“True Beauty” will premiere on MONDAY, MAY 31 (10:02-11:00 p.m., ET) on ABC, following the regular time period premiere of “The Bachelorette”.
Executive producers Tyra Banks (“The Tyra Banks Show,” “America’s Next Top Model”) and Ashton Kutcher (executive producer of “Punk’d” and “Beauty and the Geek”) team up again to put their spin on beauty in Sin City. Five gorgeous females and five hot men will live together at Planet Hollywood Hotel while they compete (they think) to become the “Face of Vegas.” Unbeknownst to them, they’ll be deliberately challenged by moral situations to see if they really are kind, generous and compassionate and have what it takes to be truly beautiful inside and out.
The women contestants are Amy Schmoldt, a 22-year-old bartender from New Brunswick, New Jersey; Erika Othen, a 25-year-old singer/cocktail waitress from Long Island, New York; Liz Parada, a 31-year-old model from Hollywood, Florida; Michelle Mozek, a 21-year-old dancer from Dallas, Texas; and Regina Villano, a 22-year-old teen pageant queen from Tabernacle, New Jersey. The men are Craig Francyzk, a 29-year-old retail manager from Winnipeg, Canada; David Palmer, a 24-year-old DJ/astrologer from Huntington Beach, California; JD Scott a 26-year-old real estate agent from Los Angeles, California; Michael Allen, a 25-year-old actor/model from Miami, Florida; and Taylor Bills, a 24-year-old former professional athlete from Irvine, California.
The attractive contestants assume they’re being judged solely on their physical attributes when, in fact, the episodes will showcase two sides of each person, one that displays outer beauty as well as one that exhibits inner beauty. One person will be eliminated each week based on their behavior and how well they ranked in each challenge, as they’re evaluated and critiqued by the judges. At the end of eight episodes, one winner will be declared who has successfully demonstrated both inner and outer beauty. That winner will receive a $100,000 cash prize and a feature article in People magazine.
The Buffalo Jills Adult Comedy Show was last Saturday and at the end of the post our good friend Phil from the Buffalo Pro Cheer Blog has links to all the fun.
Phil wasn’t the only Cheerleader Photographer on hand. Pro Bowl Dan (pictured here with 4 Jills) made the trip up from Maryland and he shared a few photos from the night with us.
[Phil’s Full Report and Video]
Hey, haven’t we seen this before?
by Katie Engelhart
Macleans
It happened on February 3rd, during the half-time show of the Toronto Raptors vs. New Jersey Nets game. One moment, the inflatable Toronto Raptor is bopping along beside an especially spirited Dance Pak cheerleader. The next moment, that same exuberant blonde is swallowed whole.
“The Raptor. Having some fun with the cheerleaders,” narrates the announcer. “Wow. Devoured! That’s… that’s wrong!
Video footage of the incident—dubbed “Raptor devours cheerleader”—has since gone viral, with close to 3 million views on YouTube, hundreds of blog links, and tributes on a host of daily news networks.
It has also been played under a number of titles, though the understanding is never lost: “Maskot slukte cheerleader,” (Norway’s TV2underholdning),“Toronto Raptors mascotte eet cheerleader,” (Holland’s VKMag.com),“Maskottchen fristt Cheerleader auf,” (Germany’s RP Online), “Un ‘raptor,’ engullidor de cheerleaders” (Spain’s Eurosport).
Some have taken creative license with the footage, speculating about the Raptor’s new taste for human meat. “Did she taste like chicken?” pondered letroxxx in a comment on YouTube. “Is that Tiger Woods in there?” wondered Samoancanadian.
Others have debated the significance of the stunt. One blogger pointed out the skit was performed on Charles Darwin Day: “The important thing,” he wrote, “is that it demonstrates the concept of natural selection and survival of the fittest.” [Actually, Darwin Day is on February 12th.]
Most recently, a more sophisticated version of the stunt was attempted. Sarah C. (she wasn’t able to give me her last name, as per Raptors Dance Pak rules) was the dancer involved. She wouldn’t tell me what it was like inside the Raptor’s mouth—“we like to keep how we do the move a little bit of a secret”—but she says it all went according to plan: “[The Raptor] ate me and then spit out a man [who was also inside the costume.] The Dance Pak wanted him to give me back, so he spit me out, too.”
