Tonight, in the fifth episode of Age of Love, NBC’s new Reality TV show, Mark Philippoussis, 30, will continue his quest for romance as he dates two different groups of women. The first group, Cougars, which are our “older women” with ages ranging from 39 to 48. The second group of women, Kittens, are our younger women and range in age from 21 to 27 years old. With Mark caught somewhere in between it’ll be an interesting season to see who he picks and if he can answer, “Does age matter?”

Jumping right into things bachelor Mark is greeted by host Mark who looks like he just jogged over. Mark learns that his first date for this episode will be a beach date where he’ll take three girls surfing. Based on what the producers tell him what Mark wants he decides to invite Maria, Megan, and Bloody Mary. The group rides out to the beach “in Mark’s Woody”, which Maria enjoys repeating, for a beautiful day of bikinis and surf. None of these ladies appear to be surfers like Mark, but he takes it slow and gives them all a hand at learning. Poor Megan seems to take the worse beatings on the board, including one big knock on the head. This tough side of Megan seems to impress Mark though as he selects her for the solo walk down the beach. Mary tries to join in the fun but once again Mark cuts her off mid-sentence which of course sends her to the sidelines in pout mode.

Once everyone returns to the suite they exchange details about their beach date. Before too long the ladies are contacted again by Mark with an invite for Jayanna and Amanda to come with him for a “REEL time.” Looks like it’s movie time for these two. Both ladies get all done up in dresses with Amanda showing a LOT of cleavage, not too shabby. Mark meets the ladies at their movie room and takes Jayanna aside for a private drink. They have plenty of serious talks about previous relationships and eventually return to Amanda who was left behind. The movie time humorously seems split as Jayanna claims victory from Mark’s leaning towards her while Amanda simultaneously claims the victory for herself as she was holding hands with him under the blanket. Afterwards Mark walks Jayanna to the car and then comes back for some on camera tongue swapping with Amanda. Of special note during this alone time Mark tells Amanda that maybe she’ll get to cook for him soon. Well that’s kinda leading.

The next day Jennifer starts to express her annoyance for being the only one to not be taken on a date. Quick to resolve that issue is a leather clad Mark who arrives with a matching leather outfit for Jennifer. I’ve gotta say, for a 48 year old, much less any other age, Jennifer looks mighty impressive in the outfit. The couple rides off on his Harley and head for a sunset watch atop Mulholland Drive. Later they visit a biker bar for a few games of pool along with a few more kisses. I’m certainly surprised by how into Jennifer Mark is, or at least pretends to be. I can’t imagine he’ll choose her overall, but so far their connection seems rather strong.

Elimination has finally arrived and the game has changed a little tonight. Instead of 1 Cougar and 1 Kitten being sent home Mark will only have to choose 1 woman overall to be eliminated. Once again we have the threats of Maria staging a walk out, but once again I still don’t believe she’ll have the guts to do it. Not so surprisingly the first four girls are quickly asked to stay: Amanda, Megan, Jayanna, and Jennifer. That leaves us with the final two: Maria and Mary. They clutch at each other in fear of being eliminated and make lots of promises of emotional support. It’s actually nice to see them playing nice for a change. Mark asks Maria to step down and just like before we see her stammer through her attempt to tell him off before he gets the chance. Just like I expected she back pedals and accepts Mark explanation of their fizzled beach date (he explains he hadn’t been on a date with Megan and Mary yet). That means Maria is staying and Mary is leaving. Mary bravely steps up and accepts the result in her strongest stance of the series. I wasn’t surprised at all to see Mary go as she never really seemed to connect with Mark. Hopefully she’ll have less to cry about at home.

Next week the remaining five women go out on a camping trip and as the preview shows up there won’t be much sleeping for Mark. Oh la la. Unfortunately, not all things will go smoothly as it looks like Maria has an emotional outburst. Could this be why Mark says, “that was a deal breaker for me”? We’ll find out next Monday, so be sure to check back in here at Wild Bluff Media for all the details.

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