East Meadow girl makes good on 'True Beauty'
Erika Othen of Wading River was a contestant on ABC's "True Beauty." She works at club Sugar in Carle Place. Credit: ABC Photo
THE SHOW "True Beauty"
WHAT IT'S ABOUT Tonight's show is the season finale, pitting three would-be true beauties against one another. They are Othen, 25, an aspiring actress and a bottle waitress at Sugar Dining Den & Social Club in Carle Place; Taylor Bills, 24, a former minor league pitcher in the Mariners organization; and Craig Franczyk, 29, a retail manager from Winnipeg, Manitoba. The show's gimmick is to reveal a hottie's "inner beauty" by placing them in "Candid Camera"-like situations to see if they have compassion or empathy, and aren't just complete bubbleheaded egomaniacs. The winner gets $100,000 and is declared the "Face of Vegas."
THE LI ANGLE In fact, friends, there are a couple. One of the judges (along with Carson Kressley and Vanessa Minnillo) is Beth Ostrosky Stern, married to you know who. But Erika's the main One. She's a highly contoured blonde inordinately fond of anything low-cut and, as her ABC bio notes, "loves to pucker her lips, bat her eyelashes and be the center of attention."
Brian Rosenberg, owner of Sugar, says of Othen: "She likes to be out in the crowd and not behind a bar, so she started to do bottle service and raked in outlandish numbers [tips]. These are big-spending rich guys who are in love with her." Women? Not so much, Rosenberg says. "They're jealous."
MY SAY Few reality shows would appear to be more richly deserving of scorn, contempt and ridicule than "True Beauty" and its needy narcissists so desperate to become the "Face of Vegas." Except . . . it's actually kinda good. The gimmick is clever. Othen appears to have genuine charm and "inner beauty," and if this doesn't work out, there's always that place called Hollywood. Rosenberg says she just shot a TV pilot. Why am I not surprised?
GRADE B-
