LAST EDITED ON 02-14-02 AT 03:06 PM (EST)LAST EDITED ON 02-14-02 AT 03:04 PM (EST)
http://www.tvguide.com/newsgossip/insider/020214b.asp
Island Goddess Kisses and Tells
Thursday, February 14, 2002
If host Mark L. Walberg has told the combustible couples of Temptation Island 2 once, he's told them a thousand times: The show is all about questions — and man, do we ever have some doozies for Catherine Chiarelli, the 23-year-old dancer whose dangerous curves put her atop several of the Island himbos' Most Wanted lists. Do you have nightmares about showering with sleazy Tom A.? How on Earth could you cast off the adorably dorky Rossi for pretty-boy Brian? And what the heck were you doing dating a skirt-chasing dolt like Edmundo in the first place? As Fox's tawdry real-life soap opera rounds out its second season this evening (at 9 pm/ET), TV Guide Online presses the big-screen-bound drama queen for answers. — Charlie Mason
TV Guide Online: In tonight's episode, you reveal whether you'll stroll into the sunset with Edmundo or send him packing. Do you have a sense of what the audience hopes that you'll do?
Chiarelli: I've heard a little of both sides. People have been really cool, really nice, but it goes both ways. It's pretty split.
TVGO: A lot of folks can't figure out what you ever saw in Edmundo. Care to enlighten us?
Chiarelli: We had a lot of fun together. We would go out and shop and talk, and they obviously didn't show that side of the story. Definitely, our relationship together was not the focus <of the program>, it was our separate lives on opposite sides of the island.
TVGO: From the beginning, viewers had a very different perspective on your first suitor, Tom A., than you did on the island...
Chiarelli: (Sarcastic) That's for sure.
TVGO: He came off like the ultimate scuzzbucket, yet you seemed pretty taken by his line of bull.
Chiarelli: Yeah, while I was there, I totally bought it. But I definitely came to see a different aspect of his whole <pursuit of me>.
TVGO: So you weren't surprised when he threw you over to start chasing new-chick-on-the-beach Kelley?
Chiarelli: No. That evening, we had had a party, and it didn't surprise me. It didn't even bother me. Kelley was a cute girl, and I think Tom had probably realized that my focus was elsewhere. I had no problem with it.
TVGO: Speaking of your focus... As sincerely smitten with you as Rossi seemed to be, you still traded him in for Brian the first chance you got. What does Brian have that Rossi doesn't?
Chiarelli: I think it was the fact that Fox had brought him to the island especially for me. He was tall, dark and handsome, and something new, and I had really spent the entire time on the island with Rossi. I considered pretty much every day a date with him. We didn't necessarily have to go on a date <for it to be a date> because we spent so much time together. So I wanted to see what Brian was all about and why these people had picked him for me.
TVGO: Of course! It would have been rude of you to turn down such a gift.
Chiarelli: (Laughs) It most definitely would have been rude! Who am I to turn down that?
TVGO: After becoming so intimately acquainted with Brian, was it harder for you to remain ticked off about Edmundo's shenanigans on the other side of the island?
Chiarelli: By the time Brian came on, I had seen so much footage of Edmundo with different girls as it was, so I was ready to kind of let things go and not protect <my boyfriend> anymore and do my thing. So if I wanted to kiss somebody, I kissed somebody.
TVGO: Indeed, you did. Since it was your idea to undertake the Temptation Island experience, do you feel at all like you brought a lot of heartache on yourself?
Chiarelli: You know what? I am so grateful for the show. I truly mean that. There's not one thing that I regret. I learned so much about Edmundo and about myself.
TVGO: For instance...?
Chiarelli: I learned what I'll take and what I won't take… and I really realized my worth. So I'm extremely grateful.
TVGO: Any advice for other couples who might consider auditioning for the show instead of hiring a boring old relationship counselor?
Chiarelli: (Laughs) Don't have any expectations... and keep an open mind.
TVGO: Words to live by. Have you been getting a lot of showbiz offers since the show started airing?
Chiarelli: I was doing this before the show, primarily touring with <musicals>, so if there is exposure to come from the show, I don't think it's quite happened yet. We'll see.
TVGO: So, when the producers who are making the Chicago movie found out that one of the jailbirds tangoing with Catherine Zeta-Jones was a TV personality, they didn't beef up your part?
Chiarelli: No, but they should've, right? (Laughs) I have to talk to somebody about that. It was pretty funny. People totally recognized me... all the crew. So every Friday <after a Temptation Island broadcast>, I was getting the review.
(edited to make the fixes per AyaK - thanks for the edumacation 
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