Weeks later, the Toronto Raptors franchise is still fielding media calls. “We’re totally surprised,” Anton Wright, manager of game operations for the team, told Maclean’s, noting that this is the most attention the Raptor has ever generated. For Wright, the stunt speaks for itself: “When you see [the Raptor] chomping on a dancer, fans and people on the opposite team are like: what’s going on? It’s pretty fun.”
Still, the stunt’s inherent entertainment factor does not exactly hold up as an explanation of the YouTube sensation. For one, there’s the simple fact that our darlingist dinosaur has tasted fresh cheerleader before. Here, for instance, the Raptor enjoys a spunky University of Buffalo cheerleader with a ponytail.
That, and the fact that the Houston Rocket’s mascot Clutch (a bear) has been cheerleader-devouring for years. In fact, Clutch was the first professional mascot to own a costume with cheerleader-devouring capabilities.
The Toronto Raptors do not allow the Raptor himself to be interviewed, but I caught up with Robert Boudwin, a.k.a. Clutch, this week.
“We do [the trick] about five or six times a year at Rockets games. And then I do it on the road,” Boudwin told me. “We’ve done that bit probably about 60 or 70 times now…And we’ve done it with countless cheerleaders.”
The first person Clutch ate, in fact, was not a cheerleader, but a child dressed up in the opposing team’s jersey. Since then, he’s unveiled some creative variations on the theme. “We’ve done it with PA announcers…. The PA announcer is talking on the mic and we eat her and then she continues to talk from the inside of the costume: ‘Hey, let me out of here. It’s dark in here. Oooh, God. What did you eat?’”
It works pretty simply, Boudwin tells me. Inside the costume, Boudwin wears a power belt with a battery and fan that is constantly sucking in air from the outside. The mouth has a trap door built into it, sealed with a thick piece of Velcro. From inside, Boudwin unlatches the Velcro, throws the mouth over the child/cheerleader, lifts the child/cheerleader onto his shoulder, and then seals the mouth before too much air is released.
I tell him that’s an impressive feat for an aging bear. (Boudwin has been Clutch for 15 years now). “Nah, they’re only 50 pounds for kids,” he laughs. “One hundred pounds for the girls. It’s not like you’re picking up a 200-pound man.” [Though Boudwin admits he’s done that, too.]
So is the T.Rap just a sorry copycat? In fact, it’s more accurate to say that Clutch and the Raptor have a special friendship: a bond that has placed them at the forefront of mascot innovation.
It all goes back 15 years. Boudwin was, by then, an expert in his field. As an undergrad, he started the mascot program at the University of Delaware, later moving to Houston after a successful audition for the part of Clutch. In 1997 or 1998, Boudwin heard of a new kind of inflatable mascot that had been introduced at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Impressed, he contacted Signs and Shapes International, the company behind the costume, and discussed the possibility of building an inflatable version of his popular character. “Air Clutch was the first [inflatable mascot] in pro sports,” he boasts.
Air Clutch worked well…for a while. But Boudwin quickly tired of it and moved on to “the next phase,” an airhead doll—“a shorter, fatter [mascot] that can roll… and that have these trap doors in the mouth.”
A year or two later, says Boudwin, the Raptor called. Soon, he had an airhead of his own. Today, the Rockets and the Raptors are the only teams in the NBA league to have airhead mascots. Clutch and the Raptor have even performed side-by-side, gobbling down Dallas Mavericks dancers at an All-Star game.
For Boudwin, sharing the idea with his good friend just made sense. “I mean, a lot of the NBA mascots talk very regularly,” he says. “The general rule is that the guys that have been in it longer tend to associate with each other,” says Boudwin, noting he’s closest with the Raptor, the Utah Jazz Bear, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Rumble the Bison, and the Pacers’ cat, Boomer.
Asked why the Raptor’s stunt was so popular when Clutch has been at the same thing for years, Boudwin just shrugs: “I mean there’s a lot of stuff out there on YouTube.”
In any event, it seems likely that ‘Raptor devours cheerleader’ is only the beginning. Scott Bowen, production manager of Signs and Shapes International, says he has met with the Raptor on a number of occasions to develop new features. “We’ve always got some R&D going,” he admits. Past brainstorming sessions have resulted in the mini inflatable Raptor and a pair of adaptable feet the Raptor mounts to stilts or rollerblades.
