American Inventor - Wizballs, Racers And Multi-Bras
Episode 4 Recap by Gayl Killough
June 28, 2007
This episode of American Inventor was the second part of the Northern region auditions held in Chicago and New York. One finalist from each audition city will receive $50,000 to invest in the winning audition city invention for the finals later in the season. The four judges are Co-creator of American Inventor, Peter Jones; Sara Blakely, founder of SPANX; George Foreman, heavyweight champion and grill inventor, and Pat Croce, motivational speaker and businessman.
Wigberto Delgado is the first victim presented in this episode. He is 47, a building engineer with his invention called "the urinator". Basically it appears to be a funnel attached to a toilet for guys to use. Four no's from the judges. A contestant is usually in really bad shape for an invention if even George says no, although it is still possible for George to be wrong about something. Plus, I have seen portable funnel toilet devices already on the market, aimed at those with disabilities and the elderly.
Darrell Fertakos, 28, inventor with 300 plus ideas. Wait, how comes he gets to list his occupation as an inventor? He gets a split vote of 2-2 for his first invention, which is a headband similar to the concept of air bags in cars filled with CO2. It may be due to editing or how the show gets contestants into a high emotional state before airtime, but his cocky attitude really rubbed me the wrong way. It is not at all unusual for an inventor to have hundreds of invention ideas. Quantity is not the same thing as quality either. I hate to judge him on the few seconds of airtime given to him, but his ideas came across to me as still being in the early stages of development. He is on the right track of following in the steps of his inventor heroes, but he has a really long way to go based on what I saw aired. I may be a failure at being an inventor myself, but I like to think that I have learned at least a few things from my mistakes. I am concerned that he has no idea has much further he needs to develop his ideas before they are ready for the market. I would feel much better about his chances if I knew that he continues to constantly work and work some more on the development of his ideas. Instead of trying to come up with as many ideas as possible, I would recommend instead taking a few of those ideas through several stages of development.
As for the inflatable headband, I have really strong doubts that it would work because there needs to be enough impact to trigger a device to inflate before the impact is on the body. As an inventor wannabe myself, I have researched several inflatable device ideas of my own and there are so many fundamental problems with inflatable devices that I could not overcome. There are many factors to consider and I am curious how many factors he has considered. The problem with watching him by the way of a few seconds of television is that I can't ask questions or always get a handle on how much thought has gone into an invention idea. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt that he may have come up with a really creative way to solve the problems that have stopped me and that portion was simply not aired. However, at this point, I need more proof.
John Stark, 44, truck dispatcher with an easy squeeze earplug invention that looks funny. Four no's for his idea. If it looks funny and does not do anything worth look funny for, I don't think it will work.
The next contestant gets extra special treatment and is shown in her home in Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville is nowhere near Chicago. The show really went out of their way this time to air her home and give her the extra special treatment. Her home looks pretty to me. Too many times, it was mentioned that she was a single mom who grew up poor. She is Elaine Cato, 39, a beauty director of the Miss Black Tennessee pageant, a former Miss Black Tennessee and Miss Black USA winner. I understand why she is getting extra nice and special treatment by the show and I will admit, it annoys me a great deal. However, I am trying to keep an open mind toward her invention idea, which is a 6 in 1 bra, including a backless bra that larger cup women can wear. I am still thinking about this idea and will continue to give it some more thought, but I don't understand what the fuss is about. I could have used some less bio about her and more airtime on her actual invention. Maybe I will want one of her bras for every day of the week in the future, but right now, I just don't understand what makes her bra better or different. Peter and Pat look like they really enjoy looking at her and I want some cute guys to look at in this show for balance of airtime. All yes's from the judges. Well, it does make feel better about the idea if Sara likes it because it relates to her area of expertise. Plus, I could see how a beauty pageant winner and director would have a more in-depth understanding of what the needs are for in a bra. I have a hunch at this time that I will be seeing a lot more of her just based on how nicely she was edited.
David Skotzke, 46, a laborer as an occupation, has an invention with a hands free toilet. Especially watching this episode, I feel like I am seeing so many products that I thought already existed. This starts a medley of idea clips that George says yes to and the other judges look at George like he is crazy for saying yes to it.
Weston Hinden, 43, self-employed with his invention called a snake rake, an ergonomic designed rake that looks like a twisted rake. George says something about liking the mop, which is puzzling since I did not see a mop. My assumption is that Hinden presented more than one invention, but the other invention did not get airplay or either he has invented a rake and mop in one device which might be interesting, but I doubt that is the case. Yes from George, no from the others.
Jessica Bilski, 30, a project manager with an invention called mark in time, an erasable board that a schedule can be written in a circle. This is more like a good tip to help people manage time more so than an invention to me, although time management is a hot topic on the speaker circuit and there might be a self-help book in the idea if the idea is really novel (pun intended). Yes from George only.
Jeffrey Bretz, 46 and Andrea Thomas, 46 with a hands free flashlight. This looks just like a hands free flashlight that I bought my dad several years ago. If there is something different about their invention, I did not see it aired. Yes from George only.
Chris Brooks, 38, a physical education teacher with a handheld massager that fits on the back of a remote. He believes it will solve a lot of fights between couples. So is the idea that the winner of the television remote has to give the other person a massage as compensation for having control of the remote? He gets no's from all the judges including George.
Alvin Quiles, 51, warehouseman, with a skater-aid. Pat refers to it as a walker for people who are scared to roller skate. We also get to see his house, he looks like a stereotypical native Chicagoan and at least his house is not all that far from the audition site (unlike Nashville). He teases George that he will make George a cruiserweight instead of a heavyweight and George answers back that there is no money in cruiserweight. Pat especially is shocked that George says yes to the idea. I was bothered more by the fact that he admitted that he has spent so little time testing the invention before demonstrating it.
David Mallet, 23, union electrician with a digital hook-up device called "The Wingman". He is really cute and would have no trouble getting dates himself, however I can believe that he is a wingman for his friends at singles places. They gave more than enough airtime to a really pretty woman earlier in this show, so it is about time that I get a cute guy to watch. However, even if he was completely ugly, I actually really like this idea and I like how he really thought through every aspect of the dynamics of the current singles scene. The technology exists to back his idea. I think the biggest factor in how well the product would eventually work would be based more on the continuous support through the website that would be needed.
The yes's continue in New York in a medley of clips of New York finalists. So was the drama and tease about there not being a worthy New York finalist a matter of creative editing? Doug Vetter, 35, high school math teacher, with a trash lid that will clean the trashcan from the top to bottom. That is all that is shown of him.
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