Tom Lynch

While reality television may offer the hopes of fame and fortune, love and adoration, sometimes the public attention--and perception, perhaps due to clever editing--can turn to vitriolic hatred.

For instance, Walla Walla, Washington-raised Tonya Cooley.

In 2001, the small-town girl auditioned, on a whim, for the newest season of MTV's flagship reality program, "The Real World." This time, "Chicago." She was picked for the cast of seven who would endure endless protest from Chicagoans unhappy MTV was exploiting our Wicker Park neighborhood.

"I still didn't really want anything to do with the industry, it was just a way to pay one semester at school and live in a city that wasn't a small town," Cooley says, who was in nursing school at the time.

It didn't go so well. Her somewhat sheltered upbringing invited criticism from the other members of the house--racially insensitive and homophobic remarks will tend to do that--and the rest of America as well. Cooley was the "crazy" cast member, constantly calling home for her boyfriend and facing health problems. She was disliked. She was also the character most discussed.

"It was really strange," she says of the filming experience. "They had a body mic on me, and I was not allowed to take it off unless I was in the shower or whatever. I didn't really embrace it or enjoy it--I realized [quickly] that they were on me all the time, they got all my idiosyncrasies. I think [the experience] was negative in that respect."

She was ultimately disenchanted. "I counted the days until it was over," she says. "Everyone else just loved the attention--I didn't want to be exposed."

After she returned home, she understood her life would not be the same again. "I came back to my small town and I realized there was no way I could get away," she says. "The day the first show aired, I was in the grocery store and [strangers came up to me]. I was startled! It just got so big. I really wasn't being taken seriously. It became less about school, or who I was, and more about the stupid thing I pulled on TV."

So she went back. Instead of doing another "lifestyle" reality show, Cooley went the competitive route, appearing in multiple seasons of "Real World/Road Rules" challenges. "I left for L.A. I got here, and more and more opportunities evolved. Opportunities to do everything."

So why jump back into reality television after having such a negative experience on the first go-round? "I really liked the challenges [on the show], the competitive [nature]," she says. "I felt I had a stigma, that Tonya's weak or something, that I can't handle it. I thought if I continued and persevered that maybe the show would show me in a better light. Plus, the money isn't bad. I like to compete, there's an upside, it was opening doors in L.A., I was doing speaking appearances at colleges, club appearances. It was a way to see the world and not have to really pay for it."

She says that, eventually, she had an epiphany. "I'd be on the MTV Spring Break stage, and at that moment I felt really special. But once I started growing up and maturing, I realized it was pretty superficial, known for being on a reality show, not for doing anything talented."

She's moved on to other projects--a clothing line (www.gotdanq.com), modeling (including a Playboy online appearance), an assortment of calendars and even kind-of acting: she most-recently appeared in an episode of Cinemax's soft-core program, "The Erotic Traveler."

"I thought I was going to be a nursing student, but all these [other] things evolved," she says. "I just feel like I'm here...of course I want to take the next step. I want to utilize the ways that show me as being talented, not just a party girl from a reality show." (2007-02-20)

Also by Tom Lynch

Syked Out
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter are an ethereal bunch, creating late-night soundtracks to long drives across the States, long nights with a lover or never-ending evenings of vast melancholy, loneliness and doubt. Unlike many other outfits, the band is able to pull such intensely distinct feelings from a listener--one moment you're on top of the world, the next, well, isn't there a little bit left in that bottle of Jack?
(2007-02-13)

Tip of the Week
Intriguing beginnings--Brooklyn's The Subject began in high school but, unlike these common tales of band launches, two members were students and the two others were teachers. They kept band practice secret until graduation, though
(2007-02-13)

State of Grace
If a microscope has ever truly been put on a band, it's now on Portland's The Shins
(2007-02-06)

Dead Calm
Kevin Brockmeier's "The Brief History of the Dead," originally released last March and now coming out in paperback, successfully, delightfully and with overflowing entertainment, blends elements of philosophical literary exploration, wilderness adventure and good-natured, heart-pounding thriller
(2007-02-06)

Bowlshit
(2007-02-06)

Tip of the Week
(2007-02-06)

Tip of the Week
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Soundcheck
(2007-01-30)

Tip of the Week
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Tip of the Week
(2007-01-30)

Bear of a Life
(2007-01-30)

Soundcheck
(2007-01-23)

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