#steveward

              I've always been a huge fan of reality TV.  From Real World to Big Brother and a lot in between I have always found something so fascinating about connecting with a person you see on TV and watching them grow or watching them as their life unfolds week after week.  Tough Love was a show I was immediately drawn to. A show which revolved around girls who had issues when it came to relationships? Perfect! I thought if nothing else, maybe I'd learn a thing or two that could help me in future relationships.  I loved every minute of season one and my college roommates and I were beyond excited when we heard it would be back for a second season.  When the season kicked off I immediately liked Angel.  She had some pretty rad tattoos and piercings with a personality to match, and as I got to see her throughout the season I realized I could relate to her on a personal level as well.  We saw her grow from the weakest participant in the first challenge to the challenge winner in episode four.  And by the end of the season Angel really seemed to come around full circle.  So for all my fellow Tough Love fans I got the chance to ask Angel some questions about her life and relationships now.  I hope you enjoy, as much as I did, hearing about how Angel came to be on the show, what she took away from it, and how Miss Closed off will be getting a new last name very soon!         

What was the casting process like to become a part of Tough Love?

Casting for me was really strange. I wrote an essay and sent in a few pictures one night, just out of pure boredom and internet browsing. The next day, I got a phone call asking if I could come to Miami (I’m from Ohio) for a second round casting. All the other cities had already held castings so this was my only option. The next week, I flew to Miami and participated in a “group audition” with about 200 other girls. The casting agents walked around and spent about 52 seconds with each girl and at the end about 20 girls from the Miami casting were asked to stay another day and do an on-camera interview, so they could see how you look and interact on camera. After that I flew back to Ohio and kind of just forgot about the whole thing! I hadn’t heard anything back for over two months. Then one day I was shopping and got a phone call from a casting agent asking if I could pack for two months and be on a plane to Los Angeles by morning. I assumed at that point, since I was packing, I had made the show. When I got there I was thrown into high class lock down! I was put in a hotel room, with no key, so I couldn’t leave the room. I was told there was a girl on each floor of the hotel and we were to have zero contact with any of them, we couldn’t even look at each other! Any time we wanted to lay outside by the pool or go to the hotel gym, we would have to call a room and someone would come escort us and stay with us until we wanted to go back to our rooms. It was so crazy! They had walkie talkies and they would talk to the other people like “A is entering the pool area, hold L in elevator for 5 minutes until clear!” So later I found out that they had 16 girls in the hotel and they were still casting! Some of the girls (who had packed for 2 months) would be sent home! They kept us in the hotel for a week (sadly, my birthday week). They took our phones and computers…they even took my iPod because it had internet access. Finally, after doing a week’s worth of interviews and watching A LOT of television, I was told I had made the show and my adventure had (finally) begun.

      Did the editing of the show do justice to the experience? Was there a lot that they didn't show? Was being on the "hot seat" as uncomfortable as it seemed?

The editing process is interesting and really they only do it to develop story lines faster and to make it more understandable to audiences. I remember a couple times, watching the show back, I would hear myself commenting on something or someone and would realize that that comment was pulled from a totally different topic!

There was a lot of mischief that didn’t make the show…we played a lot of pranks on each other and Alicia and I would stay up EVERY NIGHT and do our own talk show to the confessional cameras, we called it AA Late Night. I remember once Alicia spent, like, 20 minutes preparing this beautiful salad, as SOON as she put it on the table, Liz and I grabbed the bowl and the whole kitchen broke out into a food fight. I grabbed a bottle of ranch and poured it over Liz’s head…we would try and hide with food and get each other unexpectedly but with 20 cameras on you and an audio man running right behind, it’s hard to pull off pranks. I wish they would have showed more of those days.

Being on the hot seat is reallllllly uncomfortable. You want so badly to make Steve proud and he is so intense when you let him down! He really goes there. A lot of times even before group, we would come down the steps and he would comment on our outfits or tell us if our makeup was too heavy. Gotta love Steve though! He’s always right!       

How did your relationship with Adam continue after the show?

Adam and I had something really special but I think the thing that bonded us so much on the show was the same stuff great friendships are made out of. We were really silly and just wanted to have as much fun as we could and really take advantage of the whole experience. After the show was no different, it was more of a friendship. And in all actuality, I still lived in Ohio and he lived in LA. Even when I moved to California with Liz, I was in San Diego and that is a pretty long distance to be seriously dating from.

       Are you currently dating anybody, if so do you still use advice that you got from the show to improve your relationship?

I am currently engaged! I can honestly say I took everything Steve said to heart! I was a mess before boot camp. Things in my past relationship and my lifestyle at the time had just really put me in a bad state of mind. I learned a lot about how to deal with those issues and really open up to someone. My fiancé is such an amazing man and I know he wouldn’t have put up with me pre-show. He demands respect and gives me the same treatment. Every quality Steve and JoAnn told me to look for in a man, I have found in Brandon. I’m not, by any means, saying I’m some sort of super-woman now, I very much still have flaws, but I think Steve gave me the foundation I needed to mold myself into someone I can be proud of.

      Do you have any contact with the other girls from your season?

I keep in touch with most of them via facebook and phone. I lived with Liz in San Diego for a year, I have visited Alicia in Chicago and Sally has come to visit me in Ohio. The only person I have zero contact with is Taylor.

       Where are you living and working now?

I live now in the same town (Hartville, Ohio) where I went to High School and am working in the same building! I work for the YMCA as a teen director. I have a core group of middle school and high school teens and our program is designed to mold them into strong leaders. I create programs and volunteer opportunities for them within the community and also take them on fun camp like experiences with other organizations.

      What is your relationship like with your parents and your son Tucker?

My family is extremely close and Tucker has a strong bond with my parents. He is also incredibly attached to my fiancé, which always warms the heart I try and instill a strong sense of family values in Tucker, because at the end of the day, your family really is the most important. He has no knowledge of his mother and father ever being happy or even casually in the same room together, so creating the most stable home life for him is my number one priority.

      Any big plans for the holiday coming up?

Not really! I just want to spend as much time with my family as I can and really just enjoy the season. Brandon and I had originally planned on getting married over the holidays but just didn’t plan as quickly as we should have! I want everything to be perfect and I don’t want to stress over it either. I just want to enjoy the whole process and right now it’s just being engaged!

       How would you say your life changed from being on a reality show?

I feel like the biggest change has been having the chance to tell my story to a bigger audience! I can’t even explain how amazing it is to have girls write to me and tell me how my journey on the show has given them courage or inspiration. I have made a lot of mistakes. A lot. Helping other girls through my own mistakes and life battles makes it seem worth going through everything I’ve been through. The weirdest thing that has changed, however, has to be having complete strangers come up to me and talk about such personal things! But I wouldn’t change a thing!

        If given the opportunity would you be a part of another reality show? If you had to pick one that is currently on which would you choose?

I really want to do Big Brother, it’s my favorite show!