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Good morning, evening, afternoon,

I really wanted to thank everyone for all of their kind words and support over the past couple months. I really enjoyed talking about the show with everyone and hope to continue in the future and future seasons. I want to congratulate #7 on a perfect win without hitting the red button until the end. Of course I would have loved to have won, but I honestly think that the best man won. I was there for the experience of a lifetime and testing my limits to the maximum and I'm glad I got to experience everything Val had to dish out.

If you're interested, here is a link to the blog Hulu asked me to write for them:
http://blog.hulu.com/2009/3/8/solitary-finale

Now, let me preface that I am not a producer and I have no experience in putting together a reality show, but I really feel that the season finale could have been a lot more exciting. After Val's head-maze, #7 and I were subjected to an insane Hell Night, Morning, Afternoon like in Season 2 and so much more for at least 24 hours until the final treatment happened (which probably didn't need to take up half the show.) And it's weird that the finale commercial showed events of the Hell Night, but they never made it to the finale.

Hell Night, Morning, Afternoon:

When I returned to my pod, the nightmare continued. There was a director's chair positioned in front of the meal slot again like when we had the eating treatment. Val announced that this was the beginning of Hell Night, Morning, Afternoon. I remembered last season when they made Tyler and Phu go through a series of competitions based on previous tests they had been through. Val told us to sit in the chair, so I did. Once in the chair Val told me to open my meal slot. When I opened my meal slot there was another f**king container of f**king malted milk balls. I really didn't want to eat more these things. Val told us that the winner of this test would get a double cheeseburger and a milkshake. But the loser would have to smell aromatherapy for 15 minutes. Val said that we had to decide what the other pod would smell and she wanted us to decide ahead of time. I won freedom from the aromatherapy treatment so I wasn't sure what smells would be that worst. Pod #7 was in the treatment and had the advantage on this aspect. I think the choices were sulfur, horseradish, roadkill, or a combination of two. So I decided to pick horseradish and roadkill combination. And pod #7 picked straight up horseradish for me. The worst part of this test happened when Val announced that the running time would be 12 minutes to see who could eat the most malted milk balls. I didn't like eating them for 3 minutes during the treatment and I got up to 27. So 12 minutes seemed like overkill. Plus how can you even enjoy a cheeseburger after eating malted milk balls for 12 minutes. I didn't even want to participate in this test. But I really didn't want to suffer the aromatherapy for losing. Val tried to get me pumped up, but I was pissy about the whole thing and didn't even want to be in Solitary anymore since I would be handicapped in the final treatment. Plus during the treatment, I wasn't the pod that ate the most malted milk balls in the first place. I assumed it was probably pod #7 and he would do it again now. There were 100 malted milk balls in the glass container. Val said that if we both ate all 100 in 12 minutes, the winner would be the pod that ate them all the fastest. Val counted us down and I grabbed the first f**king malted milk ball and held it up to the camera and said 1. Then I popped it in my mouth and ate it and stuck out my tongue and said AHHHH. Then I grabbed malted milk ball number 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and 50. My mouth was caked with a chocolaty paste, but I thought it might be possible to eat them all. I grabbed number 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, and 89. After I was done with f**king malted milk ball number 89, the 12 minutes were finally done. There were 11 malted milk balls left in the jar. Val thanked pod #7 for being honest about losing count. Then Val announced that the winner had a score in the high 80's. Since I had 89, there wasn't another number higher in the 80's. Then she announced that the winner was pod #4 with 89 malted milk balls and that pod #7 had eaten 87 balls. Man that was a close call. Val had us close our meal slots. I asked Val how I was supposed to enjoy my cheeseburger after eating 89 malted milk balls. Later Val said I could open my meal slot and there was my double cheeseburger, but there wasn't any milk. She said that she was working on it. I must admit that the cheeseburger was really good. I was already done eating my cheeseburger before I got my milk, but that was okay. While I ate my cheeseburger, pod #7 was smelling his horseradish and roadkill. Once I was done with my meal, Val sent me back to my anti-pod.

