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From the NY Post, a couple of things that now seem contradictory.
Alison claims she didn't know about the money until she got to France, but I have to balance that against the casting call sheets that clearly mention money. Perhaps it is the amount of money that was a mystery?
Easy to talk about after the fact, and just prior to the show airing, but it appears that she suspected something...
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OUTFOXED LADIES
By MONICA KHEMSUROV
January 5, 2003 --
Tomorrow night, the world will tune in to catch the latest see-love-bloom-on-camera reality show: "Joe Millionaire" on Fox.
But one New Yorker will be watching with trepidation.
Alison, a 28-year-old graphics specialist and part-time actress, was whisked from the city last year - along with 19 other lucky ladies - to a chateau in France to be wooed by Evan Marriott.
Marriott, a k a Joe Millionaire, was supposed to be every girl's dream: 28, 6-foot-plus and a part-time model who had caught the eye of photographer Bruce Weber.
But Alison soon learned there was a twist. "I didn't find out about the $50 million until we were already in France," she said, referring to the show's premise that the ladies would be under the mistaken impression that the man they're fighting over had just inherited a pile of dough.
In fact, Marriott is an L.A. construction worker pulling in $19,000 a year.
Alison said she merely thought the trip and the manhunt sounded fun.
Last year, "My friend sent me an e-mail about a casting-call party," she said. "All it said was ‘Looking for true love in an exotic locale?' They were fun, upbeat and looking for smart people who were adventurous. I'm all those things. I thought it would be an experience, in terms of meeting people, traveling and getting used to being in front of a camera."
And she said she was overdue to fall in love. "If I can find love at all, why not on a TV show?"
After the $50 million twist came to light, she said she was suspicious - and became a little on-guard. "The gold-digging thing - something I perceived as soon as they announced the $50 million - it turned me off.
"Money doesn't play a role in whom I choose to date," she added, "though I've never dated a construction worker - certainly not one who made $19,000. That's a difficult type of person to meet in New York."
So she hung in there. "The [$50 million] story sounded kind of far-fetched and hokey, but I put that aside and tried to judge Evan solely on personality and whether we could make a connection."
The show's executive producer, Jean-Michel Michenaud, said Alison can rest easy. "Making fun of the girls is certainly not the goal. I don't think [the show] necessarily leads you to snicker. The show takes a fairy-tale premise - a prince-and-pauper kind of thing - and says, ‘What if you put that in the real world, how do these things really end?'"
While she won't reveal anything juicy either, Alison will say she's still in touch with co-stars.
"Having done it, I probably wouldn't do it again, but I'm still in touch with all the women from the show. They're a great bunch, no matter how we come across in the end."
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