HANNA CHU
A&E Editor
Freshman Justin Brown was walking around in Westwood when a MTV representative approached him about auditioning for “Next.”
He gave Brown a card and told him he’d call the next day. Brown went in to the MTV offices in Santa Monica a couple weeks laters.
Although Brown was not on the show because of scheduling conflicts, he went through the auditioning process to be on “Next,” a show that allows a person to bail on a date by saying “Next” and pits five strangers against each other to win the date.
“It’s not going to win Emmys or anything, but if you’re watching, it’s funny,” he said.
MTV watchers will never know how the outrageous and sometimes ridiculous people on dating reality shows end up on screen. However, several students on campus who have had experience with reality shows offer insight into the shows.
Brown said the audition was with a casting director asking basic questions.
“They asked who you are, what type of girls you like, turn ons,” he said.
Some other questions Brown said he was asked were “What’s the furthest you’d ever go on a first date” and “Let’s see what you have,” referring to his stomach, which Brown said he didn’t have a problem showing.
“I think they’re looking for good-
looking guys that are in shape,” he said.
Kelia Tardiff, who works for MTV in the Series Entertainment department, said the recruiters generally look for
“TV-friendly, outgoing, and all-American” individuals.
Senior Veronica Scala said her audition for “Next” included some physical aspects as well during the interview.
“We had to say these lines in front of the camera, and we had to end it with ‘and this is my ass’ and turn around,” she said.
Scala also said the casting director gave the girls the option of flashing the camera at one point in the interview, which she did not take.
Although Scala did not flash the
camera or use any other vulgar approach to get on TV, she was called back to not only be on “Next,” but she was the main dater who would date the five hopeful guys.
Scala said she chose the third date, mostly because she wanted to go home.
While dating reality shows are publicized to be real people going on real dates with strangers, senior Kristine Sward, who was on the MTV show “Dismissed,” said “they had something pictured in their mind, and they wanted to get that.”
The public may think that the dates on air are filmed without any interruptions, Sward said she knows otherwise.
“We did a couple takes of everything. They didn’t just let the camera roll. They were like ‘Try doing this,’” she said.
“Dismissed” is another dating reality show that has one girl on a date with two guys, or vice versa, and by the end of the date, one of the two dates gets dismissed.
Sward had the opportunity to be on the show when MTV recruiters on campus approached her and her friend about being on a sorority special of the show.
“We thought it’d be exciting because we had just joined our
sorority,” she said.
Sward and her friend Ana Sanchez-Navarro went down to the offices in Santa Monica for an interview, a couple weeks later, MTV picked them up on campus to take them to their date.
“It was funny because they offered us each $100, which is nothing because we were there from like 10 a.m. to 1 a.m.,” Sward said.
Sward’s experience involved more manipulation on the part of the filming staff, who offered to throw in $50 if she kissed the guy when she won the date.
“I was like ‘No, I don’t kiss on the first date, especially on TV,’” she said.
However, Sward said the staff continued to pressure her to kiss the guy.
“That’s what the audience wants to see, so they’ll try to push it in that direction,” Sward said.
With so many reality shows on air, the public always ponders how real the shows are.
Tardiff said the shows are 80 percent reality, but the players on the show are the more valid judges of reality shows.
Sward said she and her friend had fun with their situation.
“We just giggled and laughed about it. We tried to keep it clean because we were representing Pepperdine and our sorority,” Sward said.
04-06-2006
