The University News (Irving, Tex.), Vol. 33, No. 2, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 10, 2003 Page: 6 of 11
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6 September 10, 2003 The University News
The University News September 10, 2003 7
Features
un
or
Grad student competes on reality TV
by Jodi Dickens
Features Editor
What would you do for love?
What would you do for money?
What would you do for fun?
Graduate student Melanie
Saldivar had a chance to answer
these questions when she
participated in the reality show
For Love or Money last spring.
"I did it for the experience *'
Saldivar, UD alumna and former
employee in the admissions
office, said.
The premise of the show
involved 15 young, attractive,
single women vying for the heart
of an eligible bachelor, Rob
Campos. They lived in a
mansion, went on romantic dates
with Campos, and generally
appeared to have a good time.
Not surprisingly, however, the
writers also scripted a catch into
the show. While Campos had to
choose one girl with whom to
pursue a relationship, the girl he
chose would then make her own
decision—between love and a
million dollars.
"The chances for meeting my
soul mate on one of these things
was really slim, but I think my
main objective was to have a
good time and make 14
girlfriends;' she said
Such a goal might not seem
lofty to some; but in a house full
of women, it could be quite a
challenge. Fifteen strangers
living in the same house caused
some tension, Saldivar said.
i
Jodi Dickens/University News
Saldivar walks down the
mall after a class in Braniff.
NBC.com/Web
Dallas attorney Rob Campos.
"You have to adhere to certain
rules. You're all vying for the
attention of one guy There is a
million dollars at stake, no TV
or radio. Yeah, there's going to
be some claws and things like
that," she said. "There are some
girls who were sort of drama
queen-ish and were looking for
excuses to make things happen.
Then there were people like me
who just tried to keep it as real
as possible."
Real life, as Saldivar soon
learned, was not to be confused
with what took place in reality
television. The camera was able
to exclude much of the true
surroundings and careful editing
helped each girl fill the
producer's desired image.
"There was definitely a lot of
editing going on," Saldivar said.
"As producers of the show, they
have a character that they want
you to fill and they'll do anything
so that you continue filling that
role."
Some contestants took to these
characters and played them up.
In Saldivar's case, they seized
upon her former engagements
and tried to spin her into a black
widow of sorts.
"I have been engaged a couple
of times and they really wanted
to make it seem like that was my
edge," she said. '"This girl can
get anyone to propose to her, so
watch her win this one.' I guess
that's the angle they were going
for."
Saldivar instead chose to be
herself. After all. she was there
to make friends, not catch a
husband.
"I ended up being the rock on
the show, just trying to keep
everyone levelheaded, like,
'Look, you guys have families to
go back to. Do you really want
to face everyone when you get
back?" That was my biggest
concern," she said.
Perhaps Saldivar was able to
keep such a level head because
she had less invested in the show
than did other contestants.
"I don't think I was getting as
involved as all the girls were. I
knew the minute I met Rob, 'This
isn't going to fly. This isn't
going to work,"' she said.
Once she realized she did not
have any feelings for Campos,
Saldivar said she contemplated
playing the game for money, but
ultimately could not when some
of her new friends expressed a
genuine interest in him.
"Some of the girls told me,
'Melanie, I'm beginning to have
feelings for him.' And as a friend
I took a step back and said,
'Great, hope it works out for
you,"' Saldivar said.
With these decisions behind
her, Saldivar was ready to go
home after the first elimination.
"My only goal on the show
was to stay good friends with the
girls," she said, "and if Rob was
silly enough to keep me on, not
realizing I wasn't interested in
him, then I might have had a
million dollar parting gift."
Saldivar also stood out among
her housemates because she was
not chosen for the show in the
same manner as the other
fourteen girls.
Unlike them, she never sent in
an application, never went to a
casting call, was not among the
pool of 30 thousand applicants.
Instead, Saldivar just
happened to be in the right place
at the right time.
"I was approached by NBC
talent scouts on St. Patrick's Day
out on Greenville," she said.
"They were looking for the
bachelor for this show, who they
eventually found ten feet away
L
1
1
RealayTWisneicom
RealityTVPIanet.com/Web
Melanie Saldivar, a graduate student, and a fellow contestant are shocked to learn that they will have to choose be-
tween Campos and a million dollars on NBC's For Love or Money.
from me, the same day, the same
place."
Before they came across
Campos, however, the scouts
spotted Saldivar and were
immediately interested.
"They said, 'We just think that
our directors have got to see you.
We think they'd want to have
you,"" Saldivar said.
A week and a half after being
discovered by NBC, Saldivar
found herself on a plane to Los
Angeles "not really knowing."
"I'm a student here at UD, so
the opportunity to watch TV,
especially at primetime hours,
never happens, so I didn't really
know reality TV," she said.
Whatever her expectations
might have been, the reality of
reality television left something
to be desired.
"Really, it was more of a game
than reality," Saldivar said.
This feeling was not improved
upon by living sequestered with
the girls in a huge mansion for a
month
"It was gorgeous, considering
it was a $20 million mansion,"
she said.
"We were really only able to
use half of the house. The other
half was for the production staff
and things like that, so we never
went over into the other wing,"
Saldivar said.
