Tara Interview

Golden-haired and rosey-cheeked, twenty-year-old TARA hails from a suburb of Los Angeles. She is majoring in psychology at UCLA, where she is a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority. Tara is fearless (as youll see) but she still insists on sleeping with her teddy bear. She is very open and down-to-earth, but admits she can be a procrastinator. Tara is passionate about equality for all people and has participated in marches and rallies. She is toying with the idea of joining the Peace Corps after graduation

Tara and JJ Web Discuss the Audition Process

JJ Web: Tara, describe your experience of the casting process.
TARA: Well for me, it was totally different than it was for anybody else. Everyone else was already in semifinals - it was like two weeks until they were picking the finalists - and then they did a casting call at my school.
JJ Web: Which is...
TARA: UCLA. And they literally knocked on the door of my sorority and were like, "we're with MTV, we're with ROAD RULES, is anyone interested?" So a bunch of girls in my sorority were like, "all right." So they filled out applications, and my room-mate was like "oh, my room-mate would be perfect for this." She told Michelle (the casting director) that I would be perfect and she brought Michelle my picture. And Michelle told her to bring me down. So I went down and met with Michelle. But I didn't know much about the show. But I just kept going back and I had to talk to them every day because the time they had left was so compacted.
JJ Web: Then Michelle had you interview with the producer and director.
TARA: Right. Clay and Bruce. And that was just total verbal sparring - it was totally fun. I had a great time. I found out later that Anne and Roni were both totally crying and had these really emotional interviews, but for me it was just like, "yeah, what's up," and they would start teasing me and try to get to the real me, and I'd be like "I haven't had a hard life." My parents are still married, I'm very close to my family, there's nothing... I've never had diseases or anything. So it was just a great time. And then I got it.
JJ Web: So you didn't seek it out. The show found you.
TARA: It was just luck - I just fell into it. My room-mate was convinced I was perfect, but then I started getting mad because I was getting my hopes up and all of my friends were going around telling everyone I was picked and I was like "you guys stop it, it's not even the finals yet!" Then I started getting nervous and I thought my friends were jinxing me. And in the end they never did tell me - they just showed up.
JJ Web: So you had no idea - it was a complete surprise?
TARA: Yeah!
JJ Web: You had no clue?!
TARA: Well, I knew something was up because they had to know my where-abouts 24 hours a day for two days. And they wouldn't do that to somebody and then leave them at home and not pick them, because that would really suck. So I didn't pack, because I thought they would make me wait - but they came the first day at eight AM. I had figured I'd wake up and pack, but they woke me up and made me pack right there.
JJ Web: I saw that tape.
TARA: I was really surprised they didn't use that in the show. Like speeded up of me packing like crazy. It was funny.
JJ Web: It was cute. Just like you!