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brothers Ryan and Craig Simmons auditioned for the CBS reality
show "The Amazing Race" in 2003, they hoped the novelty of their
religion would give them an edge. Their audition tape showed them
outside the Mormon temple in Provo, Utah, while the narration played
off those classic Mormon ads ("Family: Isn't it about time?") with a
question for the casting directors: "Mormons: Isn't it about time?" It
certainly is now. Since then Mormons have colonized reality TV as if
they'd been assigned there by Brigham Young himself. They've won "The
Biggest Loser," "The Rebel Billionaire" and "Survivor" (along with two
second-place finishes on "Survivor"). These days you can't turn on "So
You Think You Can Dance" or "Dancing With the Stars" without seeing at
least one, and often several, members of the church. And they're
closing in on the biggest reality TV prize of all: cherub-faced Mormon
David Archuleta is one of four finalists left on "American Idol," and
his chances just soared following the elimination last week of Brooke
White. White is Mormon too, and now that she's off the show, the two
of them won't have to split the faithful's vote anymore.
Wholesome, likable Mormon competitors are now so plentiful that some
viewers have taken to playing Spot the Mormon. Former "Idol"
contestant Carmen Rasmusen, herself a Mormon, says one of this
season's early episodes set off her Mormon radar when she heard White
tell the judges she'd never seen an R-rated movie. "My husband and I
just looked at each other and said, 'She's totally Mormon.' I mean,
who else would say something like that?" With all the conniving, back-
stabbing and ***uality on reality TV, it may seem like a strange place
for Mormons to congregate. That cultural disconnect is obviously part
of the attraction for viewers and casting directors alike. Take the
strange spectacle last month of a beautiful young Mormon woman— the
"Idaho virgin," as she came to be known—sucking the toes of the
eligible bachelor on MTV's racy "That's Amore." Or the contestant on
this year's "America's Next Top Model" who said maybe her elimination
was for the best, as she would have been uncomfortable doing a ****
shoot. But for Mormon contestants themselves the motivation is more
complex, whether it's testing the limits of their religion, showing
America that Mormons aren't the insular community they're often
perceived to be, or the one that crosses all denominations: the hunger
for fame.
In reality TV terms, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
is in a sweet spot demographically: still small enough that members
get excited to see one of their own in the spotlight, but large enough
that when they watch together and vote they can affect results and
ratings. Mormons reserve Monday nights for Family Home Evening, and
when Marie Osmond competed on the family-friendly "Dancing With the
Stars" last year, she benefited from having the voting fall on a
Monday each week. In fact, all three Mormon contestants made it to the
final four that season.
While "Idol"'s voting night is Tuesday, some Mormons around the
country still get together for viewing parties and pour in the votes
after each show. "Idol"'s producers won't disclose voting numbers, but
Rasmusen says producer Ken Warwick once stopped her before a results
show and told her she usually did pretty well in the East Coast voting
but that her "numbers just soared" when the mountain states kicked in.
"I was so happy to hear that people were voting like crazy and
sup****ting me," she says. "Utah does a great job rallying around its
people." Lauren Faber, an eighth-grader in Provo, votes for Archuleta
as many times as she can each week for at least 20 minutes, "no matter
what—even when he messed up that once." That will undoubtedly be music
to Archuleta's ears, although last week Osmond spoke out in the church-
owned Deseret News, saying that White and Archuleta should be judged
based on their talent, not their religion. "I mean, you don't hear
other people saying, 'One of the finalists is a Catholic' or 'One of
them is a Presbyterian' or 'One of them is Jewish'."
But Mormons don't do well only on shows where the audience votes.
"There must be something about the Mormon community that makes these
people so self-confident and so open," says Lynne Spillman, a casting
director for "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race." She thinks that coming
from a large family probably helps in a game like "Survivor," with its
complicated group dynamics mirroring sibling rivalries. "They also
have these incredible experiences through their missions," she says,
"and can relate to being dropped off in the middle of somewhere
they've never been and having to make it."
Reality TV success sometimes comes at a price. The first Mormon
reality contestant—and still one of the most memorable—was Julie
Stoffer, plucked from Brigham Young University in 1999 by "Real World"
casting directors on a mission to find a faithful Mormon for the show.
Before filming began, Stoffer even received a blessing from her bishop
that she would be "an example to the world." For her troubles she was
suspended by the church-owned university for living with housemates of
the opposite *** on the show, a violation of the school's honor code.
"I wasn't wearing the Osmond smile all the time. I said things that
were wrong sometimes. I was human," Stoffer says. "I don't think I did
anything against the church's teachings." She says that for years
afterward she felt as if she was still wearing a "scarlet M," thanks
to her suspension. And Todd Herzog didn't exactly receive the approval
of the Mormon community either. When he was cast on "Survivor" last
year, the Salt Lake Tribune's headline read, "'Survivor' trots out its
latest 'gay Mormon'," sparking a debate on the paper's Web site over
whether someone could even be gay and still be a good Mormon. Herzog
went on to win the million-dollar prize and says that while he hopes
he opened people's eyes about the church, he also hopes he opened some
Mormons' eyes about the real world.
Some tension may still exist between the Mormon community and
mainstream America. But considering that not too long ago Mormons were
a small, persecuted band, it's remarkable that America may be poised
to crown a Mormon as its new Idol.
Mormons suck!
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