Nicole Morgan

Get Real

Reality? According to Albert Einstein, it’s “an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” But reality TV, now there’s something that’s here to stay. And check out the Jumbos making their mark on it this season.

Program The CW’s Beauty and the Geek, on which teams consisting of one (usually female) “beautiful” partner and one (usually male) “geeky” partner engage in a series of contests. The idea is that in a successful team, the geek’s intellectual skills and the beauty’s interpersonal savvy will complement one another.

Tufts Connection Nicole Morgan, a musicology graduate student, was the first female geek in the show’s history. She and her partner, Sam, finished second, winning competitions such as the “Comic-Con Superhero Challenge”—in which she had to create a costume for a superhero he invented. Sam then got to describe the superhero and show off the costume at Comic-Con International, a San Diego convention for comic book fans.

Program ABC’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, the quiz show that made “Is that your final answer?” a household phrase, and that allows stumped contestants to throw out “lifelines” to the audience, friends and relatives, or former champions from the show.

Tufts Connection Erik Aurigemma, a junior majoring in computer science, is now a—well, a thousandaire. He took home $25,000, fielding questions from Meredith Vieira, J75, like this one: “In the iconic 1851 painting Washington Crossing the Delaware, how many people are in Washington’s boat?” (As always, the question was multiple choice; the answer, which Erik got right after consulting his father over the phone, was “B: Between 10 and 15.”)

Program Bravo’s Project Runway, on which designers and models vie for coverage in Elle magazine and a chance to strut their stuff at New York Fashion Week. The main focus is the competition among the designers, although the number of models is whittled down from week to week, too.

Tufts Connection Christina Anderson-McDonald, A04, and Marcia Mitchell, A05, both models, survived several rounds of elimination. Christina made it through week 6, and Marcia is still in as of week 10. Design challenges have included producing a two-piece outfit for the actress Sarah Jessica Parker’s new clothing line and developing a collection based on blasts from the past such as overalls, poodle skirts, shoulder pads, zoot suits, and pleather.