Tool Academy: Coming Soon To VH1
The d’bag gets his day in a new reality series coming from VH1. Check out the details of the forthcoming Tool Academy:
We have all encountered them before: those strutting, preening, over confident alpha-males who lie, cheat, and treat their girlfriends like door mats. They are “tools,” and they desperately need a wake up call. VH1 and 495 Productions are taking 9 of these unsuspecting bad boys and sending them to relationship boot camp in a new series titled Tool Academy. The eight episode series, hosted by Jordan Murphy, is slated to premiere Sunday, January 11 at 10/9c.
The guys, all secretly nominated by their girlfriends, initially believe they are taking part in a competition in search of “Mr. Awesome.” But the tables are turned almost immediately and they quickly learn that they are actually recruits in the Tool Academy, where they will be schooled in proper boyfriend behavior—covering topics like honesty, fidelity, maturity, and communication with resident relationship counselor Trina Dolenz. Each week the guy who shows the least progress in the group is deemed a hopeless tool and dismissed from the academy. But there’s a twist: he must then plead his case before his girlfriend, who decides on the spot if she wants to keep him or kick him to the curb. In the end, only one man will be rewarded for his transformation with a $100,000 cash prize and the title of “Mr. Awesome.”
“This show carries the hope that buried deep inside even the world’s most incorrigible tool, there may actually be a good boyfriend waiting to be revealed,” said Jeff Olde, Executive Vice President of Programming & Production for VH1. “Sometimes all it takes is a little self reflection…and eight weeks of intensive TV therapy.”
Jordan Murphy’s previous hosting duties include all four seasons of NBC’s For Love or Money, USA’s Before & After’noon Movies, and Reality Remix. He has also appeared on such shows as Las Vegas, Scrubs, Charmed, and JAG among others. Murphy is represented by IMG Broadcasting’s Babette Perry and continues to be managed by Kathy Carter.
Trina Dolenz trained as a couples counselor in Cambridge, England, obtaining a Graduate Certificate in Marital and Couples Counseling, as well as a Post Graduate Diploma in Couples Therapy from the University of East London. She has run private practices in couples therapy in London as well as her adopted home of Los Angeles.
Related content
Tool Academy show page
Tool Academy videos and extras
Tricia Dolenz’s VH1Blog advice column
November 1st, 2009 at 9:24 pm
VH1 I severly need your help and so does my “boyfriend” if that is what you want to call him. I have watched Tool Academy faithfully for the past two seasons and for both i ask myself “why dont i have David enrolled in this academy.” He is exactly like all your contestants. Lie, Cheat, degrade. He is so into himself that he really dont know what his arrogance does to his family. We have two children and 6 years of a lot of bs that should not even be thought of taking place. As i am writing you i am continuosly thinking of all the wrong doing that has taken place. I could go on for years of all the tragedies that have occurred. Just know that it is a MUST that he needs to get enrolled immediately. If my ultimadems are not helping maybe some outside source can open his eyes and allow him to see that he is far from perfect and that his arrognance and dishonesty is not only affecting me but his two small children. They see how he treats and talks to me. There is so so so much more from other females sendin me text sayin they pregnant by him to him and i gettin physical with each other. So please VH1 How do i get him on this show. I dont even care about the prize money. I just want to be treated right and like a human being. Not like someone of no worth. Especially after all that i have done for him and my family. Im not saying i should be rewarded for doin what i am supposed to but at least appreciated and not treated like trash. Please email me asap before it gets even more destructive. Please VH1 help me help him and in return helping my children. I would not be writing you if this were not a necessity to my children and him as well as myself. Thanks for takin the time to read my plea and pray you consider us for your reality show because this is so painfully real. Unfortunately. Thanks again!!
November 1st, 2009 at 11:18 pm
I believe my daughter should be entered into your Tool Academy 3 show with her boyfriend because he is a tool whom needs to be outed for all his extra curriculume activities outside of the home. He might have another girlfriend AND boyfriend!!! I would like to see my daughter happy. This would be a huge step for them. She has agreed to take this step so please consider them. My daughter’s name is Tiffany Rodriguez and her boyfriend is Conrad salinas. Ages 20 and 22. Please give them a chance. thank you VH1.
