Posted July 10, 2007 – Last week Diddy cut the group down to 16. This week, the number went back up to 20. The Dream Team brought 11 new hopefuls into the house to fill four beds. If that math seems shady it’s because Diddy decided there was no harm in sending some of the original guys home. It was like east coast vs. west coast. The battle lines were drawn. Literally.

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Diddy made a little “Soul Train” line with the old guys on one side of the room and the new guys on the other. I was half expecting a “You Got Served” dance off; instead, Diddy had them meet before the judges later on for one-on-one challenges … all of them except Mike.

Instead of singing against one of the new guys, Diddy has Big Boy serenade a pretty lady. Will he ever be a sex symbol? He thinks so.

The old guys stepped it up a notch and fought to save their beds. They even showed a little solidarity – the kind that walking through New York all night long to bring Diddy cheesecake breeds and the new guys, from Memphis, Norfolk and Birmingham, could only feign.

However, the determination and team spirit of the old heads weren’t enough to save Chris or Dre. If you’ve been watching, then you knew Chris’ days were  numbered since day one. The judges always considered him a weak singer, and weren’t you surprised when he survived last week’s elimination? Ironically, the judges gave him props the previous day for his group performance at B.B. King’s, but singing solo with 11 hungry vocalists breathing down his neck, Chris buckled and was sent home.

Dre gave a pretty good performance, I think. He really didn’t stand out to me and, apparently, his performance was not good enough to keep him in the house, but he wasn’t going quietly. He pratically begged judges Mike Bivins and Slam to keep him in the competition. Yes, he wept. An unsympathetic Bivins put it bluntly, “We got love for you. We not in love with you.”

As Bivins reminded them, there will be more fellas going home. The majority of the wannabes will be following Chris and Dre right out the door.

Is Diddy just causing drama for the heck of it? Are the new guys better than the original group? Talk about it.