The episode's Jerry plot was considerably altered from writer David Mandel's original concept, in which Jerry and Ramon were shown innocently and mutually developing a friendly acquaintanceship at the health club prior to the downhill slope their relationship takes. Moreover, Mandel wanted Ramon to be a small Hispanic man, intending to find humor in the obvious social mismatch between Jerry and Ramon. Watching a video of playwright/performing artist Danny Hoch, he was impressed with how Hoch did 15 different Hispanic voices; Hoch was cast as Ramon and did the table read for the episode. However, Hoch eventually objected to what he felt was ethnic stereotyping in the way his character was written, and the part was recast. Carlos Jacott gave a more mentally unhinged portrayal of Ramon than was originally planned, so the "Seinfeld" crew decided to focus on that and drop the Hispanic angle. Hoch later incorporated his experience with "Seinfeld" into his act.