This was in the Dallas morning news a couple of days ago....SPOILER!=============================================
Sightings find 'Benefactor' filming discreet but frenzied
05:22 PM CDT on Wednesday, May 12, 2004
By MANUEL MENDOZA / The Dallas Morning News
After I spent two weeks chasing down The Benefactor, including an unsuccessful attempt to get official access to the Preston Hollow set, Mark Cuban's top-secret reality show suddenly seems to be following me around.
I was walking to the parking lot of my downtown apartment building Sunday when I ran into a crew shooting at the flower stand in the basement. Then, later in the day, a friend of a friend said she knew someone who had encountered the Dallas Mavericks owner when he turned up with cameras and contestants at the hospital where she worked.
Other details characterizing the 16 people vying for a mil of the billionaire's bucks and what they've been up to since moving into a big house together – even a name or two – have leaked out in other publications and in Mr. Cuban's online blog.
In an e-mail message, Mr. Cuban declined to confirm details. "Sorry, all I can tell you is that the contestants have been competing at a wide range of tests," he wrote. "They all required a lot of original thinking and got some crazy results."
Here's the dish:
The show, scheduled to run for six episodes on ABC starting in July or August, began shooting on April 30 in a $5 million, 17,000-square-foot private home with seven bedrooms and eight baths on Douglas Avenue. On that day, a dozen cars and vans were parked on a side street – unusual for the quiet neighborhood. A camera crane could be seen in the driveway, and a security guard was posted near a sign reading, "Armed Officers on Duty."
G.J. McCarthy / Special to DMN
A small, metal sign reading "Armed Officers on Duty" sits on the front lawn of the house where the Mark Cuban reality-television series is being filmed.
The contestants had spent the previous day at the Stoneleigh Hotel preparing for the three-week shoot. It ends next week, says location manager Kim Davis.
Since holing up in their posh spread, the contestants have been out on the town committing random acts of kindness to impress their master.
On May 2, a dozen were spotted in a stretch Hummer on Cedar Springs in Oak Lawn, where they dropped in at the Rose Room and JR's Bar & Grill, according to the Dallas Voice.
The same day, Mr. Cuban, camera crews and four contestants showed up at the nearby Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, according to a worker there who asked not to be identified. After giving toys to the kids and taking pictures with them and the staff, one contestant presented a $1,000 donation to a hospital administrator.
"It was a typical reality show – quite set up," the worker said.
Her understanding is that the donation is part of a story line. Each of the contestants was awarding $1,000 to a worthy cause. "They all looked really tired," she said.
Then, last Sunday, Benefactor producers called Absolutely Blooming! at the Southside on Lamar building – the old Sears warehouse that has been converted to lofts – and asked owner Marion Adele Marshall to donate flowers for Mother's Day. A film crew and what looked like a contestant – young, blonde and female – then pulled up in a black SUV and shot Ms. Marshall preparing the bouquets.
Later that day, contestants were spotted handing out flowers outside a Knox Street Starbucks.
At least one contestant's name has surfaced: Kathy Whipple of Webster, N.Y. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported May 1 that she had been picked for the show, quoting her mother.
Another published report quotes Mr. Cuban as saying that three Dallas residents are among the contestants, along with a gay sports-bar owner.
In his own online journal, www.blogmaverick.com , he added: "There are fun people and serious people. We have Divas and Drama Queens. We have an Oprah wannabe, a professional football player, collegiate athletes, and two people who sing show tunes when under pressure."
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I read the Blog.... they have a female prof.football player...possibly named Sandles from the Dallas Diamonds.
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