Joe Millionaire Part One

What fun facts about yourself do you have in your party hat? Are you allergic to shell fish? Do you have a scuba diving certification? Or were you on the most watched reality show of all time? That’s usually my go to. The reality show fun fact. I was on Joe Millionaire and 20 some years later I’m finally not embarrassed about it. Enough time has passed now, people don’t really remember all the stupid stuff I said. Do you remember that show? 20 women out for one bachelor who they thought was rich but in reality he was a “construction worker”. Here is the big trailer for Joe Millionaire:

How can you possibly cover all the juicy details of being on a reality show in one blog post?! You can't, so I am going to do this in 3 parts.

Part One: How Did you Get on That Show?!

Back in my younger years I was in hot pursuit of an acting gig. I had been modeling and working with some local talent agencies in town and I got a call for an audition. The agent called and knew very little about the show. She said it was a dating show. At the time the only dating shows on TV were Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire and The Bachelor. I remember specifically telling her I didn't want to go on Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire and get married on TV. She said she didn't think it would be like that and I should picture "Barbie in Europe". As soon as I heard the show was filming in Europe, I was in.

I remember going to the casting and there was a line of young men and women my age. When I sat down to be interviewed on camera, I knew I needed to be outrageous. My interview felt like a mini stand up comedy routine. When I left there I called my mom and told her I was 99 percent sure I got the show. 48 hours later I was on a flight to LA for another interview. Once in LA I was brought to the production company studios to meet the producers and asked to complete a 4 hour psych test. Not long after my return, they mailed me a 20 some page contract and asked me to be on the show. We were not told the name of the show or the exact filming location. We knew the network would be FOX. I was very intimidated by this contract. After all, you basically are signing away all of your rights. I was taking an acting class at the time and connected with a casting agent in town. She referred me to an entertainment lawyer. He so kindly looked it over and gave me the advice: There is no way as your attorney I can advise you to sign something like this. You basically have zero rights. What does that mean? Well of course you have no rights to editing, to any money made from the show but furthermore you will have no access to the outside world while filming. No radio, tv or phone. The list went on and on. He said it's a horrible contract, but the flip side of being on a National TV Show should be weighed. I had big decision to make. I had a deep feeling in the pit of my stomach that I was going to be taking a huge risk. I voiced my concern with Sarah Jane my acting coach. I told her that I wasn't sure I wanted to be on a show that would be portraying women poorly. She said then don't do this show, you have no idea what the show is really about. My intuition was trying to tell me something. It was trying to warn me. I didn't listen. And I signed on the dotted line. I was ready to go to Europe! I thought then, wow a free trip to Europe. I know now, nothing is free.

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Joe Millionaire Fun Facts!

1. The show wasn’t real. We knew he wasn’t a millionaire, we just didn’t know we were being made to look like gold diggers.

2. No we didn’t get paid to be on the show. When I returned from France after shooting I had 13 dollars in my checking account

3. No, I didn’t really like him. Like him? I think I saw him a total of 5 times. I really did love being in France shooting the show.

4. We were there for one month. We were very restricted and couldn’t go site seeing and so I returned to Paris on my own.

5. No I do not keep in touch with any of the woman.