LAST EDITED ON 07-10-03 AT 06:38 PM (EST)

http://www.timesstar.com/Stories/0,1413,125~1549~1502580,00.html

The producers approached her after the first series wrapped and asked if she'd like to do the show.

"(Producer) Bruce Nash called me three days before they were supposed to start taping the second series and said they couldn't find anyone else they wanted for the second show and would I do it," Brodie says from a shaky cell phone connection Tuesday during a cab ride in New York City. Brodie was the guest on NBC's "Today" morning show and had been doing the rounds of interviews.

"I asked him to give me 24 hours to think about it."

...

When Brodie told her sister Di Di about her decision to go for the $2 million, her sister was shocked.

"She said, 'What are you thinking? No guy is going to chose you over a million bucks,'" Brodie says, laughing. "She called me back later to apologize and said, 'If anyone can do it, you can.' But I still think deep down she thinks it was a dumb move."

Brodie, daughter of Oakland native and former 49er quarterback John Brodie, also knew that going on the show would mean losing her job with Advent Software in San Francisco.

"They weren't that excited about me leaving the first time, but they just couldn't keep me on if I was out for another taping. So I left in an amicable separation," Brodie says. "I don't have a contract with NBC to do anything beyond this show, but once you sign with the network, they kind of own you for a while."

The San Francisco resident says she's giving up her place in the city to move down to Los Angeles in a couple of weeks to pursue her options there. But right now she's ready to pump up some interest in the next installment of the successful reality series.

FYI, for those wondering, Erin reportedly worked at Advent Software for 3-4 years as a sales manager of some kind -- a well paid position according to at least one of her former co-workers. She quit the job in early May.

-SB