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Arts & Entertainment

Butch and Rooster make a mid-flight beer run and Gil lands in jail, again, on a win-win 'West Texas Investors Club'

How many West Texans does it take to break out of a jail cell? Can a frozen bait bullet out-drive a golf ball onto an 18th hole green? What is this show even about?

As for that last question, this episode sums it up, according to executive producer Charlie Ebersol, when he met with us a couple of weeks ago. "That 90 seconds represents the whole show for me," he said at the time.

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The minute-and-a-half in question came toward the end of the first segment last night during the second episode of season two. Entrepreneur Dan Triano had successfully shown off his Sandblaster Bait Caster -- a tool for shoreline fisherman that uses compressed air to propel bait 300 yards into the ocean -- but, when it came to the numbers, his business game was a little off. Furthermore, he had two former partners' names on his patent, and he was building the products without a welding certification or insurance. It looked like a lawsuit in the making.

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The fellas had become fast friends with Triano, whose larger-than-life, congenial personality would make for a good WTIC host one day if Butch or Rooster finds himself at jury duty or, perhaps more likely, jail. The investors picked him up in Butch's helicopter.

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"We got a problem -- the ocean's about 700 miles from here," Rooster said. "I don't think that thing'll go that far."

So, to test out the product, they did the next best thing. They piled into Butch's helicopter and flew out to a golf course -- stopping mid-flight for a quick beer run at a dusty gas station.

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Once there, Rooster bet Triano he could drive a golf ball further than the bait castor could toss its heavy, frozen bullets. The terms: If beaten, Rooster would purchase a Bait Caster. But, if he won, he'd get it for free. "I bet there's no way this fishcicle thing of his makes it 300 yards, no damn way," Rooster crowed.

For his part, it only took one swing to land on the green about 290 yards away.

"Get some of that, Fish Man!" he shouted. 

Triano's first shot fell short when the line broke unexpectedly and the bait bullet went kerplunk, but he convinced the investors for another, double-or-nothing. That meant possibly walking away without his shirt, shoes, sunglasses or ice chest, "butt-ass naked," as Rooster put it.

The second chance went off without a hitch, landing just inches from the hole. A strong shoreline fisherman can cast about 100 yards without the product, Triano explained. The first time he cast with the product, he caught a 150 lb. shark.

But, Triano's fun personality and the product's success just weren't enough when it came to the business' other challenges. Rooster denied Triano's request for $300K for 30 percent equity, saying he just couldn't wrap his arms around the bigger issues. Triano teared up, and so did Rooster. Though upset, he shook their hands with graciousness and dignity.

Triano headed out for an exit interview, but Butch wasn't ready to let him go.

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"I'd have give it to him, you chicken sh-t [expletive]; we ain't practicing what we're preaching, Mike. Now, I feel bad," he said. "I don't know, man, we always talk about the struggling business guy, the little people, and he's the littlest of the little."

"If we got him in line and got to go fishing with him now and again, that'd be a great investment for me," Butch added. 

Ebersol's right about this episode tying the concept together in a neat package; for me, that quote alone does it. Rooster agrees:

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While filming his exit interview, Triano got word from a producer that the investors wanted to see him again. They offered to buy out the former partners, use Butch's machine shop to ensure the products were made with proper certification and to completely take over accounting and business management. And, they wanted 51 percent for it.

Triano didn't even have to think about it.

"I didn't hesitate; deal, deal, deal," he said. "Sorry for breaking down, but that's just the way it goes when you put your heart and soul into it." 

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If one good investor segment weren't enough, episode two packed in two. Triano might have been a case of "great product, shaky business," but Ginger Flesher-Sonnier is possibly the most impressive entrepreneur the show will ever see.

Her Escape Room Live! isn't a novel idea, but the former math teacher executes it in clever and refined ways that no other competitor in the over-saturated industry really has. For Butch, part of the appeal was its potential for pulling people out of their self-inflicted, smart-phone induced comas. There was just one little problem in explaining it...

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"We don't quite understand what it is, but maybe escape rooms will get people out of bedrooms and into the world engaging with people," he said.

During her pitch, Flesher-Sonnier explained that while traveling in Europe, escape rooms were rated number one on Travel Adviser in a number of cities; in Paris, they're more popular on the site than that Louvre.

Butch looked to Rooster and deadpanned, "That's an art gallery."

To see it in action, the investors flew her to the Lajitas resort in Big Bend, and asked her to recreate a mini-version. Flesher-Sonnier explained that building a room usually takes 2-3 months, but she'd do her best to give them a flavor.

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Her "best" turned out to be probably the best execution of a product demonstration the WTIC will ever see. She created a jail cell puzzle and locked up the boys for a timed 45-minute game.

"I'm an aficionado of jail cells," Gil said, matter-of-factly. "Hell, I been in at least 10 that I remember."

He might've felt "right at home," but Rooster seemed a bit more skeptical about the investors' abilities to break out: "We're gettin' ready to be here awhile, but at least I've got a jug of beer."

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Turns out, the makeshift escape room seemed both challenging and fun for the investors. They decoded ciphers and worked as a team, finally freeing Gil with 12 seconds to spare.

"I paid my debt to society; I'm a changed man!" he cried.

Never change, Gil. Never change.

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Back at the clubhouse, the investors were duly impressed, but they weren't having Flesher-Sonnier's valuation. She'd asked for $4 million for 40 percent.

"I'm supposed to believe this magical puzzle dungeon is worth $10 million?" Rooster asked.

But, the numbers were appealing. In just 15 months, one room in Washington, D.C., had grossed $2.3 million, and $1 million of that was in the last three months. She'd invested $80K of her own savings and had no partners and no debt.

"So far it's rainbows and unicorns, but I've been around long enough to know in business it's never that easy," Butch said. 

First off, they had suggestions for her plan to scale, which included going after resorts in the country's most expensive towns. Rather than pay exorbitant rents near Disney or in Las Vegas or New York creating standalone storefronts, they suggested she target resorts that would pay for her to create rooms in existing spaces. There would be no need for an expensive lease, staff costs or the need to build restaurant and bar services.

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To sweeten the deal, they revealed that Lajitas already wanted a permanent installation of her hastily-made puzzle.

Flesher-Sonnier is a whip-smart woman who knows a good deal when she sees it. With the restructured plan to scale, she asked for $80K for 8 percent, but Butch argued that their help setting up the infrastructure was worth half. She offered 30 percent and then 35, and he asked for 40.

"Forty percent for $80 thousand?!" she exclaimed. "That sounds good to me."

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It was more than she wanted to give up, she added later, but she'd "made good friends" and a relationship with good connections. The investors saw, too, that they had snagged a solid deal, one that rounded out a win-win episode where everyone left happy, viewers included.