After awhile in my anti-pod, Val started playing the pump up music. She made it seem like the final treatment was at hand. She told us to return to our pods, but she didn't say anything about the loser would be going home forever or any of the usual stuff. When I got back into my pod there was one of those old alarm clocks sitting on an octagon in the center of the pod. Val told us to walk quickly into the pod and sit behind the alarm clock facing her. Next to the alarm clock was a rubber mallet. Val told us to pick up the rubber mallet. Val said that the object of this test was to be the first person to smash the alarm clock after it went off and hit the green button. Val said that the loser would get 1½ hours of sleep inside of the coffin and the winner would get 2 hours of sleep on top of the coffin. The only problem was that we couldn't see the face of the alarm clock so we had no idea when it would go off. It could be five minutes or it could be 12 hours. I sat there forever. I practiced swinging at the alarm clock. My strategy was to smash the bells off the alarm clock to stop it from ringing. Eventually I got really bored and set the mallet down. Val told me to stay prepared and keep the mallet in my hand. I asked Val if I could lay down, but she said no. I told her that it would be a better test to let us lay down and be the first person to wake up and smash the alarm clock. But I didn't have any luck with that proposal. When the alarm finally went off, I don't remember if I had the mallet in my hand or if I had to pick it up off the floor first. Anyhow, I smashed the clock silent on my first hit and I jumped up and hit the green button. I had won this test because I had smashed the clock in one hit. Val sent us back to our anti-pods while they brought in the coffins. When I got back to my pod, my coffin was closed and there was a pillow on top. Val said that she hoped I was happy with the outcome. There was a board nailed across the top and a big box on top where the camera was attached. I told her I thought it would be more comfortable laying inside of the coffin. I climbed up on the coffin and moved the pillow to the other end and laid my back between the boards. Eventually I feel asleep. Once the two hours were up, she woke us up and sent us back to our anti-pods while they removed the coffins.

The next time I got in my pod there was a black karate jacket laying on the floor. There were four long chains hanging from each arm for a total of eight chains. Each chain was attached to the jacket with a combination lock. The goal was to be the first person to open all of the locks and release the chains. I'm not completely sure but I think the winner was to get an extra hour of sleep. We were not allowed to sit down during this test. Then Val started flashing combinations on the screen at top speed. Two combinations were flashed on the screen at each time. Periodically, there was a time when the combinations would cycle through at a readable speed. Val announced that some of the combinations would not work because they were for pod #7's locks. I picked a combination and started trying it on each of the locks. I found the correct lock and threw the lock and chain in front of me. Then I waited for the combinations to slow down again and selected another combination. I cycled through the locks again until I found the correct lock and threw that one in front of me. Occasionally I would select a combination that didn't work on any of the locks, but I got five of the lock and chains off rather quickly. Then I tried another combination and it didn't work on any of the locks. Then I tried another and another and another and another and none of them worked on any of the locks. I got to the point where I was having trouble remembering which combinations I had already tried and which ones had already worked. The chains were getting heavy and weighing me down. I decided to wait through each combination video cycle until it slowed down and then select each combination one at a time in order. I went through every combination shown and none of them worked on the final three locks. I told Val that I tried every combination and none of them work on the final locks. She told me that all of the locks were tested and all of the combinations work. I told her that I didn't believe her and this was probably like the rice in the wok experiment where there really wasn't a second grain of orange rice. I started trying the combinations again for a little while, but it was hard for me to imagine that I would get five locks off so quickly and then not find one successful combination again. So I decided to sit down and relax. Val said that I was not allowed to sit down. I told her that the combinations were invalid and would not work on any of the remaining locks. Val told me again that the combinations were all valid. She suggested that I make sure that the latch is pushed all the way in while trying the combination, but I had been doing that in the first place. But for some reason, I decided to get up again and start cycling through all the combinations again while making sure I was pushing the latch in. Eventually, Val told us to stop and go back to our anti-pods with the karate chain jacket on. While in the anti-pod, Val and I had the same debate about whether the correct combinations were on the screen, but there was no compromise. Then Val said to return to the main pod. When I got back in my pod the chains on the floor were gone. Val told us that she expected more from the final two. Apparently, pod #7 didn't get all the chains off either, so that proved my theory that all the correct combinations were not on the screen. I asked Val how many chains pod 7 had left, but she wouldn't tell me. If we each had three chains remaining that would prove my theory beyond a shadow of a doubt. Val told us to stand with our backs to the chalkboard. Then the bed started coming out of the wall, but this time there was no mattress or pillow on the bed. Val had laid out the five chains I had removed and put them on the wood bed frame. She told us that we had to sleep on the chains while wearing the karate jacket with the remaining chains because we had both failed the test. I climbed on the bed, but it wasn't very comfortable. The chains on the jacket kind of pulled me down and every time I would shift position they would make noise on the wood. But somehow I eventually feel asleep for however long she let us sleep. We were awoken to the lovely sound of sirens. Val told us to remove the jackets and lay them on the bed. After that was done, she sucked the bed back into the wall and told us to return to our anti-pods.