Still, game operations manager Anton Wright is cautious about promising more cheerleader devouring in the future. “We talked about it,” he concedes, “ and we don’t want to do it too much, because it gets boring then. Then it’s like: oh yeah, he’s eating another cheerleader again. He’s chomping another dancer… You just want to do it a couple times, where it still has that kind of appeal and that kind of, ‘What is he going to do? I wonder what he’s going to chomp on next time?’”
From The Oakland Press, :
Dancing with our Local Stars — a benefit for the American Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Relief — is 7 p.m. to midnight Saturday, March 13 at the San Marino Club, 1685 E. Big Beaver in Troy.
Local celebrity appearances include: Nicole Blaszczyk (Miss Michigan), Lila Lazarus (TV personality), Eric Hipple (ex-NFL quarterback), Heather Zara (WDIV traffic reporter, former Detroit Automotion Dancer and Detroit Fury Cheerleader), Natalie Sentz (WDIV reporter), Ryan Field (Fox Sports Detroit reporter), Jeannette Greco Pawlowski (Mrs. Michigan), Deena Centofanti (Fox 2 health reporter), Dr. Michael Gray (renowned cosmetic surgeon), Damara Anderson (WWJ producer and reporter), John Poppeo (WDIV photo journalist), Scott Lusader (former Detroit Tiger), and more.
The benefit will include a dance competition with local celebrities, a dance showcase by professional dancers, general dancing throughout the evening to live entertainment by the Steve King & the Dittilies, an hors d’oeuvre buffet with a cash bar, a silent auction and an opportunity for you to dance with a local star — 100 percent of proceeds from the auction and the dance with the celebrity will go to the American Red Cross to support its Disaster Relief Fund. Admission is $25 per person. Everyone is welcome, singles and married couples.
By Phil Dunn
Today’s Sunbeam
Students at Penn Beach School here celebrated Read Across America Week in a wacky way.
After the student body read 1,000 books in five days, they earned a special assembly Wednesday that included a visit from Philadelphia Eagles mascot Swoop and cheerleaders Monica and Ayva.
“This is all about reading,” Principal Mark Zoppina said to the kids. “The more books you read, the better readers you will become.”
Read Across America is a national initiative that celebrates Dr. Seuss’ birthday, which was on Tuesday, and promotes literacy among children.
Before the mystery readers came out, teachers asked the students who they thought might have come to read to them.
One student said Dr. Seuss; another said Lady Gaga. But they were all surprised when Swoop soared into the gymnasium.
Monica and Ayva read the Dr. Seuss book “Wacky Wednesday” to the student body. Students and teachers alike dressed the part of the book as many wore mismatched colors and crazy outfits.
Some had goofy wigs and hats, while others had funky hairstyles and flipped their clothes inside out.
“This was really great. We really didn’t expect this many students,” said Woleset. “The kids were all energized too and ready to have fun.”
Swoop was on hand to help the Eagles cheerleaders as they read through the book. Swoop acted out the pages while the students pointed out the wacky mistakes.
The kids saw doors that didn’t line up with houses, an old man with a beard in class, desks turned backward in the classroom, and doorways placed in the middle of the sidewalk.
“We wanted to give the kids a unique way to celebrate their hard work,” said first-grade teacher Maria Petro.
After the cheerleaders finished reading, all the students sang along to the Eagles fight song “Fly, Eagles, Fly.”
“Are there any Eagles fans out here today?” yelled Monica.
As students cheered, Swoop ran around the audience slapping hands and cheering along with the students. The cheerleaders danced as the student body sang the fight song.“E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles,” they all yelled.
Part two of the assembly gave students and employees a chance to throw a pie in the face of Zoppina — a promise he made to the student body if they read 1,000 books. He stayed true to his word.
Three students and one employee got the chance to throw a pie in the face of Zoppina for their reading accomplishment.
The best throw came from Head Custodian John McCauley. He heaved a mighty toss at Zoppina that caused pie filling to fly everywhere.
“At least it tastes good,” said Zoppina.
It was clear form the assembly that many of the faculty, staff, and parents were proud of the kids for what they accomplished.
“The important thing here is that the kids read 1,000 books,” said Zoppina. “They earned this and the assembly was a lot of fun.”
The excitement was still seen on the students faces as they began to file out of the gymnasium smiling ear to ear.
