THE BATTALION
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The Battalion Page 3A • Fhursday, October 2. 2003
Around the world
A&M senior Mary Beth Decker’s takes on MTV’s “Road Rules: South Pacific”
By Lauren Smith
THE BATTALION
John Livas • THE BATTALION
Mary Beth Decker, a senior agricultural journalism major and cast member of "Road Rules: South Pacific," hangs out at The Tap, where she bartends at night.
When she arrived at Shadow Canyon for MTV’s “Road
Rules/Real Word” auditions, Mary Beth Decker was number 700
inline, so she did what any bartender in a hurry would do: she
walked right up to the front of the two hour line, telling everyone
who was waiting that she worked at Shadow Canyon bar.
Whoever said cheaters never win was mistaken, because of the
35,000 coeds who flooded auditions across the country for MTV’s
Real World/Road Rules auditions, Decker was selected. After an
intense interview process. Decker, a senior agricultural journalism
major, went from bartending at The Tap in College Station to sit
ting on a flight headed for “Road Rules: South Pacific.”
When Decker decided to attend the RR/RW auditions at Shadow
Canyon, she saw the show as “an excuse to take a break from reali
ty,” no pun intended.
“I wanted to get away,” Decker said. “Life is short, and I am all
about the now since I am pretty spontaneous. I am always looking to
dosomething different because I get bored really easily.”
The first stage of the interview process is all luck because you
just sit at a round table giving your opinion on everything from
gun control to interracial relationships. Decker said.
“It worked really well for me because I have something to say
about everything,” she said.
Decker was the single person from her group of 20 at the round
table who was asked to stay and fill out an eight-page application
that took four-and-a-half hours to complete.
“It was open bar, so that was nice,” Decker said. “1 guess they
dothatsoyou will be open and really honest on the application.”
After receiving a call from MTV that same night, she began a
series of videotaped interviews.
“They would call me at night and want a video tape the next
day,” Decker said. “I am pretty sure that I spent $250 on making
tapes and missed two tests throughout the process.”
Two short weeks and one phone call later, it became clear that
she would not be registering for next semester courses because
she was headed for the South Pacific to meet her fellow cast
members.
“You sign a contract saying you will do either Road Rules or
Real World and when I got called, I thought 1 was going to Paris
for Real World,” Decker said. “I remember getting really scared
aboutJlie ifaii of Road Rules because I knew I would be faced
witbmy.biggest fears.”.
The six cast members of “Road Rules” live in a Winnebago with
three cameramen, one sound technician and one microphone tech
nician who are constantly present for the 10 weeks the show filmed
in Fiji, New Zealand and Australia.
“At first, the cameras were so overwhelming because they are
inches from your face all of the time,” Decker said. “You get used to
them by the third day, and I cannot imagine living being worried
about them because that would be miserable.”
Every cast member had to have his microphones on at all times,
from the time the first person woke up until the last went to bed.
“If you are in the middle of a conversation and a battery goes dead,
the mic guy would come up behind you, lift your shirt up and put a
new battery in,” Decker said. “You felt almost like a human robot.”
One of the more awkward situations Decker encountered in front of
the cameras was being out at a club and having cameras on her. The cast,
however, did not get to reap any special benefits from its MTV affiliation.
“When you are in Fiji, you cannot say ‘we are with MTV — hook
it up’ because they do not know what it is ” Decker said.
There was not much frivolous spending for the cast because they
were on a budget of 15 American dollars per day, although they would
occasionally trade a meal for a night of drinking on the town. Keeping
in touch with loved ones was also virtually impossible because they
each had only 10 minutes of cell phone time per week.
Many speculate on whether the drama on reality television shows is
real or just crafted through editing and encouragement by produc
ers. This reality star said all the drama on this past season’s “Road
Rules” was natural and completely self-created.
See Decker on page 4A
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