Sofia's Choice

The show begins with a scene of Betty desperately trying to get onto the closed set of the live filming of a television show to see Daniel, before being escorted away by guards.

The episode then flashes back to 24 hours earlier at MYW, where Betty, who gets her first assignment from Sofia. She wants Betty to write an article about her experience of being an outsider at MODE. When Betty informs her that she does not feel comfortable doing an article like that yet, Sofia breaks down in tears and tells Betty that she worries that this is where she loses Daniel. She informs Betty this is her chance to make it big and that she needs to get over to MODE and get started on the article. When Betty leaves, Sofia quickly wipes away her fake tears. Betty goes back to MODE to see Marc and gets his feedback about his first impression of her when she came to work at MODE. He frantically cleans the office in preparation for Wilhelmina's return. He shows her a collage that he has on his computer of his favorite pictures of Betty, and Betty threatens to tell everyone about his personal online activities unless he deletes it. Betty goes to Amanda next for her article. Amanda tells her that she originally hated Betty for taking the position she had wanted as Daniel's assistant, but that she has come to envy Betty's carefree ways. Betty then catches Daniel, informs him that Sofia was downstairs crying and urges him to be there for her.

Daniel takes Sofia to his father's house to have dinner with both of his parents. Claire introduces herself as his alcoholic mother and takes Sofia away to see some of Daniel's baby pictures. They finally sit down to dinner and Sofia is shocked to find out that Daniel's brother had died. They begin to talk about her life growing up and she informs them that she was raised in poverty. They later retire to the family room and tell Sofia that sometimes a marriage can be awful, but when bad things happen you realize that you could have never survived it without your partner. As both couples begins to dance, Claire tells Bradford that she does like Sofia, but that she thinks that she is hiding something.

Outside, Betty grabs some lunch from a hotdog vendor. She sees Sofia exit a cab across the street and approach Hunter, her ex-boyfriend who is supposed to be in Europe. Betty hides behind the vendor and spies on Sofia while shoving down her lunch. She sees Sofia put some money in Hunter's shirt pocket and hop back in the cab. Hunter then enters a male strip club, "Boylesque", and Betty runs back to MODE to inform Christina, who suggests she and Betty investigate more since she is a frequent patron of the establishment. They track down Hunter at the club and tip him so that he will talk to them. Betty is startled to find out that Sofia hired him to pose as her fiancé. Betty immediately calls Daniel to tell him the news but before she can get it out, Daniel tells her that he has just proposed to Sofia. He thanks Betty for their talk earlier, while Betty cannot think of anything to say but "congratulations", and hangs up.

The next day at work when Betty approaches Sofia with her morning coffee and confronts her with the information, Sofia informs her that she hired Hunter because she had to keep Daniel on his toes so that she would not end up like the other girls. Sofia grabs her coat and tells her that she and Daniel are announcing their engagement on the air this morning. Betty insists that she will grab her things and head right down, but Sofia instructs her to stay there and finish the article about working at MODE. While on her way back to her desk, Betty notices two of Sofia's team members reviewing her latest article, "Fling to Ring in 60 Days", that has just been sent to press. Betty then grabs the article from them and evades them in the elevator. She is able to see all of the steps that Sofia recommends to get a proposal in 60 days; in her relationship with Daniel in a series of flashbacks of their interactions. Betty rushes over to Christina and tells her that it was all a lie and hands her the article.

Returning to the start of the episode, Sofia and Daniel go live on the air as Betty unsuccessfully attempts to stop them. Sofia tells the morning show hosts all about her new magazine and how got him to propose to her in 60 days. Daniel squirms as Sofia holds up the article and tells the audience that they can do the same thing. Daniel admits that he was not aware that she was doing this, but that they have fallen in love. Sofia turns to Daniel and informs him that he is the one who has fallen in love. She takes the ring off and hands it to Daniel, saying that she has to focus on her work. Backstage, Daniel tells Sofia that he cannot believe she did this to him. She insists that this is how he has treated numerous girls and that she had to do it to get to where she is today. She tells him that for what it is worth, he was so much more than she thought he would be. Daniel leaves the studio in a total state of shock. Betty tries to apologize to Daniel, but he is too stunned to even notice her. Bradford stands by Daniel at his house and offers to fire Sofia, but Daniel insists that the stunt that she pulled will probably get him the biggest launch of any magazine he has ever had.

