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"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
Season 1, Episode 11
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First Aired October 1st, 2010
Production Code 115
Writer(s) Matt Fleckenstein
Director(s) Steve Hoefer
Viewed By: 2.4 million
Episode Guide
previous
"Beck's Big Break"
next
"Cat's New Boyfriend"

The Great Ping Pong Scam is the 11th episode of Victorious. It was originally scheduled to air on September 24, 2010, but was rescheduled to October 1, 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[]

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Tandre Duet

Tori and André singing "Tell Me That You Love Me."

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 (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 $1,500 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 they approach Sikowitz. He thinks the plan is too devious but mentions that the superintendent might fire Principal Eikner unless a sports team wins a big championship trophy for the school. So, their new plan is to go to dinner using part of the $1,500 from the school, and then use the rest to buy a trophy for the school and save the principal's job.

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The gang sitting in Maestro's.

Tori is allowed to join the team in exchange for her silence, so she joins them as they prepare for "the big championship", which is really just dinner at Maestro's. Everyone dresses nicely except for Tori, who is stuck in her uniform because Jade "forgot" to remind her to dress nice. Robbie gets his first taste of caviar and likes it so much that he orders a big bowl of it. After their deserts, the bill for the dinner finally comes to Sikowitz. However, the total costs $1,300, including $600 for Robbie's caviar. The group cannot afford the bill because of Robbie's caviar, to which the manager threatens to call the police if they don't pay the bill and Sikowitz sneaks away from the table and out on the patio. Tori overhears the owner of the restaurant talking to the manager about customers complaining due to the lack of live music. Tori 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" and escape punishment.

Status updates[]

  • I demand PING PONG!!!! (Mood = Fierce)
  • Gonna get to the bottom of this WONK. (Mood = Suspicious)
  • Jade's dress feels warm. (Mood = Tuneful)

Trivia[]

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  • Absent: Daniella Monet as Trina Vega
  • Sikowitz's van is a 1973 Ford Econoline.
  • This is the first 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 Fast & Furious, respectively.
  • It is the second time that someone (Tori) drags someone (Sinjin) into the janitor's closet, the first time was in the episode Jade Dumps Beck
  • 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.
  • When the gang is in Sikowitz's van, Rex comments on the shag carpeting which could indicate that his van is from the 1970s.
  • Jade's ring that she has on while she is imitating Tori's "phone in face" bit can also been seen in TheSlap 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 expends no effort in the round).
    • André (Tori looks somewhat engaged while playing him but doesn't seem to be trying very much, André is surprised when she beats him).
    • Robbie/Rex (Tori wins easily against Robbie, only slowing because of his odd choice of taking his shirt off, and Robbie seems even better of a player through Rex. Despite this, he is not actual competition for Tori).
    • 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 it is more likely that she is in charge given that she came up with the idea and the others' fear of her and she is likely just as terrible as the other four).
  • It is hinted that Sikowitz and the server 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 witnesses this, 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 when Jade sings at Karaoke Dokie.
  • The gang commits a white-collar crime (fraud), and could face up to ten years in prison (potentially more because they did it more than once) if ever arrested for it.
    • Tori would be exempt from the full sentence given that she paid for her meal with her performance but would still face legal trouble for concealing knowledge about the scheme, though very likely no actual jail time.
  • The pink tank top Cat wears during the flashback of her explaining Maestro's was the same one Carly Shay wore in the iCarly episode "iOwe You".
  • Rex mentioned his hot chick volleyball squad again in Freak The Freak Out while he is interacting with his Northridge girls.
  • Robbie trusts Beck enough to take control over Rex while it's his turn to play ping pong. Beck covers Rex's eyes when Robbie gets hit in the groin with the ball.
  • Matt Bennet explained that instead of caviar, he was eating lentils when he was reacting to this episode. [1]
  • The episode bears similarities with the Big Time Rush episode Big Time Double Date. In both episodes, both friend groups eat at a fancy restaurant and feature a character getting shocked after getting the restaurant check. Both episodes also featured a performance at the end.
  • Ending tagline: "Here comes that feeling." - Sinjin

Goofs[]

