Being part of a reality series means having some or even all of one's most intimate secrets revealed to the world, and the painful experience was enough to make former
Flavor of Love finalist
Leilene Ondrade seriously consider turning down an offer to appear in another reality series,
Flavor of Love: Charm School.
"When producers called and asked me to be on
Charm School, at first I was like ‘Oh, hell no!'" Ondrade recalled to
AsianWeek. "To be honest, I really didn't want to do it."
However, she ultimately decided to sign up for the show, hoping that she would get the chance to “redeem” herself.
"The last time people saw me, I was leaving
Flavor of Love, crying," she said. "I wanted them to know there was more to me than that, more than just my job [as an exotic dancer]."
Leilene Ondrade, who was eliminated from
Flavor of Love after only three episodes, came in second on
Charm School and was awarded with a $10,000 bonus cash prize during the show's “reunion” episode. However, the money is not the only thing for which Ondrade is grateful. She told
Asianweek that
Charm School refined her sense of style and poise, gave her more opportunities in Hollywood and helped her deal with some very serious personal issues.
"By the time I joined
Charm School, I was pretty much mentally exhausted," Ondrade said. "All the confidence I had was gone."
Ondrade told
Asianweek that prior to becoming a celebrity, she experienced many difficult trials. After her mother and two grandparents died of cancer, Ondrade followed her husband to the United States in the hopes of starting anew. She and her three children took up residency in Orange County, California and eventually, Ondrade wound up competing in the World Wrestling Entertainment's
RAW Diva Search 2005.
"I thought we were living the California dream," Ondrade said. "I'd been with [my husband] eight years and trusted this person when our marriage started to crumble. Then my dreams, and everything I thought I had, were gone."
Having her struggles aired on national television may have been painful, but Leilene Ondrade knows that it has made her more relatable to others.
"Being Filipino, my family is Catholic. Being an exotic dancer is a big faux pas. The fact that I have three kids and I'm divorced just doesn't look good for a Filipino woman," she said. "The thing is, people have seen that different side of me. Life isn't perfect. I'm a real person with real problems, and I'm just trying to deal with real situations."
-Lisa Claustro,BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: AsianWeek
(Image Courtesy of VH1)