[aephi alum]

I'm surprised that none of the pledges has said "Eff this, I'm outta here." The winning team in each pledge challenge gets a perk like a night out on the town or a spa day, and is also immune from elimination from the pledge class, while the losing team has to clean the house or set up for a party, and each member gets grilled on why she should be allowed to stay in the sorority. And it's just harsh, the way they use a lipstick to cross each eliminated pledge's photo off the composite.

This is not how the NPC new member process works. For one thing, once you've received and accepted a bid, you will be initiated unless you choose to depledge - the chapter can't kick you out. For another, many of the activities the pledges are being made to do are outright hazing.

I hope that the five women who are selected to become full sisters don't take away the wrong message. There's not necessarily anything wrong with a chapter eliminating a new member or three - rush happens pretty quickly, and it's tough to make good informed decisions when you and your sisters have met each PNM for a total of maybe 3 hours - you could end up pledging someone who turns out to be the campus slut, a complete psycho, or just simply a really bad fit for the chapter. But "you must choose 14 women to pledge, and then cut nine of them, one each week, until you end up with only five women who will be initiated" is pretty extreme. If you're cutting 64% of your pledge class for being "weighed and measured and found lacking" you made some piss-poor decisions during rush! I hope that, when the Americans go home and the Chosen Five are in charge, the Chosen Five understand that they don't have to make such harsh cuts during pledging.

Then again, this is reality TV. The powers that be obviously thought they'd get a much more entertaining show if they turned rush and pledging into some warped version of "Survivor".