That time I was on MTV’s ‘Road Rules’ and it changed my life
When I was nineteen I submitted an application to MTV to be on a reality show. And was ECSTATIC when I got cast.
Their show Road Rules (remember that?), a travel version spin off of Real World, was currently filming its tenth season and looking to pick six individuals to take part in a blind date mission with the regular cast members. They narrowed a casting pool of 17,000 applicants down to me and five others and flew us to Spain for five days.
To this day it still stands as one of the greatest adventures of my life. And not just because MTV was the “cool” network I grew up with or that it was my first time traveling out of the country with complete strangers. I was in college and still discovering myself at the time and this trip served as a means for me to learn so many things about myself and about life that I previously had not realized. Here are some of the takeaways I learned from my big TV adventure.
I learned that reality shows are not totally real
I know, duh right? But when I was nineteen, I had no idea! I was an avid Real World viewer back then and I was positive I was watching absolute truth unfolding before my eyes. I believed everything I was seeing was happening naturally and in chronological order. A few of the times I was on camera for Road Rules one of the producers prompted me with questions to answer and it hit me that if aired it would look like I was simply volunteering certain information of my own accord in the confessional style for which reality shows are known. So sneaky, you guys! Still, all they really got out of me was “I’m so excited to be here!”
I overcame my biggest fear at the time
My whole life I have had a fear of flying. When MTV officially gave me the news that I had been cast, I learned I would have to fly to Spain to participate. I had yet to ever step foot on an airplane at that time. My excitement about being on the show carried me through the process of agreeing to go and getting an expedited passport. But then it was go time. Shakily. I boarded my first ever flight, alone no less, gripping the armrests with white knuckles for over six hours and trying my best not to cry. Landing in Madrid by myself was a moment I will always remember. As the plane coasted down the runway into the arrival gate, I took my first easy breath in days and felt an immense sense of pride that I had taken such a huge leap to conquer my most debilitating fear.
I made a life decision without my parents
When I explained to my parents what I was doing and where I was going, they seemed thrilled I was getting this opportunity to travel. When I arrived in Spain feeling like a grown-up, I discovered that the entire crew of the show knew of me as the girl whose father had called the president of MTV to make sure my whole trip was legitimate. Road Rules was an actual show and I wasn’t being kidnapped to be sold in a foreign country. Thanks Dad.
I figured out what constituted my perfect blind date
During the casting process and even after, I repeatedly had to describe my perfect date—from the activities to the type person I’d be attracted to. This information was used to match me with a regular cast member and compile a dating profile to be given to him before meeting me. His name was Adam and aside from being a few minutes late picking me up, he did everything I could have possibly wanted. He came to my door with a teddy bear, took me to a romantic restaurant with incredible food, then on a walk along the Mediterranean. We laughed a lot, he was totally cool with me being crazy nervous and while bonding over a love for the movie Top Gun we jokingly discussed how we might even be compatible enough to get married.
I learned to laugh at myself
During my torturous adolescent years, jokes at my expense were always mean-spirited or just outright nasty, said under the guise of “I’m just kidding.” As a result, this made me reluctant for years to do or say anything that could leave me open to any kind of commentary. When my Road Rules episode aired, some of the clips made me look kind of silly and I found myself unexpectedly laughing at the ridiculous things coming out of my mouth instead of being embarrassed. And I realized that I now had the confidence to laugh at myself, so there was no need to be uptight about what other people would think or say about my two minutes of fame—or anything else in my life. Supposedly even The Soup one of the funniest shows on television ever, weighed in on one of my scenes in the show. If they think I did or said something worth highlighting in the weekly roundup, I can be proud that I was absurd enough to be deemed hilarious.
I will always be grateful to MTV for the life altering opportunity they gave me. The casting process, being chosen out of thousands of applicants and then the five days in Spain all helped me grow up in ways I wouldn’t have imagined. Getting on a plane when I was terrified, going on a blind date in a foreign country, allowing it all to be caught on camera? These were all things that were not in line with my play-it-safe mentality at the time. But I wouldn’t be the person I am today without having taken the chance of filling out that application on a whim. Sometimes what feels like the silliest, most meaningless decision can end up changing your life and helping you learn who you really are.
(Images via author, MTV)
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