The Great Ping Pong Scam

"And I'm very proud to announce the newest member of the Hollywood Arts Ping Pong team, Tori "The Paddlepuss" Vega!"

- Sikowitz announcing Tori.

The Great Ping Pong Scam is the 11th episode of Victorious. It was originally scheduled to air on September 24th, 2010, but was rescheduled to October 1st, 2010. It features the song Tell Me that You Love Me, performed by Tori (Victoria Justice) and André (Leon Thomas lll). With only 2.4 million views, this is the second lowest documented audience of an episode in the series, the first being The Hambone King, which had 2.391 million views.

Plot
Tori asks Robbie, André, and Cat to hang out after school, but they say that they can't because they have ping pong practice. Tori doesn't believe them and insists on joining the team. They tell her she has to talk to Jade, the team captain, who then denies Tori admittance to the team. Lane tries to straighten things out, and after Tori shows them the rules for joining sports teams from TheSlap, she gets her chance to try out. She plays and beats everyone including Rex, but Jade still tells her that she can't join.

Tori later pulls Sinjin into the janitor's closet and makes him agree to construct her something to hide in so she can spy on her friends. He makes her a hollowed out, fake soda machine. She then spies on the others, who appear to be playing Twister instead of practicing. Tori is discovered when Beck attempts to buy a soda from the machine that she is hiding in, but when no beverage comes out he and the others topple the machine over. Tori then gets busted.

Tori demands an explanation, so André and the others explain:

''Two years ago, Jade, Cat, Beck, André, and Robbie discovered a ping pong table in the lounge. Robbie suggested to form a team, but Jade struck him on the head, shooting his idea down. Days after, Cat mentions that her parents took her to a fantastic restaurant (most likely Maestro's). The gang wishes to go there, but it's way too expensive. Jade thinks of a scheme to make a fake ping pong team, take the $1500 the school gives its sports teams, and use it to go have the dinner they want. They however, need a staff member as an adviser, so the approach Sikowitz. He however, thinks the plan is too devious, but mentions that the superintendent might fire Principal Eikner if the school doesn't win a big championship trophy for the school. So, their new plan is to go to dinner using part of the $1500 the school will give them, and then use the rest to buy a trophy for the school and to save the principal's job.''



Tori is allowed to join the team in exchange for her silence, and joins them as they prepare for the "the big championship", which is really just dinner at Maestro's. Everyone dresses nicely except for Tori, who is stuck in her uniform. Robbie gets his first taste of caviar, and likes it so much he orders a big soup bowl of it. The bill for the dinner finally comes to Sikowitz, and the total costs $1300, including $600 for Robbie's caviar. The group cannot afford the bill because of Robbie's caviar, and Sikowitz sneaks away from the table and out the door. Tori overhears the owner of the restaurant talking to an employee about how customers are complaining about the lack of live music. Tori then offers to sing as payment for the dinner and borrows Jade's dress to perform in, much to Jade's chagrin. Tori and André then perform "Tell Me that You Love Me".