Val pumped us up again and made it seem like it was time for the final treatment again. But when I got back into my pod there was nothing in there. Val told us that it was time to pray. She made us knell down on the floor in front of her and put our hands together in a praying posture. She told me that I couldn't sit back on my heels and that I had to stay up on only my knees. Val said that for each minute we could remain in this position we would get two minutes of sleep. I decided to start counting the passage of time to get an idea of how long it had been. It really f**king hurt to be on my knees because the skin was still healing from being ripped off by the carpet during the hands and knees treatment. Val would ask me how I felt and I told her that it f**king hurt to be on my knees but I would stay like this as long as I could. I told her that I would just pretend like it was a treatment and I had to stay like this. I asked her if there was any limit to the amount of sleep I could get in this test, but she didn't answer me. However, after a half hour I was in severe pain. I really wasn't sure how much longer I could last. But I didn't want Val to know it. I started thinking that an hour of sleep wouldn't be bad, but I wanted to get more. I wanted to get as much sleep as number 7. I just kept counting and pushing it one minute at a time. After 45 minutes I was dying and sweating. I was trying to push back without sitting on my heels to get on a different spot on my knees to ease the pain but everything hurt. I thought how an hour and a half of sleep should be enough. This was getting annoying that we had to stay like this for so long just for some sleep. At least pod 7 had ripped up knees also from the same treatment to make this fair. Val probably made this up on the fly just because we both had bloody knees. But I'm sure this would probably hurt even without damaged knees. Somehow I kept pushing and counting and Val said that a Solitary hour has now passed and that we have each earned two hours of sleep. It felt so good to finally stand up. Val brought out the bed. This time the bed had the mattress back and a pillow. Val said that we could go to sleep now and she turned down some of the lights. We were awoken to alarm clocks and then Val sent us to our anti-pods.

When Val said I could return to my pod, I thought this would finally be the final treatment, but when I entered the pod, there was another f**king alarm clock sitting in the middle of the pod. This time it was facing the lower mirror. Val told us to sit down behind the alarm clock with the rubber mallet again. At this point I was shot. I didn't want to sit behind the f**king alarm clock again and wait for it to go off. This time Val said that it would be for reward. I asked her if I could lay down this time and she still said no. I did my same warm up smashes again and then set the mallet down for a while. God knows how long the wait would be this time. Maybe it would be longer, maybe shorter. Either way this test sucks. I asked Val about the height difference between pod 7 and I because he may be able to see the face of the clock in the lower mirror. However, Val said that they checked it out and he couldn't see the face of the clock. I must admit that I was trying to find a reflection in anything to try and see if I could see the face of the clock. But nothing was reflective enough or big enough to see the clock. Anyhow, the alarm clock finally went off and I smashed it again in one hit and jumped up and hit the green button. Then I went over to the alarm clock and smashed the s**t out of it. There was broken glass everywhere. I busted it into a million pieces. I told Val that there was glass everywhere and she said that she would have someone pick it up. Then she said that I should return to my anti-pod again. When I got back into my pod, the director's chair was sitting in front of the meal slot again. I thought there better not be malted milk balls in there again or I would scream. The pod was mostly clean but there were still a couple pieces of glass laying around. Val said to sit in the chair and open the meal slot. When I opened the meal slot, thank god there was only an orange and a cup of coffee. Val said that this was the reward for winning the alarm clock smash test.

