Tequila’s Shot at Love is toast of MTV
Derrik J. Lang

NEW YORK—One man and one woman still have “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila” — and viewers are very interested. The zany reality show starring bisexual Internet celebrity Tila Tequila is among the top 15 cable shows and has become MTV’s second most popular series, just behind Lauren Conrad and company on “The Hills,” according to numbers from Nielsen Media Research.
“Who would have ever thought I’d be the girl who does that for MTV?” Tequila wonders.
Good question.
In case you’re one of the few people who hasn’t seen or read a blog about “A Shot a Love,” the gist of the dating show is this: a 26-year-old MySpace pinup searches for love “Bachelor”-style among 16 men and 16 women, who compete for alone time with her in over-the-top challenges — chocolate syrup wrestling, for example — and share one oversized bed. Then, at the end of each episode, she chirpily tells the non-eliminated contestants, “You still have a shot at love. Are you interested?” And they usually are.
“It was kind of weird at first,” Tequila told The Associated Press during a recent telephone interview about filming the show. “I thought, `What am I doing here? Can I leave now?’ But once you get to know people, you become involved.”
In the finale (airing Dec. 18 at 10 p.m. EST), Tequila — whose real last name is Nguyen — will choose between Dani Campbell, a 29-year-old female firefighter from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Bobby Banhart, a 25-year-old male film student from Worchester, N.Y.
Tequila, who realized she was bisexual at age 11, says she’s still dating the person she selected when production on the seedy show ended earlier this year. She also doesn’t communicate with any of the contestants who didn’t earn one of the giant keys to her heart.
“I don’t keep up with anybody except for the person I picked,” Tequila says. “I’ve eliminated them. I don’t intend on reopening those sores to respect the person I’m with.”