Call me crazy, you guys, but I think the answer to the question I just posed in the title is a resounding “yes.”
Having briefly worked for a post-production company behind several of today’s more popular reality shows, I can tell you that the average episode of reality TV is often as hastily thrown together as the concept behind the show itself. The same goes double for 30-second promo spots. But while viewing the most recent promo for this weekend’s TUF 18 Finale, I happened to notice something a little…curious.
Skip ahead to the 21 second mark of the above video. You will see a montage that shows Raquel Pennington, Jessica Rakoczy and Julianna Pena individually squaring off. But if you pause the video just right at the 22 second mark, you can see the profile of the Pena’s opponent during the in-ring staredown that is typically saved for the finalists. Join us after the jump to see what I mean…
As we all know, Pena already earned her spot in the finals with a second round submission of Sarah Moras two weeks ago, and this week’s battle between Rakoczy and Pennington will determine her opponent.
Again, call me crazy, but those skinny, white arms and cornrowed hair in the screengrab above appear to belong to Rakoczy. Although Jessica and Raquel are both listed as 5’7″ on their Sherdog profiles, there’s no denying that Raquel is the stockier built fighter of the two. Take a gander over this photo of Pennington and Rakoczy squaring off during last week’s episode and note the disparity between the shape of their wrists/hands to see what I mean.
As you can see, Rakoczy *clearly* has the more emaciated (defined?) arms of the two, and the contours of her right hand are a spot on match with the right hand captured in the Pena screengrab. It should also be noted that the video currently has around 600 views on its Youtube page and the top comment is as follows:
Welp, that’s all the confirmation I need. Start placing your friendly wagers on Rakoczy to win this week and thank me later.