November 1st, 2009 at 11:21 pm
please vh1 i need to know how to enroll my fiance in a new tool academy.i have been with him for 2 and a half years and i am honestly scared that my fiance’s a tool. he talks to girls all the time and i have caught him in some lies but he still denies it and acts like hes the perfect fiance and i wont find anyone better then him and like he does nothing wrong and he thinks he doesn’t flirt and its not wrong.Ive heard rumors that hes with different girls from the beginning of our relationship but i try to believe that he loves me and its not true.but i just dont know what to do except ask for help. i love him with all of my heart but i feel he needs help and your our only help. please god and vh1. can you please help me in my relationship so i know weather or not to marry my fiance or if this isn’t true love and not meant to be. please contact me back!! thank you….Sammy
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:04 am
Hello, my name is Bethany.
I’m writing you this, i guess “letter” because really feel that my boyfriend is what your show would consider a “tool”. He is always going out to parties with his friends. He is always picking them over me and i feel like the reason he always does that is so the parties he goes to will be with out me that way. He says it is because i don’t like to party and although that is true i would be more then happy to watch him have a good time and enjoy what makes him happy with him. I think he uses the fact that i don’t like to party as an excuse. When he’s out i’m either with my family or his family. He can go out but i can’t. Not with out him at least. He even gets jealous of my beast friend. I have a great bond with his family but i would love for him to be there while i make that bond. Sometime i don’t hear from him for weeks at a time. I’m wondering if this is because we were each others first that he feels the need to explore? He always tells me there has been no one els. I love him so much and i’ll wait for longer then a week. That’s not the problem. I just want to know that this will all be worth it in the long run. Please. I really need to know what i should do. I’ve tried giving him his space. I’ve done so much and it hasn’t seemed to word. I would so very much appreciate this.
Thank you, Bethany.
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:11 am
Me and my boyfriend have been together for almost 5 years.I love him with all my heart, but he cheats all the time,he has had 2 kids while we have been together and they arent by me! So i would really like to sign him for tool academy to save our relationship. He makes me feel like im just a peice of meat, we dont spend anytime together,and if we do its always really late at night so it makes me feel that he doesnt want to be around me.He means the world to me i do anything and everything for him.Its just really hard for me to walk away from him because we have been together for so long. I just dont know how much longer we are gonna last if he doesnt stop doing what hes doing.
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:17 am
Vh1 PLease im desperately begging for you to make another tool achademy! I love my boyfriend so much but i have never been hurt so badly!!!! I have tried so hard to be the perfect women for him we have been together two years and we have a baby together! He is a good daddy and I thought he was a good man! Until he started putting his hands on me then I left him and couldnt take being away from him. So I took him back and I just found out he also was cheating on me.. He is very controlling, Dont trust me when he all along was the one cheating on me! It hurts so bad for me to go to that house and have to move my babies stuff and my stuff after all we been through! Its just been a big mess! PLEASE HELP ME! I WANT TO GIVE HIM ONE LAST CHANCE BUT I DONT THINK HE DESERVES IT!!!
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:37 pm
I watch the show every season and my boyfriend doesn’t really like reality T.V, but I actually got him to watch the show this season and I thought that it would help our relationship just by watchin the show. I was WRONG he sits there and says oh yeah right when the guys are actually changing he is a great guy in ways to make me feel special, but that can’t be all we need in our relstionship I want more. I see it in him that he could change and wanted to go to counsiling he won’t go so if I could trick him that would be so perfect. He is the guy I want to spend the rest of my life with. But with all the dishonesty and Ex-girlfriend bull crap I don’t know how much more I can take. I cry almost everyother day and just keep praying that he will change. He will NEVER sit down and talk to me unless he is drinking if we are both drinking it all comes out and we fight it’s so bad to the point that nobody will go out with us anymore. I have asked him to please sit down we need communication and he says it’s better to just not say anything and not fight. I tell him that that’s what a relationship is communication. We DON’T have that.When we go out we get kickied out where ever we are we fight so bad. He’s 27 and I am 25 I have changed my job for him I have moved for him that’s another thing I don’t know anyone where I live now besides his friends.That’s another question, is that why I hold on and keep praying. I am scared to be alone no family or friends it’s so hard. It’s getting to the point I feel like I am trying for nothing. I know he’s a great guy I just need help. Like counceling. The money isn’t anything to me it’s alot of money, but money doesn’t buy LOVE I can’t get him to go with me I know if I tricked him it would work..I am putting out and get nothing in return besides getting broke down. I want to turn to my mom to talk to her about it, but I don’t want her to not like him I have my friends but they are sick of telling me to leave. It’s easy for them to say I love him and I KNOW that the only way he won’t be a old lonely man is help like this. So please please I am BEGGING you I need your help please….because my boyfriend is just A TOOL BAG!!!!!!!!
