Figgins (Iqbal Theba), football coach Shannon Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones), cheerleader Becky Jackson (Lauren Potter), rival glee club member Sugar Motta (Vanessa Lengies), and exchange student Rory Flanagan (McGinty). Reception Ratings "Mash Off" was first broadcast on November 15, 2011, in the United States on Fox. It received a 3.0/8 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic, and attracted 7.08 million American viewers during its initial airing, which tied with "Pot o' Gold" for the lowest rating of the third season. While the show's viewership was up slightly from the 6.91 million viewers for the previous episode, "The First Time", which was broadcast on November 8, 2011, the rating in the 18–49 demographic decreased slightly from the 3.1/8 rating/share received by that episode. Viewership was also up slightly in Australia, but decreased in Canada and hit a season low in the United Kingdom, where "Mash Off" was watched on Sky1 by 900,000 viewers, down over 7% compared to "The First Time" the previous week, when 973,000 viewers were watching. In Australia, "Mash Off" was watched by 683,000 viewers, which made Glee the fourteenth most-watched program of the night for the second week in a row. The viewership was up slightly from the previous episode, which was seen by 660,000 viewers. In Canada, viewership was down slightly and 1.64 million viewers watched the episode, which made it the eighteenth most-viewed show of the week, down three slots but only 20,000 viewers from the 1.66 million viewers who watched "The First Time" the week before. Critical response Television critics were more favorable than not in their response to "Mash Off". Erica Futterman of Rolling Stone felt that the series returned to form in the episode, and commented: "We've said it before and we'll say it again: we like our Glee with just enough ridiculousness, and this week had it." Entertainment Weekly journalist Abby West noted that she loved the fact that it "was a bullying episode that snuck up on us". Raymund Flandez of The Wall Street Journal opined that "Mash Off" was one of the best installments of Glee, and cited the episode's storylines as highlights: "The mash-up episodes every season can be hit or miss, but this year was perfected to the nth degree." Amy Reiter of the Los Angeles Times wrote that there was plenty of "airy fun to be found" in "Mash Off", but added that "underneath all the silly