**** Here is when the trash talking segment happened ****

Finally Val started playing the pump up music again and telling us to be prepared to discuss what we see when we enter our pods. She told us to be careful when entering the pod because there would be something right outside the door. Then Val said to enter our pods. Once again I thought I was heading out for the final treatment but it wasn't. When I opened the pod door, there was the tunnel from the treatment where I had to run around on my hands and knees. My pod was filled with props from many of the tests, treatments, and activities that we had experienced during our adventure in Solitary. Val said that she wanted me to go through each item and talk about it with energy. The lighted pillar from the first Rocky Road test was in there, but only one section of rocks. I ran around the pillar like I had during the first test and accidentally knocked over the glass of root beer from the root beer pong and made a big mess. So there wasn't much root beer to drink when I got to that part, but it was probably for the best. On the center pillar was a jar of all the candies I had to eat during the eating treatment. I opened the jar and ate one of the marshmallows and then threw the rest of the candy around the pod. There was a bike seat in there and I tried to sit on it. There was also an adult diaper like the one I made pod 7 wear during the hands and knee treatment. I decided to try it on for a second and then took it off. In the meal slot there was one of the vile of smell from the AromaTherapy treatment. I wasn't sure how to work it so I just put it up to my face and pretended. There were also metal clothes pins in the meal slot, so I clipped some on my ears and eyebrows and face and actually left a bruise in the middle of my eyebrows which stuck around for days hence. There were some of the weights from the weight guessing test, so I picked some of them up. I can't remember everything that was brought back, but I think the head maze was in there, so I put that on and spun around. I think the bloody goat carcass jacket was in there, so I put that on. I threw a couple of the mousetraps around from the mousetrap test. A section of the wheelchair phrase was attached to the wall so I talked about how bad I sucked at that test. I think there was a container of pencils from the pencil blister nightmare, so I through them around the pod. The plexi-glass from the Kiss My Glass treatment was also leaned up against the wall, so I picked that up and did a demo. It still had the writing from my treatment on it. I could hear Val laughing the entire time I was running around acting like an idiot. Then Val told me how to breathe through the AromaTherapy mask. One of the hoses wasn't hooked up right. When breathing through your nose, it would make bubbles in the vile. That was how Val would know if you were actually breathing through your nose or not. It stunk really badly like horseradish. It burned my throat and nostrils. I was really glad that I didn't have to do that treatment. Val told me that no one actually quit from the smell and after smelling everything, they had to start drinking the smelly liquid. I wasn't up for drinking the smelly green liquid. After the trip down memory lane was done, Val had me return to my anti-pod. I was in there forever again while they removed everything.

While in my anti-pod, Val started playing some pump up music again. She told me that she wanted me to come up with a rap that goes with the beat. So I sat there and listened to the beat for awhile and tried to come up with something that would work. Later Val told me that I needed to go into my bathroom until she told me I could come out. When I got out of the bathroom there were 4 sheets of thick paper and a black sharpie. She told me that she wanted me to write it down and memorize it. I wrote down the two versus that I had come up with in my memory and then tried working on two additional versus. I wrote once verse down on each piece of paper. Once I was done with the song, I worked on memorizing it. Eventually, Val wanted me to go back into my pod and perform the song. I went over the song one last time to reinforce it and then put it into my meal slot. Val started the song… I think I nailed it pretty well and Val seemed to like it. This was my rap:

My Name is RobRob, but call me Number 4
I'm tired and hungry and my body's f**king sore
I'm not sure if I can take it anymore
But here I come. Hear me ROAR!!!!

Sitting and waiting and waiting and waiting
I find myself even player hatin'
Thoughts are always anticipating
How the next treatment will be debilitating

It's so scary…. So be weary…. Solitary…. Let me Out, Let me Out!!!!

I've lost the time. I've lost my way.
I'm not even sure of the f**king day.
I'm not even sure what else I can say.
But all I know is my body's gonna pay.

Living in my pod of the color blue.
Nothing can stop me. There is nothing you can do.
I have finally made it to the final 2.
7 pods have dropped. Now I'm coming 4 U.

It's so scary…. So be weary…. Solitary…. Let me Out, Let me Out!!!!

After the rap was done, Val had us stand in the center of our pods and face her. Val finally said what the final treatment would be. She said that we would have to look at the picture of pod #1 and the first pod to rub one out would be the winner of Solitary. That really gave her a good laugh. I must admit that I thought it was a really funny thing to hear her say and I knew that would never make it to the air. After her little joke, she sent us back to our anti-pods.

**** Here is when the Final Treatment started ****

There were actually 6 puzzle rounds in the final treatment and #7 and I each won three of them:
9 P in S = 9 Pods in Solitary
8 S on an O = 8 Sides on an Octagon
6 = the F P to L S = 6 = the First Person to Leave Solitary
3600 = S in an H = 3600 = Seconds in an Hour
11 = S of the F T P = 11 = Sum of the Final Two Pods
27 = N of L in "G M, E, A" = 27 = Number of Letters in "Good Morning, Evening, Afternoon"