Sofia enters the office to thunderous applause from all except Betty. Sofia tells Betty that she does believe in her potential and that she sees a lot of herself in her. Betty hands her the article that she has written about working at MODE and tells her that at least the people that work there do not pretend to be what they are not. Betty quits MYW, informing Sofia that she is nothing like her. Amanda greets an unsuspecting Sofia as she gets into the elevator to leave for the day. When the doors close Amanda drops her cunning smile and starts to give Sofia a vicious and brutal beating with her purse as the doors close. Betty then goes to see Daniel at MODE, but Marc quickly informs her that he was last seen at JFK this morning - no one knows where he is.

Meanwhile, Wilhelmina and Ted continue to get closer and progress with their relationship. Ted brings out an obviously different side of her that her employees normally do not see. When Wilhelmina arrives at the office, everyone is shocked to see her in a good mood. She tells Marc that Ted took her shopping at an outlet mall and she was able to shop right alongside fat people. Later, Wilhelmina is thrilled to find a stuffed armadillo that Ted has sent her. Over lunch, she tells Ted that she is now focusing on the important things in life over fashion. Ted informs her that he is carrying around a lot of baggage. She stresses that everyone has baggage, but that they can work through it. Wilhelmina goes to see the mystery woman and tells her that plans sometimes fail and that the attempt to take over MODE may not happen. The unimpressed woman tells Wilhelmina that if she is not with her then she must be against her. Ted later tells Wilhelmina that he talked to his ex-wife and feels that he must try to work things out with her. Though obviously hurt, Wilhelmina tells him that they probably never had a real chance anyway and lets him leave. She then numbs herself and returns to her old attitude. After she returns, Marc tells her that Steve, the private investigator who was working for Bradford but turned out to be a traitor, called, and she goes to answer his message.

Ignacio and his caseworker, Constance Grady, have a falling-out. He tries to get a new case worker but she returns to his home, furious at him for trying to replace her. Hilda suggests to her father that he should try being nice to her and start by getting her a small gift. Ignacio takes this advice; Constance hugs him ecstatically and tells him that she hopes to be seeing a lot more of him. Ignacio sits stunned on the couch as she leaves.

This would be Hayek's last appearance in front of the cameras on Ugly Betty as Sofia. Although there have been rumors circulating that her character would return, producer Horta notes that the door might be open but there are no plans right now.[1] Regardless, Hayek did not make a return appearance on Ugly Betty.

This episode featured Becki Newton in a dual role, playing Amanda and Ruthie. According to Horta, he told TV Guide that Ruthie will return in future shows.[2] However, this was not to be.

Newton also provided the screaming voice of Marc when he sees the armadillo.

In addition, a scene featuring Sofia and Amanda fighting in the elevator and then later exiting afterward was deleted from this outing. The scene was among the deleted outtakes featured in the first season DVD.

The website DudeCruise.com, which Betty mentioned in this episode, is a redirect to the official Ugly Betty website. This would be the first of several "websites" (set up by The Walt Disney Company) featured in the series that actually lead to the show since the websites don't exist. The website mentions again in Secretaries' Day, when Wilhelmina and Marc at the Meade Building stairways, she admits that she was the one who hacks into his computer and canceling his subscription to the website, which angers Marc.

There was a filming error in one scene. When Marc is opening the package containing the Armadillo in front of Wilhelmina, the ribbon on the package appears and disappears between shots.

In the episode, Sofia mentions that Penélope Cruz wants to play her in a movie version of her book. In real life, Hayek and Cruz are best friends and even Cruz has admitted that she would like to guest star on the show one day.

This is the first of the very few episodes where the first act does not end on a close-up of Betty when transitioning to the title sequence. Instead, it ends on a close-up of Sofia.

Mark Indelicato, although credited, was absent from this episode.

In the strip bar scene, the song played in the background is Michael Gray's 2004 Dance hit "The Weekend".

The episode was watched by more than 13.5 million viewers in the United States, its third-highest episode ever.[3]

Alan Dale submitted this episode for consideration in the category of "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series" on his behalf for the 2007 Emmy Awards.[4]

• Judith Light (Claire Meade)
• Salma Hayek (Sofia Reyes)
• Octavia Spencer (Constance Grady)

• Brett Cullen (Ted LeBeau)
• Teddy Sears (Hunter)
• Andi Matheny (Female TV co-host)
• Nolan North (Male TV co-host)
• Lisa K. Wyatt (Woman in wheelchair)
• Kurt David Anderson (Production Assistant)
• Justin Scot (Editorial Assistant)
• Lorin Shapiro (Jersey Bachelorette)
• Blumes Tracy (Male Stripper)