“Keep up the great work and keep on reading,” said first-grade teacher Emily Sassi.
This isn’t from the Read Across America Event, but I did just happen to have a recent photo of Monica and Ayva together.
We’re starting a new weekly (hopefully) feature called “Five Questions with…”
We’re happy to kickoff the new feature with blogger, fitness competitor and former CFL Cheerleader Robyn Baldwin.
Growing up Robyn was a dancer. She was formally trained in Ballet and grew up performing in full length ballets with her school (Les Petits Ballet) in Ottawa.
In 2004 Robyn cheered for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. When she cheered for Hamilton it was an outdoor stadium. The uniform had long sleeve tops and full pants and the cheerleaders called them “the snow suits”, in the summer they were sweltering but the uniforms did their job and kept the ladies from being cold in the Fall. Robyn says while it was fun cheering outside, however, she learned to give up the lip gloss or her hair would be blown by the wind and stick to her lips.
The next year she graduated from McMaster University with an Honours Bachelor of Commerce (major in Marketing) and a minor in Political Science. She moved to Toronto after graduation and cheered for the Toronto Argonauts in 2006
Robyn in her Argos Cheerleader uniform
Today Robyn works in advertising. She’s a media supervisor for a large size advertising agency in Toronto. It’s the financial, strategic side of the business. She tries to figure out based on consumer behavior and media habits how the media budgets are best spent.
She’s also a fitness competitor and model. She was featured in the February/March 2010 of Inside Fitness Canada as one of Canada’s Hot and Fit 100.
1. How do you make time for your day job, modeling, working out and competitions?
I am a great multitasker. Since I was in High School I’ve always been overly involved in as many activities as possible. In High School it was student’s council, running leadership camps, singing in the choir, musical theatre, and band. In University it was no different, musical theatre, dance club, cheering for the Ticats (in my 4th year) and business clubs such as organizing the McMaster World Congress and launching McMaster’s Apprentice program took up alot of my spare time outside of class. When I moved into the working world I still wanted a life outside of the office. Cheerleading for the Argos was a great escape and passion for me. Now that I’m older I still wanted a new hobby and passion to have outside of my career. I discovered fitness. Since University I’ve always been a gym rat but never a dedicated one. In January 2009 I made a commitment to a healthier lifestyle. I’ve been eating clean, lifting weights and pursuing a second career as a fitness model and competitor. I’ve learned true time management and I get up a lot earlier! Right now I’m in the gym at 6:30am lifting weight with my trainer, then it’s off to work. I may do yoga or cardio at lunch time or research a new blog for my website. Then after work I do 20-30mins of cardio and home I go to relax, do food prep and pack my gym bag to do it all over again for the next day. I also dedicate Sunday afternoons to grocery shopping and the majority of my meal prep time. I’ve been modeling since University as a hobby so I’ve know for a while how to schedule shoots. I just make sure to work it out w/ photographers to shoot on weekends or in the evenings after work.
2. What do you hope folks take away from your fitness posts and vlogs?
I was inspired to find fitness by a cover model for Oxygen Magazine. Ashley Harrison was on the cover in January 2009. She cheered for the Ticats in 2005. All it took for me was looking at the photo and saying “why can’t I look like that too?” Through my blog posts about fitness and my vlogs about my training I hope to inspire at least one person to try a new exercise, get motivated to go to the gym or simply take little steps to feeling healthier. If I can inspire someone else to try a fitness competition as an end goal to a healthier lifestyle then it would be my pleasure. Getting comments on my pictures on facebook or about my gym tweets on twitter or about my vlogs means the world to me. Having someone tell me for the first time that I inspired them gave me more goosebumps then stepping on stage for the first time.
3. What made you decide to become a fitness competitor?
I decided to become a fitness competitor because I love having goals. Having a time line to get fit really pushes you to take control of your eating habits and fitness level. I like having that date to track my workouts so I know how hard to push myself so that I can build more muscle. I also love the feeling of being on stage. I’m a performer so I crave those spotlights! I also like the community that it has. The women and men are very supportive towards each other and meeting people at workshops or at the shows have created great new friendships in my life. Just like cheerleading… There are some girls from my 2004 and 2006 teams that I still talk to on the daily and will always be a part of my life. Fitness competitions have provided that too which is awesome.
Robyn in her first fitness competition.