Trivia

 * Mr. Sikowitz's van is a 1973 Ford Econoline.
 * This is the 1st episode to focus on 'secrets' in the gang.
 * While Tori hides in a fake soda machine to spy on the rest of the group, the game they are playing is a parody of Twister.
 * During the end credits, Cat talks about how her father has told her to speak less. This is a reference to in Tori the Zombie, when Trina tells her she should talk less, and she replies, "That's what my dad always says!"
 * The two arcade games in the rec room, Rock Demon and Fast and Fabulous, are parodies of Guitar Hero and The Fast and The Furious, respectively.
 * It is shown during the flashback that Cat, Jade, Beck, André, and Robbie have been friends for at least two years (or at the very least, hanging out with each other).
 * This is the first time Sikowitz is seen outside of Improv class.
 * At the beginning of Tori and André's song, Sikowitz has snuck away from the table, but once the financial crisis has been sorted out, he returns.
 * In this episode, Robbie discovers a love of caviar.
 * Jade's ring that she has on while she is imitating Tori's "phone in face" bit can also been seen in the Slap video "Sinjin's Sock Puppets: Jade."
 * When Tori, Jade, and Lane are arguing, you can see an iCarly sticker on the locker behind Lane.
 * From the performance of the group playing against Tori, the players from least to greatest appear to be:
 * Cat (she runs away from the ball in fear)
 * Beck (plays against Tori first, Tori doesn't give much effort in the round)
 * André (Tori looks very phased while playing him, André is surprised when she beats him)
 * Robbie/Rex (Tori presumably wins only because Robbie was injured, she looked very frightened throughout the round, and Robbie seems even better of a player through Rex and he was great in both rounds he played)
 * Jade (presumably best, though never seen playing. It's possible one of the reasons she's captain is because she's such a good player although this could just be because she came up with the idea)
 * This is the first episode of the series without a subplot.
 * It is hinted that Sikowitz and the waiter like each other, because when she hands him the check, she strokes her hand across his arm and back, and Sikowitz says "Thank you." in a flirtatious way.
 * When André looks over to Sikowitz and hears him say "Thank you." in the flirtatious way, it brings an interested grin to his face.
 * The shoes Jade - and later, Tori - are wearing at the restaurant can also be seen in Freak the Freak Out (episode) when Jade sings at Karaoke Dokie.
 * They had all committed in a white-collar crime, and they could all be arrested for it, and could face up to a least ten years in prison, an it could be more because they did it more then once
 * Jade's dress can be found here, and Cat's dress can be found here.
 * The pink tank top Cat wears during the flashback of her explaining Maestro's was the same one Carly Shay (from Dan's other show iCarly) has worn before.
 * Rex mentioned his hot chick volleyball squad again in Freak The Freak Out while he is playing with his Northridge girls.
 * Ending Tagline: "Here comes that feeling." - Sinjin

Goofs

 * In the beginning, when Tori sticks gum on Rex's face, the gum she takes out of her mouth is white, but the gum she puts on Rex's face is deep pink.
 * When Sinjin and Tori are in The Janitor's Closet she uses a lock that turns but schools are required to use doors with key locks on both sides. Hollywood Arts isn't considered a 'normal' school though.
 * In the scene where Robbie is hit in the groin by a ping pong ball and then hits his face on the table, in the wide shot when he falls to the ground, we can see Beck in the background with his hand covering Rex's face. But in the next shot, they show Beck close up physically covering Rex's face, even though his eyes were already covered in the previous shot.
 * When Robbie faced Tori and got hit in the groin, he was in pain and fell onto the table. He would have got a lump on the head. However, Rex went next and Robbie is feeling better. This couldn't have happened unless the pain went away around an hour later and was feeling better.
 * During the flashback, when Sikowitz said Principal Eikner might get fired, you can see Tori's locker, Make it Shine but she went to Sherwood that time.
 * At the restaurant, when Tori yells "Yes I'm wearing a Ping Pong Uniform!" the next shot has the two ladies run away. In the bottom of that shot. Beck whispers something to Jade therefore, gets cheek to cheek to her. But in the next shot with André. Beck is looking at his food as if he never spoke to her. He could not have resumed eating that quickly after he had finished talking.
 * In most restaurants, the workers don't immediately report to the police about the customers that don't pay. Instead, they are asked to wash dishes. (This was fixed with one of Robbie's posts on TheSlap; he couldn't pay for his bill and had to work in the kitchen)
 * When the camera shows shots of the audience during Tori's and Andre's performance, a few of the shots show Tori's and André's friends enjoying the performance. However, Sikowitz is in one of those shots with the teenagers before he returns to the restaurant after running away out of fear.
 * While Robbie is eating his bowl of caviar, Tori is giving Cat some food. You can clearly see that her hands are above Cat's plate. In the next shot, Tori is sitting straight and her hands are no where near Cat's plate.
 * It is very strange that when the gang received 1500 $ for participation in "a tournament", a total cost of the dinner was 1300 $, the gang used 100 $ to pay for the trophy to save Principal from being fired, that would leave them with remaining 1400 $ to pay for the bill, with having a 100 $ left to spare. This is a very major goof as the gang should not be arrested because they had enough money to pay for 1300 $ bill.

