Drake Bell is eliminated earlier on the May 7 episode, leaving Nicole Eggert and Rory Bushfield taking the last dive for the champion title.
- May 8, 2013
AceShowbiz - The bruise and injury were paid off when one "Splash" contestant got hailed as the winner of the inaugural season of the reality show. When the episode started on Tuesday, May 7 night, there were still three celebrities left on the competition, Nicole Eggert, Rory Bushfield and Drake Bell.
Bell was eliminated in the first round after scoring 7s from judges David Boudia and Steve Foley for his inward 1.5. Eggert, who scored 8.5s with a handstand somersault, and Bushfield, who averaged 9.25 with his double-double despite competing with a busted eardrum, made it to the final round.
For the final dive, Eggert opted to do a back double-double off the seven-meter platform, but landed flat on her back. "I need help. I hurt my back," she said after the botched dive, but she managed to walk out of the pool by herself.
Bushfield, meanwhile, did a front 2.5 off the 10m and entered the water head first. It was an impressive dive and the audience, who got to choose the winner, agreed as the majority of them voted for Bushfield.
"I think I'm just inspired by my wife Sarah, looking down," he said of what motivated him during the competition. Bushfield's late wife, freestyle skier and 4-time Winter X Games gold medalist Sarah Burke, died in January 2012 in a ski accident.
