- The first contestant eliminated on WWE Tough Enough premiere was Ariane Andrew. She is a 23 year old behavior therapist from California and unlike Erik Watts and Michelle Deighton, had no wrestling experience.
Ariane had to give back her WWE Title belt after being eliminated, something that Austin presented each contestant with at the start of the show.
Weekly eliminations will see Trish Stratus, Bill DeMott and Booker T join Steve Austin in his office. All four of them evaluate the talents and Austin comes out to make the announcement on the "bottom three". Austin brought the three contestants up who they thought were the least-progressed talents. This week it was Michelle Deighton, Erik Watts and Ariane Andrew. The "bottom three" contestants are sent back to the house to prepare for elimination.
Austin then brought the bottom three to the Tough Enough ring and talked to them about why they should stay and what got them to elimination. Austin was very candid with the contestants and held nothing back.
When Austin asked Ariane her favorite match, she said it was Alicia Fox vs. Melina. Austin was surprised at this. Ariane also couldn't recall any other matches and said she's new to wrestling. Austin took her WWE Title belt and said she's not tough enough. He then addressed Watts and Deighton, telling them they have too much experience and potential and that they have work to do.
