Michael (Sugar Daddy) Bernadino

"Yo, girl, you got huge! I tell you, that rack is fiiine!" are Sugar's first words, and his way of sweet-talking Nicole into a date. She decides to go vomit instead. Crass he may be but he's not without his uses: for example, he's the only one in the popular group who knows who Sam is. In answer to Brooke's question: "Who is she anyway?" he replies: "Who, Sam McPherson? Yo, homegirl sits beside me in Algebra. Your SD is gonna be peepin' on some paper and passin' this year, yo."

Strangely for a rapper who enjoys public performances Sugar is disappointed when he finds out that his best friend has auditioned for the school musical in secret.

"Are you gay?" he asks Josh, not that this is a problem, it's the lack of honesty and loss of popularity that concerns him. He points out that without Josh he's nothing, that he's popular only by association. Josh says, "Everybody loves you, man. You're the life of the party." Sugar disagrees. "Dude, everybody loves me 'cause I'm with you. You're the party."

But he's partnered with Mary Cherry in Bio and later escorts her to the phat bash where Nicole pushes in and he gets to take Poppy home, so things aren't too bad then.

We later learn that he's a sensitive soul who likes to cry when watching A Bug's Life.

He's also upset when he discovers Josh has been lying to him again, about his sex life this time, but then Josh is not best pleased when Sugar cheats on the bio mid-term.

He has an on-line relationship with a slim blonde cheerleader who turns out to be Carmen who has been similarly misled by his decriptions of himself. Carmen explains this next day after standing him up, they both realise they've been foolish and agree to remain net-friends.

He's easily led, especially by agressive females, which is why he assists Mary Cherry and Nicole kidnap Gwyneth Paltrow's personal shopper, who, it turns out, isn't.

He's dropped from the wresting team when no opponents can be found in his weight class. He's upset by the news and Brooke comforts him (an interesting sight) after he blows up during Emory's trial and admits to everything.

He then uses the 'mummy' system to lose weight and solve his problems, but to no avail, and it doesn't work for Josh either, who ends up dehydrated.

He goes to sensitivity camp with the others for dissing Lily. His bulk makes things very difficult physically, but he is not seen to be challenged about his attitudes as the others are and the 'hazing' of Emory is never mentioned.

He falls for Exquisite Woo who choses him over Josh, but gets jealous of the newly blond Harrison when it looks like he's moving in on his girl. It all works out at the bowling contest when she is finally able to tell him how she feels in English. He then goes on to win the contest for the popular set.

He's keen to visit the strip club. "I'm a horny teenage boy. I have needs!" But as Troy, the doorman, has known him since he was twelve, no fake ID is going to work here. Strange then he thought he could get in because he knew the doorman.

In his junior year he puts his name along with Exquisite's on the forever tree (an example followed by Josh re Brooke), and helps Lily to save it from Ms Glass' chainsaw (as does Josh) until Calvin Krupps threatens to drop him from the football team. He later returns to the tree with Exquisite but the tree is felled anyway.

He personalises his pretend baby to look like him (he went blond in the summer break) and seems to be a good father. At this time it is he who has to tell Josh that Brooke is leaving town as she won't.

He has a thing about lips and eventually takes possession of Mary Cherry's 'frankenteen' lips (in a plastic bag - ugh!) after helping in Nicole's scheme to blackmail Calvin Krupps. Like MC, he drops Nicole in it when pressured by threats of suspension. He also fails to back Josh when he tries to organise the football team against George. Interesting to see that his devotion to Josh is not entirely blind.

He is matched with Sam in the chemistry pairing experiment but they have nothing in common and that is that for this combo.

He drives the limo for Hellacious when she schemes with Nicole and MC to do down Carmen. Not nice when he is supposed to be her friend.

He's bigger than ever when he asks Brooke about her eating disorder clinic. He joins as a volunteer and Brooke soon joins him at Mike's insistence after a relapse. She tries to help him romance a fellow patient, Ashley#1, after humiliating him at lunch, but he doesn't pursue it, as he reasons he has to solve his own problems first. He can also see how Brooke has psychologically surrounded herself with 'glass bricks'. This perception allows him to leave the clinic first, but without any obvious signs of slimness.

He reveals he has had protected sex with Exquisite during summer break (she also demanded STD tests) and is therefore able to tease Harrison (whom he often addresses as Scrub) about his virginity, but it is he who suggests the gift of a prostitute to solve the problem.

When Lily monopolises Josh's time he feels left out. He then spends a lot of time with George and his new PS2. A clearly jealous Josh warns George off. An indignant George proves his friendship is genuine by telling Josh that Sugar's favourite team is the Tennessee Titans, his favourite Halliwell sister is Prue, he says he likes Rap but really prefers Dance/Pop. But then George feels pressured by Sugar's demands and backs off allowing Josh to make up with Sugar.

"Yo, Shug, I know I took you for granted, and it wasn't right and I'm really sorry. I've missed you. I've missed myself. I just got so wrapped up with Lily that I lost sight of who I was. And I'm only sorry that it took George making me jealous to realise how important you are to me. I don't like vocabulary, Shug. I like video games and chicken and football and you. You're my best friend, man. Your friendship gives me dimension, and you, well, you complete me, SD." By now Sugar is in tears. "Just shut up, you had me at 'Yo'."

He is again discriminated against by virtue of his size when applying for a job at the swanky l'hotel. This comes out when he joins Lily's support group, having backed up Josh against homophobic slurs and realising discrimination comes in many forms.

However, he defends Mary Cherry against Big Bertha for money not idealism and quickly gives up when given a pounding with Bertha's brass knuckles.

The genial giant then quietly fades into the background as the series comes to a conclusion.


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