Hundreds of thousands of people have put their names in the running to become a reality TV star. Anne Hirsch, who watched Frank Maresca on ‘I Love New York’ and ‘I Love Money,’ jumped at the opportunity to break from the pack when she saw that Maresca was receiving his own reality TV show, ‘Frank the Entertainer in a Basement Affair.’

When Hirsch, a Syracuse University graduate student in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ video program, came across the opportunity to apply for Frank’s new reality TV show, she filled out an application and sent it in to VH1. Contestants who were accepted on the show lived with Maresca in his parents’ house.

‘I thought he was cool and that we’d have a really good time,’ Hirsch said.

After sending in her application she gave an in-person audition and a month later became a finalist. She was then sent to New York City, where she stayed in a hotel for a few days while producers made their final assessments.

Little did Hirsch know, she would soon be taking an indefinite leave from SU and be putting her teacher’s assistant duties on the backburner to begin filming the show in Brooklyn. When she got there, she met Maresca, his parents and the rest of the drama-filled girls living in the house.

‘I think she’s hilarious and the best one on the show,’ said Katie Micak, a graduate student in the video program and one of Anne’s best friends. ‘I think she’s wacky and really funny.’

Hirsch described her experience in the house as being crazy and challenging. She said she had no idea what she was getting herself into when she sent in her application, but now, after watching the show, she said everything must be taken with a grain of salt.

Anne said she experienced a lot of downtime, quite a bit of waiting around for Frank and had a lot of fun during the challenges.

During the most recent episode, the girls held a garage sale where one of the contestants charged for massages and, keeping with her forte, Anne sold portraits of the people that came to the sale. After her group won the challenge she went on a date with Frank and two of the other girls. On their date, not only did Frank tell Anne that he thought she was pretty, but they shared their first kiss.

Micak said Hirsch knows that she said some ridiculous things on the show, but that is no different than how she acts in person.

Since Hirsch was living in Frank’s parents’ house, she and the other contestants had to be respectful of his parents – not something the average reality TV contestants have to be mindful of.

Hirsch and her friend Esther Probst, another graduate student in the video program, recently traveled to Miami, where they ran into a group of female high school students who recognized Hirsch from the show.

‘We heard them saying, ‘That’s her, that’s her,” Probst said. ‘Anne hugged the girls and turned red, but to me she’s just Anne, she’s my friend. I think she’s normal, but to those teens, they were enamored by her.’

Robert Thompson, a pop culture expert and Syracuse University professor, said that reality shows may often have a lot of unseen footage.

‘You don’t naturally get a group of women living in a basement like this unless it’s set up ahead of time,’ he said. ‘Some reality television is completely over the top and contrived.’

As for her character, Hirsch said that what you see is what you get, but she also admitted to signing a confidentiality agreement.

‘In real life I think I’m nice, b****y, loud, shy, awkward, weird, self-assured, self-conscious, funny, smart, dorky and super cool,’ Hirsch said. She believes she was more or less the same on the show, with an attempt to be flirtier.

‘On the show they definitely emphasize my weirder and more awkward moments, they cut out my cynicism and self-isolation,’ she said.

Probst and Micak have both watched the show with Hirsch and laughed at the things she does on TV together. Micak said that she hasn’t been surprised by any of her friend’s actions.

But television, radio and film professor Richard Dubin said that anyone who thinks reality TV actually portrays reality is crazy.

‘They are constructions, they are made. I wouldn’t be surprised if what they say on camera is suggested,’ Dubin said. ‘If you watch as a director, I’m here to tell you that you do not get those shots by accident. They’re set up, lit the way they are lit and it doesn’t happen by accident. It could not happen.’

Thompson said that Hirsch is not the first SU student to be on TV.

‘Other SU students have been on ‘Love Cruise,’ ‘Survivor’ and ‘The Apprentice,” Thompson said. ‘Given the fact that for everyone that gets chosen, many people apply, there must be a lot of students applying.’

‘Frank the Entertainer in a Basement Affair’ airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on VH1, and Anne is still competing on the show.

Hirsch said she is glad that she went on the show and that it was an extremely valuable experience for her. That aside, she acknowledged that participating in a reality TV show is not for everyone.

‘Some people definitely don’t understand why I went on the show,’ she said. ‘I don’t think it’s a typical action of people I know to go on a show like this, but ultimately people are supportive and they watch the show. Some people don’t like to watch it because they don’t like how I’m portrayed, but it’s cool.’

rltoback@syr.edu

Published on January 20, 2010 at 12:00 pm