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Meet the only Jewish member
of this season's "Road Rules."

JULIE WEINGARDEN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

t first glance, it was look-
ing like the Jewish kid
was going to be the
trip geek. Tall, lanky,
dressed in baggy
jeans and a floppy
hat, 19-year-old Jake
didn't initially seem to click with
the appealingly athletic Vince on
this season's premiere of the MTV
docu-adventure series "Road
Rules." But looks are deceiving.
It turns out Jake (the network
doesn't allow the cast members to
reveal their last names) is the
group's gregarious, street-smart
charmer. He eventually becomes
buddies with Vince, and Jake is
the one guy on the show who gets
the girl (more on that later).
In this sixth season of "Road
Rules" (Monday nights at 10 p.m.
on MTV), Jake joins four
strangers who travel in a Win-
nebago.
The participants surrender all
their money and credit cards be-
fore filming begins, forcing them
to live by their wits and the small
amounts of cash they earn by oc-
casional odd jobs.
This season's adventures take
the group island hopping to the
Grand Cayman Islands, U.S. Vir-
gin Islands, Puerto Rico, the

At

Caribbean and Granada, where
they work together to accomplish
missions and receive clues to reach
the next destination.
It takes a certain type of person
to endure the "Road Rules"
lifestyle: people comfortable with
surrendering their financial re-
sources (the cast is not paid) and
privacy while every aspect of their
lives including the power strug-
gles and the romantic possibilities
— is filmed on camera.
Jake is just that kind of guy, but •
he admits it was stressful at times.
"I flipped out. I couldn't always
handle it. rm kind of insecure to
begin with. There was a point
where I was like, 'Oh my God, rm
making an idiot of myself and
everyone is going to be watching
this.' I like to think I don't care
what other people think of me ...
but a few times I freaked out about
[it]."
Despite the tension at times,
Jake says the total experience was
worth it. The Philadelphia native
feels lucky to be on the show. The
odds are it's easier to get into Yale
than it is to land a spot on "Road
Rules."
The process goes something like

this: Video applications pour in
and MTV executives have to nar-

•

Living on very little money and no credit cards tests the survival skills of the "Road Rules" cast.