Quotes
Rex: Or you could join my team. I call it Rex's all hot chic volleyball squad!

Tori: [Sticks gum on Rex's face]

Rex: Just get it off my nose. Aw man its the stretchy kind!

Sinjin: Here comes that feeling again.

Tori: I heard that!

Cat: What happened?

Robbie: I think I pulled a muscle.

Jade: You can't pull what you don't have.

Rex: [referring to Tori] Why don't we just drive her out to the desert and drop her off?

Robbie: Rex!

Rex: She knows too much!

[Jade, André, and Beck rock the fake soda machine, causing it to fall, and Tori, to scream] André: Did that machine just scream like a teenage girl?

Tori: [comes out of the fake soda machine] Alright, who put me in the soda machine?!

Sikowitz: And I'm very proud to announce the newest member of the Hollywood Arts Ping Pong team, Tori, the paddlepuss, Vega!

Tori: Read the phone, Jade. Read the phone!

Jade: Read the phone, Tori. Read the phone!

Tori: Give me your dress.

Jade: What?

Tori: Give me your dress!

Jade: This one?

Tori: Hey guys!

Cat: Hey Tori!

Robbie: How's it going?

Andre: Sup!

Tori: After school I was thinking we could all hang out at the grove. You wanna wanna?

Cat: We really cant.

Tori: How come?

Robbie: We have ping pong practice.

Andre and Cat: Mhm. Uhuh.

Tori: Shut up...

Andre: It's true.

Robbie: Yeah we're all on the ping pong team.

Cat: Me, Andre, Robbie Beck and Jade.

Tori: There's no ping pong team at Hollywood arts.

Robbie: Um, listen Tori, your still kind of new here, so I just don't under...[smells tori's mouth] What kind of gum are you chewing?

Tori: I don't know Sinjin made it.

Robbie: [To Rex] Smell her mouth.

Rex: Sure. Hm smells like that trip we took to Acapulco last year!

Robbie: Yes!

Cat: Oooo you have Mexican flavored gum!

Tori: Mexican is not a flavor.

Sinjin: Thank you.

Tori: Look if you guys don't want to hang out with me just let me know.

Cat: Hey Tori!

Robbie: How's it going?

Andre: Sup!

Tori: Ok so now your going to pretend we're not having the conversation we're having?

Cat: About what?

Tori: Jade? Jade? I'm not going away and you can't just say no.

Jade: [says no in different voices]

Tori: Well you can...

Jade: My life is slipping away!

Tori: [See's the ladies talking about her outfit] Yes! I'm wearing a ping pong uniform!

Robbie: Wait ma'am what is this awesome dip?

Waitress: That's caviar.

Robbie: It's fantastic can I get a big bowl of it?

Waitress: A big bowl?

Robbie: Like a bowl for soup but filled with this caviar stuff.

Waitress: Sure, I'll bring that right to your table.

Robbie: [puts his hand on her shoulder] Your very kind.

Waitress: [Walks away quickly]

Sikowitz: Oh we were mistakenly charged for a bowl of caviar.

Waitress: That's not a mistake that awkward young man ordered a large bowl of caviar. [Everyone stares at Robbie]

Robbie: [To Rex] Man! What were you thinking?!

Rex: Hey, I didn't order any caviar!

Owner: [To Sikowitz] How's your drink sir?

Sikowitz: Very moist.

Andre: [About the cake] oh its so good but I'm so full.

Beck: Come on, man up, ok here we go aw yeah there we go.

Andre: Thank you! Your a good friend.

Cat: Are you sure?

Tori: Yes Cat, they can't grow lobster flavored potatoes.

Cat: what if a farmer planted a lobster and a potato in the same hole? Maybe it would grow a lobtato? Tori: Yes Cat, a lobtato would grow I'll tell the farmers.

Cat: [Giggles]

Songs

 * Tell Me that You Love Me by Tori Vega and André Harris