4. How have you done so far?
My greatest accomplishment so far in the fitness contest circuit was placing top 10 in the UFE Halloween Mayhem 2009 show in October. I competed 5 times last year. 2 times I have no idea how I placed. 2 times I placed top 10 and 1 time I placed dead last. Each time I learned something new, went through emotional roller coasters but definitely learned that I can always improve and that I definitely am hooked on competing. I also learned that your placements doesn’t define who you are or your career in the fitness industry. Obviously I want to win. I’m a competitive person but I’m still loving the journey, process and how far I’ve come so far.
5. What plans do you have for 2010?
I would love to get my WBFF pro card and continue competing. I am what you call a hardgainer. So although when my metabolism changed and I developed “skinny fat”. It’s really hard for me to put on muscle. I have already gained 5 lbs since December 2009. My goal is another 10 lbs of muscle by July 2010.
I am creating my vision board for 2010. In addition to 2010 competitions, I would love to get published in more magazines. A cover with Oxygen would be a dream came true as that’s where it all started. I would like to create more fun vlogs and possibly do some writing for the fitness magazine and online world.
I plan to thrive at my media career and prove to myself that I can really do it all. My blog has three aspects to it that are centered around being an Alpha Female. I talk about fitness and how I stay healthy and active to be able to accomplish my career and fitness competing. I talk about career tips and then I talk about social media which helps me balance all my obligations, find new opportunities and manage my personal brand.
I also want to throw in some travel just to be able to experience new places as well. I’ll fit it all in for sure.
From Inside Fitness: One of Canada’s Hot and Fit 100
If you’ve got a suggestion for who we should talk to next, email us (james@procheerleaderblog.com or sasha@procheerleaderblog.com)
The optional Pre-audition Workshops are Tuesday, March 16 and Wednesday, March 17.
Open Call Auditions are March 22, 23, 24. Two call times each day (3:30 PM and 5:30 PM)
[Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders Audition Info]
On Saturday the Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders were out in force the King of Prussia Mall where they teamed up with representatives from Jefferson University Hospital to help promote healthy hearts.
[Eagles Cheerleaders at the King of Prussia Mall Gallery]
Fans of the Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders voted for their favorite in the 2009 MVC Survivor Contest.
The winner was three-year veteran Jessica, and we’ve got a couple of photos of her and her award.
At the MVC Year-end Banquet
[Vikings Cheerleaders Open Call Auditions are April 10th]
The Toronto Argonauts Football Club is getting ready to select its 2010 Argos Cheerleaders, presented by the Toronto Sun, with auditions starting this Saturday. As part of Toronto’s most exciting and established cheerleading team, you’ll capture the attention of more than 30,000 Argos fans at Rogers Centre and maybe even travel to the Argos home game in Moncton in September, as well as the Grey Cup Championship in Edmonton in November. This is your opportunity to meet some amazing people, support some meaningful charity events and act as a role model for many young girls by leading the Jr. Argos Cheerleaders.
This year’s team will be led by new Head Coach Jorie Brown. A gifted dancer and choreographer, Jorie was an Argos cheerleader from 2002-2005 before joining the Raptors Dance Pak for several seasons. Trained in all facets of dance, Jorie is currently a VJ on BPM TV, Canada’s first and only dance channel. She is the host of her own music request show called “Back @ Ya!” that can be seen daily. Jorie’s true passion, other than cheering on the Double Blue, is her love of teaching. She is a mentor to over 100 competitive and recreational students at AB Dance in Markham, Ontario. As a teacher and choreographer, the York University graduate has produced many award-winning competitive routines.
If you are female, 19 years and over, reliable, physically fit with dance, cheer or gymnastics experience and a positive attitude – we want you to try out! The Argos Cheerleaders have been an integral part of the Argo game day experience for over 30 years and now is your turn to come out and become one of the 33 members of the team. Those who audition will be evaluated on appearance, dance skills, showmanship and personality.
Here are the details for the auditions:
PRELIMINARIES: Saturday, March 6, 2010
REGISTRATION: 9:00 a.m.
LOCATION: Cardinal Carter Academy of the Arts
36 Greenfield Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
(Yonge St., north of Sheppard Ave.)
FEE: $20
FINALS: Saturday, March 20, 2010
Cardinal Carter Academy of the Arts
36 Greenfield Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
(Yonge St., north of Sheppard Ave.)