Ping-pong-scam-2
  • 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.
  • When Tori and Sinjin are in the Janitor's Closet, Sinjin is wearing his glasses, but when he complains about what Tori sprayed him with, his glasses are gone.
  • In the scene where Robbie is hit in the groin by a ping pong ball and then hits his face on the table, Beck can be seen in the background covering Rex's face with his hand, but in the next shot, he is seen putting his hand over Rex's eyes again.
  • During the flashback, when Sikowitz was saying how Principal Eikner might get fired, Tori's locker is visible in the background despite her attending Sherwood High School at the time.
  • Likewise, the flashback shows Jade as she is in every other episode, rather than her earlier look in the Pilot.
  • 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.
  • The gang somehow first notices that Tori is still wearing her ping pong uniform when they're halfway through dinner.
  • In most restaurants, the workers don't immediately report to the police about the customers who are unable to 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 André'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 nowhere near Cat's plate.
  • Robbie shouldn't eat caviar as it isn't kosher, i.e. allowed for Jewish. However, since Robbie was eating caviar for the first time, he obviously doesn't know anything about it. It is also likely he doesn't observe the Jewish dietary laws (in real life, not all Jews do so).
  • It would be illegal to fire Eikner based on a lack of sports trophies as such things fall outside the purview of a principal's duties. Of anything, the head of the athletic department would have been fired. Either Sikowitz misunderstood the situation (or possibly imagined the whole scenario due to his coconut juice) or the superintendent was making an empty threat.
  • Tori is noticeably thinner than Jade yet both girls manage to perfectly fit in the other's clothing.
  • As the gang does not actually attend the ping pong tournaments for the schools in Los Angeles, the scam should have been found out in its first year, long before the "championship" dinner, when they failed to present themselves to any event as someone would have called the school to find out why they didn't show up. Likewise, most inter-school sporting events are attended by the parents of the players or even fellow students for support.
  • Restaurants don't typically serve big bowls of caviar for patrons upon request. Although Robbie's request meant was to add conflict to the episode, the waitress should have told Robbie she could not give him a big bowl of caviar.

Quotes[]

Tori: Oh, hey!
Cat: Hey Tori!
Robbie: How's it going?
André: Sup?
Tori: Well, after school, I was thinking we should all go hang out at the grove. You wanna wanna?
[André, Cat, and Robbie groan quietly in hesitation]
Cat: We really can't.
Tori: How come?
Robbie: Well, uh, we have ping pong practice.
André: Mm-hmm.
Cat: Uh-huh.
Tori: [in denial] Shut up.
André: It's true.
Robbie: Yeah, we're all on the ping pong team.
Cat: Me, André, Robbie, Beck and Jade.
Tori: There's no ping pong team at Hollywood Arts.
Robbie: Listen, Tori, um, you're still kinda new here, and there's some things that you 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. [smells Tori's mouth] Hmm, smells like…that trip we took to Acapulco last year!
Robbie: Yes!
Cat: Oooh, you have Mexican-flavored gum?
Tori: Mexican's not a flavor!
Sinjin: [walks up to her face] Thank you. [walks away]
Tori: [the gang looks confused about the interaction with Sinjin] Look, if you guys don't wanna hang out with me, then just say so. Why make up a lie that you're all on some ping pong team? [pause]
Cat: [pretending the previous conversation never happened] Hey, Tori!
Robbie: [pretending the previous conversation never happened] How's it going?
André: [pretending the previous conversation never happened] Sup?
Tori: Okay, so now you're gonna pretend like we're not having the conversation we're having?
Cat: About what?
Tori: The big ping pong team lie.
Rex: Or you could join my team. I call it Rex's all hot chick volleyball squad!
Tori: [Sticks the gum on Rex's face]
Robbie: (angry) Tori!
Rex: Just get it off my nose! Snatch it off!
Robbie: [Tries to get the gum off, but it stretches between his fingers and Rex's nose and a little bit of his hair, much to André and Cat's disgust]
Rex: Aw man, its the stretchy kind!


Tori: Jade? Jade? [prods and pokes Jade's shoulder, much to her annoyance] Ja-a-ade? I'm not going away, and you can't just say no.
Jade: [says "no" in 7 different voices, all varying in pitch, last "no" is in her normal voice]
Tori: [looks dejected] Alright, well you can…

Jade: [groans] My life is slipping away!


Sinjin: Here comes that feeling.
Tori: I heard that.

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Tori singing "Tell Me That You Love Me" on the piano


Robbie: [groans quietly in pain] Ow.
Cat: What's wrong?
Robbie: [groans quietly in pain] I think I just pulled a muscle.
Jade: You can't pull what you don't have. [walks away]

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

Rex: Why don't we just drive her [Tori] out to the desert and drop her off?
Robbie: Rex!
Rex: [whispers to Robbie] She knows too much!


