Reality Flashback: “The Voice’s” Erin Martin on “Rock Of Love 2″

I knew Erin Martin, perhaps the most controversial contestant of "The Voice" Season 2, looked familiar! It's because "The Voice" is not her first go-'round on reality TV. Four years ago, before she was using her feminine wiles and thigh-high boots to seduce her "Voice" coach, Cee Lo Green, she was attempting to charm Bret Michaels on VH1's "Rock Of Love 2." (Surely her "Voice" Battle Rounds rivals, hair-rockers the Shields Brothers, would be at least mildly impressed by this.)

Yes, Erin, despite her lack of blonde Barbie hair extensions, trout pout, or DDD-cup breasts, made a fantastic initial impression on Bret back in 2008. In fact, along with three of "ROL2's" frontrunners--Daisy De La Hoya, Megan Hauserman, and Destiney Moore--she received a coveted "VIP Pass" from Bret's roadie, Big John (basically the "Rock Of Love" equivalent of getting "The Bachelor's" first-impression rose). But when Erin got her one-on-one (cue Peyton voice) facetime! with Bret, she babbled on and on about her MySpace page (hey, this was 2008) and her killer HTML coding skills. This of course bored the short-attention-spanned Bret, the man behind "Unskinny Bop," "Talk Dirty To Me," and "I Want Action," who was accustomed to being wooed with lapdances, tequila shots, and ill-advised neck tattoos of his name in olde-English font. And so, Erin (admittedly the most naturally attractive, least freaky-deaky-looking girl in the house) was eliminated on "ROL2's" very first episode. She did not get to stay in that house and rock Bret's world after all.

"Bret, I'm completely confused and blown away by your decision, and I think a lot of people feel the same way. I think that America is going to think that you made the wrong decision," Erin said in her "Rock Of Love" exit interview. Erin left "ROL2" with dignity, but ironically, I bet a lot of "Voice" viewers were uttering similar words of disbelief on the night that Erin survived "The Voice's" Battle Rounds (only inserting the name "Cee Lo" in that sentence instead of "Bret"). But apparently Erin rocks Cee Lo's world--he did once slobberingly call her "a wonderful creature of a woman"--in a way that Bret never could appreciate. I'm sure that Cee Lo and Erin are already MySpace friends, if they are in fact still on MySpace. And hey, maybe Cee Lo will have Erin cover "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" on the live "Voice" shows!

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