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:49 pm
I watch the show every season and my boyfriend doesn’t really like reality T.V, but I actually got him to watch the show this season and I thought that it would help our relationship just by watchin the show. I was WRONG he sits there and says oh yeah right when the guys are actually changing he is a great guy in ways to make me feel special, but that can’t be all we need in our relstionship I want more. I see it in him that he could change and wanted to go to counsiling he won’t go so if I could trick him that would be so perfect. He is the guy I want to spend the rest of my life with. But with all the dishonesty and Ex-Boyfriend & Ex-girlfriend bull crap I don’t know how much more I can take. I cry almost everyother day and just keep praying that he will change. He will NEVER sit down and talk to me unless he is drinking if we are both drinking it all comes out and we fight it’s so bad to the point that nobody will go out with us anymore. I have asked him to please sit down we need communication and he says it’s better to just not say anything and not fight. I tell him that that’s what a relationship is communication. We DON’T have that.When we go out we get kickied out where ever we are we fight so bad. He’s 27 and I am 25 I have changed my job for him I have moved for him that’s another thing I don’t know anyone where I live now besides his friends.That’s another question, is that why I hold on and keep praying. I am scared to be alone no family or friends it’s so hard. It’s getting to the point I feel like I am trying for nothing. I know he’s a great guy I just need help. Like counceling. The money isn’t anything to me it’s alot of money, but money doesn’t buy LOVE I can’t get him to go with me I know if I tricked him it would work..I am putting out and get nothing in return besides getting broke down. I want to turn to my mom to talk to her about it, but I don’t want her to not like him I have my friends but they are sick of telling me to leave. It’s easy for them to say I love him and I KNOW that the only way he won’t be a old lonely man is help like this. I am not saying I am perfect I have issues too, but I came out of a abussive relationship and I know that mental is just as bad. I just want to be happy again. I know he can change but he just won’t talk about anything and he thinks it’s better that way. So please please I am BEGGING you I need your help please….because my boyfriend is just A TOOL BAG!!!!!!!!
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
how do i apply for tool academy?
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Hi, I am the mother of an 18 year old daughter and she is dating a 19 year old tool! He is a very polite boy when he is around me but he does get pretty mean to my daughter to where he makes her cry and he tells her to suck it up. He has girls call his cell phone and tells my daughter that he does not want her to look at his phone because it would make her mad, that tells her right there that there is something in there that will make her mad. He is a very good looking boy and i really dont doubt that girls are attracted to him, but he needs to stop it. Hes is hurting my daughter tremendously! He is only into himself and his car and his money. He is very selfish and arrogant. I really do think he needs to be a part of the next tool academy because he needs to learn to be a little bit more considerate of other peoples feelings, like my daughters. He also needs to stop having all these boy night outs so much. If my daughter has a girls night out he always ends up showing up to where she is, but if she showed up where he was he gets mad at her and tells her to leave. Please, please, please consider my letter to you, it would be well worth it.
November 3rd, 2009 at 12:07 am
Dear vh1… I have been watching tool academy and its really upseting because I relate to every one of those women on the show my boyfriend is so disrespectful to me and lies constantly! I love him so much but the things that he has done in our relationship puts a huge gap between us. He has cheated on me with 4 girls that I know of and got one pregnant he says he loves me and I really think he does he just really has issues that he needs help with. I mean this man I would give my life for and am asking for ur help for myself my daughter and his Daughter because our kids deserve better in life! I am the type that I could never ask him to not see the child he has made since we have been together so when its born it gonna take a bigger toll on us!! He just needs to see wut he does to other people!! He is so ~$!`)+`$~~(!~(`$ y thinks the world of himself and is such a jerk to “people” in general!! I’m begging u please help me help him!