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!
[later]
Jade: Read the phone, Tori. Read the pho-o-one!
Tori: Don't you steal my "phone in face" bit.


Ladies: [whispers] I can't believe what she's wearing.
Tori: [Sees the ladies quietly talking about her outfit] Yes! I'm wearing a ping pong uniform! [ladies run away in fear]
André: How could you not think to bring a fancy dress?
Tori: I don't know, I just didn't.
Beck: You said you reminded everyone to bring nice clothes.
Jade: I did.
Tori: You didn't remind me!
Jade: Whoops. [Tori looks confused and shocked]

Robbie: Wait, ma'am.
Waitress: Yes?
Robbie: 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] You're very kind.
Waitress: [Walks away quickly]

Claude: [To Sikowitz] How is your drink sir?
Sikowitz: Very moist. Thank you.

Cat: Are you sure?
Tori: Yes, they can't grow lobster flavored potatoes.
[Some time passes]
André: [About the cake] Oh, so good! But I'm so full!
Beck: Come on, man up. Okay, here we go. [feeds André the cake, and helps him chew] Aw yeah, there we go. That's nice, isn't it?
André: Thank you!
Beck: Breathe through it.
André: You're a good friend.
Beck: [gently prods André's chin]
Cat: So like, what if a farmer planted a lobster and a potato in the same hole? [Sikowitz looks annoyed] Maybe it would grow a lobtato?
Tori: [looks dejected and decides to stop arguing with Cat, clearly annoyed] Yes Cat, a lobtato would grow; I'll tell the farmers.
Cat: [Giggles]


Sikowitz: [looks at the bill, and spits out his food in shock, some food lands on the check and some on the table] What the hair bones?!
Jade: What?
Sikowitz: It's $1,300!
[The gang reacts and murmurs in shock]
Cat: It's never been over $700!
Jade: Way to go, Tori!
Tori: I ordered the same thing you did!
Sikowitz: Wait, wait, I see the problem. They mistakenly charged us an extra $600 for caviar. [Robbie looks surprised and guilty] Excuse me, sir?
Claude: Hi, is anything wrong?
Sikowitz: Yes, We were mistakenly charged for $600 worth of caviar.
Waitress: Oh, that's not a mistake. That awkward young man ordered a large bowl of caviar.
[Everyone stares at Robbie]
Robbie: [to Rex, pretending he ordered the caviar] Man! What were you thinking?!
Rex: Hey, I didn't order any caviar!
Cat: Robbie!?
Robbie: I didn't know it was that expensive!

Tori: Give me your dress.
Jade: What?
Tori: Give me your dress!
Jade: [pauses for a little bit, with mouth full of food] This one?

Running Gags[]

  • Everyone hiding the fake ping pong team from Tori.
  • Tori and Jade saying "Read the phone" to each other.

Songs[]

Reception[]

Reception for this episode was mixed. The end song was almost universally praised, but many found the plot to be nonsensical and pointless.

Gallery[]

Click here to see the photo gallery for The Great Ping Pong Scam.

References[]

ved Victorious Episodes
Season One
PilotThe Bird SceneStage FightingThe Birthweek SongJade Dumps BeckTori the ZombieRobarazziSurvival of the HottestWi-Fi in the SkyBeck's Big BreakThe Great Ping Pong ScamCat's New BoyfriendFreak the Freak OutRex DiesThe Diddly-BopsWok StarThe WoodA Film by Dale SquiresSleepover at Sikowitz's
Season Two
Beggin' on Your KneesBeck Falls for ToriIce Cream for Ke$haTori Gets StuckProm WreckerLocked Up!Helen Back AgainWho Did It to Trina?Tori Tortures TeacherJade Gets CrushedTerror on Cupcake StreetA Christmas ToriBlooptorious
Season Three
The Breakfast BunchThe Gorilla ClubThe Worst CoupleAndré's Horrible GirlCar, Rain & FireTori & Jade's Play DateApril Fools' BlankDriving Tori CrazyHow Trina Got InTori Goes PlatinumCrazy PonnieThe Blonde Squad
Season Four
Wanko's WarehouseThe Hambone KingOpposite DateThree Girls and a MooseCell BlockTori Fixes Beck and JadeOne Thousand Berry BallsRobbie Sells RexThe Bad RoommateBrain SqueezersThe Slap FightStar Spangled ToriVictori-Yes
Films and Specials
Freak the Freak OutiParty with VictoriousLocked Up!Tori Goes Platinum
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