| R U the Girl | |
|---|---|
 Title screen | |
| Genre | Reality competition |
| Directed by |
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| Presented by | Ryan Devlin (live finale) |
| Judges | |
| Theme music composer |
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| Opening theme | "I Bet", performed byTLC |
| Composer | Craig Owens |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 9 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producers |
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| Editors |
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| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | UPN |
| Release | July 27 (2005-07-27) – September 21, 2005 (2005-09-21) |
R U the Girl (also known asR U the Girl with T-Boz and Chilli) is an Americanreality televisionmusic competition series that aired onUPN in 2005. The series featuredTionne "T-Boz" Watkins andRozonda "Chilli" Thomas, the remaining members of the all-girlR&B groupTLC whose former member,Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, died in a car crash inHonduras in 2002. Initially promoted by the network as a contest to replace Lopes 3 years after her death, both Watkins and Thomas clarified that the winner of the contest would not be joining TLC full-time and would not be a full-time replacement member; the winner would only provide guest vocals on a new single by the duo.[1]
On June 25, 2004, Tionne Watkins and Rozonda Thomas announced that they were pitching a reality television show that was eventually picked up for development by UPN. The casting tour for the series began on February 5, 2005 inLos Angeles, with tour stops inNew York City,Chicago,Dallas,Washington, D.C.,Atlanta, andMiami.[2] After the semifinalists were selected, they were each judged on their ability to sing by Watkins and Thomas. Filming for the main episodes concluded on April 26, 2005.[3]
The program aired nine episodes, with seven episodes being the main episodes, the eighth episode being an overview of the series and original TLC home videos, and the ninth being the series finale. The episodes' names are also puns based on TLC's songs. The finale episode was aired live and featured the final two contestants O'so Krispie and Mirrah Fay-Parker.[4] Krispie (Tiffany Baker), a 20-year-oldchoreographer from Atlanta, was ultimately chosen as the winner and performed the single "I Bet" with Watkins and Thomas on the series finale.[5]
| Episode # | Episode title | Original airdate | Viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | "No Scrubs inNew York City" | July 27, 2005 | 2.69[6] |
| 1-2 | "T-Boz & Chilli GetCrazySexyCool inMiami" | August 3, 2005 | 2.49[7] |
| 1-3 | "Baby-Baby-Baby, We're inLos Angeles" | August 10, 2005 | 2.47[8] |
| 1-4 | "What About Your Friends inAtlanta?" | August 17, 2005 | 2.48[9] |
| 1-5 | "Whoop De Whoo, It'sGirl Talk" | August 24, 2005 | 2.76[10] |
| 1-6 | "Unpretty No More" | August 31, 2005 | 2.81[11] |
| 1-7 | "Chasin'Waterfalls" | September 7, 2005 | 2.76[12] |
| 1-8 | "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg for More" | September 14, 2005 | 2.98[13] |
| 1-9 | "You are the Girl" | September 21, 2005 | 4.09[14] |
| "I Bet" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single byTLC featuring O'so Krispie | ||||
| from the albumNow & Forever: The Hits | ||||
| Released | October 25, 2005 (2005-10-25) | |||
| Recorded | 2005 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:23 | |||
| Label | Arista | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) | Melvin "Saint Nick" Coleman | |||
| TLC singles chronology | ||||
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"I Bet" is a song by Americangirl groupTLC. It was written by band membersTionne "T-Boz" Watkins andRozonda "Chilli" Thomas along withRico Love and Melvin "Saint Nick" Coleman, with production helmed by the latter. Theuptempo track features rapper O'so Krispie, the winner ofR U the Girl, a 2005UPN reality show whose purpose was to find a singer that would record a song with TLC.
Before Krispie was announced as the winner of the show, she and fellow finalist and eventual runner up Mirrah Fay-Parker each recorded separate versions of the song, each contributing backing vocals and a rap that they had composed themselves. However, despite the Krispie version being released as a single, Krispie's songwriting contributions are uncredited on the single.
The resulting track was titled "I Bet," which was commercially released as a single in October 2005. The physical CD single sold 2,000 units in the United States, according toNielsen SoundScan, while the digital download of the song has moved over 4,000. The record was later added to the digital reissue of TLC's compilation albumNow & Forever: The Hits.[15]
Credits adapted from the liner notes ofNow & Forever: The Hits.[16]
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