Sincerly yours,
Cigi
November 3rd, 2009 at 12:07 am
Dear vh1… I have been watching tool academy and its really upseting because I relate to every one of those women on the show my boyfriend is so disrespectful to me and lies constantly! I love him so much but the things that he has done in our relationship puts a huge gap between us. He has cheated on me with 4 girls that I know of and got one pregnant he says he loves me and I really think he does he just really has issues that he needs help with. I mean this man I would give my life for and am asking for ur help for myself my daughter and his Daughter because our kids deserve better in life! I am the type that I could never ask him to not see the child he has made since we have been together so when its born it gonna take a bigger toll on us!! He just needs to see wut he does to other people!! He is so +^`!)_^`(^^~^)$` y thinks the world of himself and is such a jerk to “people” in general!! I’m begging u please help me help him!
Sincerly yours,
Cigi
November 3rd, 2009 at 12:08 am
Dear vh1… I have been watching tool academy and its really upseting because I relate to every one of those women on the show my boyfriend is so disrespectful to me and lies constantly! I love him so much but the things that he has done in our relationship puts a huge gap between us. He has cheated on me with 4 girls that I know of and got one pregnant he says he loves me and I really think he does he just really has issues that he needs help with. I mean this man I would give my life for and am asking for ur help for myself my daughter and his Daughter because our kids deserve better in life! I am the type that I could never ask him to not see the child he has made since we have been together so when its born it gonna take a bigger toll on us!! He just needs to see wut he does to other people!! He is so +%_$)@*#)%%~%_@+ y thinks the world of himself and is such a jerk to “people” in general!! I’m begging u please help me help him!
Sincerly yours,
Cigi
November 3rd, 2009 at 2:37 pm
VH1 i need help with my boyfriend an i beleave you guys can help us with our realationship…we have been together for four years an we have a baby boy we dont have a car we dont have a place of our own we go back an fourth from livin with someone in his family to living back with our parents…an its gettin old already…i beleave tool academy will help him learn how to grow up already…because if he doesnt im leaving..thank you eboni
November 4th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
I really really need to be on your show…. I think my Bf needs to become a man, and stop relying on his “alter-ego” to take the blame for his mistakes and insecurities…. Please I’m begging you. If he doesn’t shape up soon…Im going to have to walk, and I don’t want to, but he needs to learn to appreciate, and love me as much as I love him…. Please Help Me,and our Future!!!! Thanks VH1…Please consider us!!!! I know he can change, he just needs your help!!!
November 4th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
VH1,I am in desperate need of your help… My Bf, is a definitely a tool right now, and its time that he let go of his ” alter-ego” and start taking responsibility for his own actions. He refers to himself as his last name when he does something that is wrong…He didn’t do it, his “alter-ego” did. Im tired of it,and I can’t take it any longer. And if he can’t change…I don’t know what will happen. Its about time for him to appreciate and love me, the way that I love him. His family and my family agree… VH1, you may be the only one that can help me. I know that he can do it, he just can’t do it alone…. Thank you and please consider us!!! VH1 we need you, our future needs you….
November 5th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Hi i wanted to get on the tool acamdey 3 i have watched 1 and 2 and the one show said u were taking casting so really quick me ad my boyfriend Casey Shown have been together for 8 1/2 years and we are 23 yrs old say hight school sweethearts…Casey has got to be the bam to the party he has to be the guy everyone wants to talk to i wish he remeber why we fell in love or be truthful and say you dont any more am tired of wasting my time and feelings i want him to prove himself to me and himself in his world he is right and i watch the stuff u guys do on the show and i want that i just want to be loved again or let him know he is a tool if you could plz help it would mean my world and my heart i just dont know what to do at this point nothing is working but i love him and i want to know that he still loves me