range from shy, to a 45 year old virgin, to stereotypical geeks, to a guy who women think is gay. Then we meet the Pickup Artist, who now calls himself Mystery. A self described geek growing up, he has since learned how to successfully pick up women and wants to share his knowledge with the masses. He claims to know women’s turn on switches and is bringing along two of his former students to be his wingmen and teach the contestants how to be successful with women. He will send one contestant home each week until there is one winner.

A bus labeled “Destination: Manhood” rolls up to the curb and lets off the 8 nerdy guys and all their bags. Joe D. always gets the “you’re my best friend” speech a lot. Pradeep is confused and talks too much. He can’t figure out how to get the door to the house open. They all think the house is pretty great, and Pradeep is afraid he won’t find enough space for him and how high pitched people’s voices will be. Another guy named Spoon hopes to learn how to talk to women. Alvaro always freezes up and also has trouble figuring out how to say Pradeep’s name. Fred is the 45 year old virgin who says he doesn’t see the opportunities when they are there. He decides he can’t sleep on the top bunk because he’s too old. Scott, unfortunately, stutters around women and he seems to smile when he’s nervous. Joe W. has problems because women generally think he’s gay on first meeting him. He runs around calling things adorable. Brady, the freelance photographer, has insecurities that keep him from finding a woman.

Fred thinks they are all really young and act that way. The guys are surprised to find out the liquor is real in the bar. Brady is afraid of rejection. They all start wondering about Mystery and who he is. The phone rings and they all huddle around the phone. Mystery promises them that the next 8 weeks will be the toughest of their lives and to back out now if they think that will be too much. Pradeep thinks he can learn a lot from Mr. Pickup Fellow or at least himself. Mystery tells them to get on the bus and head downtown to meet him.

The guys walk into an empty club and meet Mystery. Fred is skeptical that Mystery really knows how to fix him. Spoon admits he was intimidated by Mystery. Mystery introduces Matador and J-Dog, his wingmen, and they say that the contestants are too nice and need to get some confidence. Both Joe D. and Joe W. pick up on their confidence. Mystery asks who is a virgin and most guys raise their hands. Spoon tells Mystery he wants to be like James Bond. Fred is there to marry the right woman. Pradeep rambles on about himself and how he doesn’t know what he wants. Mystery tells them he’s going to help them build a life. He’ll give them the tools they need, but it’s up to them to use them. Mystery tells them the winner gets to travel the world as a Master Pickup Artist and share what they’ve learned. They will also get a check for $50,000 to invest in a new life. Mystery tells them they will meet there in the club tomorrow to meet lots of women and sends the guys home. Mystery tells his wingmen that this will be their toughest job yet. Some of the contestants are still skeptical, and others are excited.

The next day, Alvaro is up early and working out. Scott is trying to figure out what’s going to happen that night. Pradeep thinks he’ll have more success than the others because he’s talkative and funny. Joe W. talks about getting hit on by guys all the time, but he’s straight. Joe D. and Joe W. get into their speedos and go swimming. Joe D. points out all his flaws, including a tooth that glows in a black light. Pradeep wants someone with a Jewish appearance so they can have kids who look like white people with tans year round. They guys start getting ready for their night out and Spoon works on pretending on being from Japan. Alvaro is just going to be spontaneous and not worry about what people think. Scott is sure they are all going to crash and burn.

Mystery tells the camera the rules for that night. They will have to pick out a woman and approach her with their best game with no instruction as he and the wingmen watch via hidden camera. Spoon thinks approaching women is like going up to an exploding grenade. Mystery tells them just to be themselves and sends them into the club. A graphic says there are no actors in the club.

They watch Joe W. look around for the right girl to approach and are proud of him for starting off with a good line about liking her style. However, he’s ignoring her friend and what he really approached was a “two set”. Eventually the girls turn away from him to have their own conversation and Mystery comments that he’s lost them and can move on.

Pradeep asks a guy how he knows who he knows. Mystery is disappointed that he keeps talking to the guys. Pradeep says his technique is to talk to men because he’s afraid to talk to women. Brady finds a woman to talk to, but he holds on to the same “thread” of conversation for too long and loses her. Brady didn’t talk to any girls after he was rejected.

Scott circles the bar a couple of times before he finds a girl to talk to. He starts off with his name, which Mystery says isn’t the right thing to do. He has her talking, but then he asks for her number right away and is rejected. Joe D. doesn’t pass Mystery’s fashion test. Matador points out another guy the same size as Joe who is dressed better. He tries to ask some girls for a better place for a dance club than the one they are in, and gets rejected immediately.

Fred finds a girl from the same area he is from, but he asks her about Hurricane Katrina and two of her family died in it so he bails. He says he didn’t want to overstay his welcome. Alvaro looks around from the corner and doesn’t do anything. J-Dog points out that he’ll just get more nervous as he sits there. Mystery is not impressed. Alvaro admits he froze and he says he felt like crying the whole time. Mystery thinks Spoon needs a new nickname. Spoon goes up and introduces himself to a girl and then says “uhhhhhh….” for a long time until he starts talking about doing his hair in a Mohawk and the girl just turns away. Spoon gets stuck with the friend of the girl who talks about a diet and he asks her if she has bad health and she tells him that’s not polite conversation and walks off. Spoon says he didn’t know it would be this hard.

The guys all walked out of the bar and meet Mystery at the surveillance van. He tells them to watch him and the wingmen in action. Fred is still skeptical so he wants to see his abilities. Most of the guys just want to see him in action. Mystery is immediately approached at the door and Matador gets several numbers right away too. J-Dog easily talks up 2 women. Mystery easily picks up the girl Brady hit on. Mystery and the wingmen easily pick up all the women in the bar and get free drinks from almost all of them. The contestants are just in awe of their skills. Mystery turns to the camera and promises the guys they will learn all of that and more.

Later that night, Mystery talks to the contestants about how he’s proud they all went in there tonight. He tells them he will eliminate them one by one, but there won’t be an elimination yet because they haven’t learned anything yet. Who they are today dies there. They will begin learning tomorrow.