Additionally, cameras and
sound booms dominated the
contestant's world both night and
day. The equipment even
interfered with general comfort.
"When you have cable cords
and lighting and all these things
going m and out of all the
windows in the house in April in
Bel-Air, it's kind of chilly."
Saldivar said. "We froze quite a
bit."
Constantly being in front of
the cameras led to other
discomforts as well.
The girls would have to lie out
by the pool in bikinis even
though the weather was cold.
"We had to make it look like
we were having a good time," she
said.
This rule applied to the
elimination segments of the show
as well. The girls had to wear
evening gowns and wait up to
two hours on the stairs while
Campos chose to either keep or
dismiss each contestant.
"We're standing out there in
the freezing cold in these dresses
for a good two hours and you're
just supposed to stand there the
whole time smiling," she said.
Perhaps more obnoxious than
waiting on the stairs was waiting
five hours in their rooms before
the elimination began.
"You can only don and primp
yourself up so much," Saldivar
said "The girls were losing it
up there. We'd have 19 layers of
mascara on by the time we had
to walk outside because we're
just thinking, 'I've got to do
something!"'
Though hair and make-up
artists did not work on the
contestants, they were strongly
encouraged to wear make-up and
fix their hair at all times, Saldivar
said.
"That wasn't 'real' for me to
constantly wear make-up," she
said.
Also, if the wardrobe people
felt a contestant's clothing was
not appropriate for the situation
or event she was attending, they
would provide her with the
necessary items.
"There was only once that
they had to do that with me,"
Saldivar said
In fact, at the conclusion of the
show the girls voted on
superlatives and Saldivar won
"best dressed" and "most
intelligent."
"I thought, 'Who could ask for
anything more?"' she said.
Saldivar, a practicing
Catholic, wore a scapular from
her grandmother every day
during the filming of the show.
"Wearing that huge kelly-
green scapular and keeping my
family in mind, I was just sort of
checking myself all the time,"
she said.
Participating in the show did
not prove particularly trying to
Saldivar as a woman of faith.
Instead, it became an opportunity
to witness to the other girls on
the show.
"It was definitely a once in a
lifetime existential experience
that, being a Catholic female, I
can't help but see as an
opportunity to defend my faith
and be a witness to it as well,"
Saldivar said
"I would never give up the
opportunity that I had to do it,
but I would never do it again,"
she said.
Upon reflection, Saldivar
realizes that the basis of the show
conflicts entirely with her
morals.
"It's against everything I
believe in. I believe in chivalry.
I shouldn't have to come to
anybody; they should come to
me. And the thought of me vying
with my girlfriends for one
person, that would never
happen," Saldivar said.
"I think I was kind of thrown
under the bus," she said. "I just
ended up there going, 'Is that
what these reality shows are
about? I had no idea!"'
Saldivar was eliminated in the
second show but was unable to
return home until the show was
finished filming.
Thus, the eliminated girls
were checked into a spa in San
Diego under fake names and
were given credit cards issued
under these names.
The luxury of the spa lead
some girls to joke that they might
not have tried so hard if they'd
known about it sooner, Saldivar
said.
When she finally returned
home to Chicago, her family
didn't quite know how to treat
her.
"I got back in the beginning
of May, and the show didn 't air
until the beginning of June, so
there was an entire month where
my family didn't know how to
feel," she said.
"I wasn't allowed by contract
to talk about the show, and I think
my family was sort of on pins
and needles thinking, 'Oh God,
did she win? And if she won,
what did she do to win?"' she
said.
When the show finally aired,
Saldivar said her family was
relieved to see how well she had
handled herself.
"It was, 'Oh Mel, we're so
proud of you' and my
grandmother calling me saying,
'You know Melanie, you really
are a child of God,'" Saldivar
said.
Coming back to UD, after the
glittering lights of Hollywood
was challenging for Saldivar.
"That's the reality check. I'm
completely throwing myself into
being a student," she said. "It's
grounding me, that's for sure,
and I love it."
"I feel sorry for the girls who
didn't have something like this
to come back to " Saldivar said,
"and are still out there thinking
that this is going to lead them to
something huge, because it may
or may not."
As for Saldivar, she has
already seen changes in her own
life. She now has people stop her
on the street to ask for autographs
and her stint in reality television
has opened other doors in
Hollywood
"I was out in LA doing
another show; and when I came
back to campus, of course
everyone kind of lifted an
eyebrow. When I'm out in
Dallas, people sort of recognize
me," she said.
People of all ages come up to
Saldivar now and ask for
autographs.
"My cousins were like, 'Can
we get autographs from you and
sell them to all our friends?"'
Saldivar said.
Though she may later pursue
the entertainment industry
further, for now Saldivar is
content to finish her graduate
work at UD in this, her final
semester.
"The only thing I know I
really want to do is get my
master's in psychology," she
said. "Now, I'm finishing up
what I started."
s
Jodi Dickens/Uriiversiy News
Saldivar studies psychology in Braniff foyer. She is com-
pleting her masters degree in phenomenological existen-
tialism.
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Kuckelman, Meghan. The University News (Irving, Tex.), Vol. 33, No. 2, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 10, 2003, newspaper, September 10, 2003; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth201376/m1/6/: accessed June 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Dallas.