Ross Kelly is not afraid - not now anyway.
A recent graduate from the University Studies program, Kelly is the first person from New Mexico to be a contestant on NBC's "Fear Factor." The episode he was in aired last night at 7 p.m.
No, Kelly didn't win the big prize, but he did win a trip to Brazil. All he had to do was move five Madagascar cockroaches into small jar using only his mouth and then slam a glass of rotten milk, followed with a chaser of ground-up, juicy cow parts floating in lard.
Kelly has been a vegetarian for seven years and he said he is absolutely petrified of cockroaches.
"I tested myself once on my front porch this summer," he said. "I said to myself 'OK, I'm going to see if I can grab one of these (cockroaches).' So I grabbed one and held it for like, one second and tossed it and screamed like a little girl. I thought, 'Oh god, I'm a goner.'"
Kelly, an aspiring actor and practicing Buddhist, said before he went on the show, he thought a lot about what could possibly compromise his beliefs and how far he would go.
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"I don't kill anything," he said. "I decided I wouldn't eat anything that was alive."
Kelly didn't have to kill anything, but he did have to root around with his teeth in piles of cow brains looking for poker chips while bile and a foul-smelling liquid were poured over him. He said visualization techniques and movement analysis classes he took at UNM allowed him to focus.
"I took one deep breath and let everything go that was blocking me mentally," he said. "It worked, I didn't even gag once."
Kelly was living in Hollywood and working at a nightclub called Miyagi's on the Sunset Strip when one of the casting directors for "Fear Factor" scouted him waiting tables. Kelly said he was waiting on a bachelorette party when he got a little crazy and jumped up on the table. He hadn't even seen the show when he was approached and asked to audition.
"At first I didn't really want to do it," he said. "There's this vibe in L.A. that's against reality TV because everyone's a real actor. But really, there's not many real actors in L.A. - just movie stars in training."
Kelly underwent a two-week interview process in which he sat down with the producer of the show and then had to make a video of himself. His video was a "10 things I hate about 'Fear Factor' mockery," he said. After that, he didn't hear from anyone for five months.
"I kind of wrote it off for a while," he said.
Kelly had temporarily moved back to Albuquerque by the time the show called him. "Fear Factor" flew him back to L.A. He said he's still not sure why he agreed to participate.
"As things come my way, I always ask why," he said. "I looked at it as an opportunity, as a choice. The (casting agent) at my work approached me for a reason. I was driven a little bit by money. Exposure I couldn't really care less about."
Jim Linnell, one of Kelly's professors in the Department of Theatre and Dance, disagrees.
"The culture is crazy and media-tized," Linnell said. "Any exposure for an actor is good exposure. He's a talented lad and I hope somebody does notice him. He deserves to be noticed."
Kelly said the hardest stunts were the physical stunts. As a skater, surfer and all-around physical guy, he said he hadn't anticipated having the kinds of problems he had with them. He also said his cast wasn't the typical cast.
"They pretty much cast the same six people on the show," he said. "There's a formula for casting this show. I think our group did not fit that formula."
Kelly's said his cast bonded a little, and even tried to be supportive. He said at first he tried to psych someone out while they were doing a stunt, but quickly realized it sounded stupid, forced and fake.
"The producers try to incite drama, but that didn't really happen," he said. "I was just trying to be myself."
