his attitude generally didn't earn him a spot
 

I was pretty shocked when they actually voted out the pledge, but his poor test score and his attitude generally didn't earn him a spot in the chapter.

I thought the conclusion, with the brothers/new brothers hugging and crying was great, and showed that the effort was worth it.

It seems pretty obvious that there was stuff going on off-camera that we didn't see. I think that MTV just tried to set it up like Earl was going to get kicked off because they wanted it to be a surprise when it was actually Steve.

In all honesty, I think the voting-off process took place AT LEAST a week or two before initiation and MTV just set it up to look like it was right before. I wouldn't be surprised if the MTV timeline was all screwed up with this show.

I think the voting took place earlier also -- I just think that MTV chose to edit it that way to keep the suspense up. Doesn't matter though - to some people, race will always be a factor, even when they are staring you in the eye and bitching that it shouldn't be. I don't think that the shade of his skin kept him out - I think it was clear from the start (based on what we saw) that he did not value the fraternity enough to work for it. He was lazy (how many times did they have to drag him out of bed), disrespectful (girls in the house, answering the phone during the pledge exam, etc.), and he never showed initiative. And hell yeah, not doing well on his pledge test IS a big deal -- if he didn't care enough to learn about his history, how can he continue to improve the fraternity as a brother?

Earl worked his butt off -- yes, he NEEDS some serious anger management -- but you could tell that he loved the fraternity and that he was willing to do what he needed to do to get in. The one thing that he REALLY got pissed over, and supposedly "disrespected" a brother over was because they TOOK HIS CELL PHONE -- that is wrong as hell. That is PERSONAL property, not SXO property - they don't pay his bills. And his grandfather was sick to boot -- I was pledging when my grandfather was near death, and I worried night and day about being in contact with my family about it. If someone woulda told me that I couldn't have my phone, it woulda been over right there and then.

And dumba$$ George on tv saying "he was using his cell phone way too much for personal reasons" was beyond STOOPID. Earl paid for that phone, and the service, and it was HIS to use. Nobody came down and took STEVE's phone away during the PLEDGE EXAM. Now THAT is shady!!

SXO already has a black brother :). Who is fine by the way.

I'm confident that the one meeting we did see about Steve being a less than ideal pledge was not the only one. I'm sure it was one of many. In fact, they probably discussed ALL the pledges' progress, but Steve and Earl seemed to be the most debated.

I guess I missed the shows where Earl worked his butt off. He was just as lazy as the rest of them. He disrespected ALL of his LBs just for shyts and giggles. He disrespected a brother. He was told he was the worst pledge. He threatened to leave several times. I guess I missed the great and wonderful Earl episodes.
Steve was trifling and shouldn't have made it, but Earl shouldn't have either.