Reality TV stars to mingle at Slots’ New Year’s Eve event
12/28/10 05:45 pm Updated: 12/29/10 06:08 pm
By Andrew Neff
One lives in Chicago. The other lives in Charlotte. He loves seafood. She isn’t a big fan.
One loves to be in front of a camera, and while the other isn’t camera-shy, she’d just as soon make her living off-screen.
He’s ultra competitive while she’s laid-back and not intense about winning.
Apparently opposites really do attract, at least in the world of reality television.
Meet Jeff Schroeder and girlfriend Jordan Lloyd of TV’s “Big Brother” and “The Amazing Race” fame.
The couple will join Maine band Motor Booty Affair to ring in the New Year at Hollywood Slots Hotel and casino. They’re scheduled to arrive around 8 p.m. and mingle, greet fellow guests, and enjoy the music and the countdown to the new year. Motor Booty is on tap to take the stage at 9 p.m.
“Neither of us have been to Maine before,” said Schroeder. A 32-year-old Chicago native. “We weren’t sure what we were going to do for New Year’s Eve, and my agent called and wanted to know if I wanted to do this.”
It was a perfect opportunity for Schroeder, who isn’t a huge fan of New Year’s Eve overkill.
“New Year’s Eve is overrated. Everyone tries to make it the best night of the whole year, but something always happens and screws something or everything up, and it’s usually more of a hassle,” said Schroeder, who just got back home from filming “Around the World for Free,” a CBS contest promotion project.
“I figured why not make some extra bucks, have a good time, visit a state I’ve never been to before, and do it all for free with my girlfriend?” Schroeder said. “With us living so far away from each other, anytime we can grab opportunities to see each other, especially on the company dime, it’s great.”
Schroeder is especially looking forward to eating some lobster during his brief stay, but Lloyd won’t be asking him to share. “He’s obsessed about seafood, and I don’t really like it at all. Well, I do like fried stuff like calamari that doesn’t smell or taste fishy,” said the 24-year-old hair salon receptionist and student. “I don’t think I’ve even met anyone from Maine before, so I’m just looking forward to being there, playing slots and having a good time.”
It’s ironic how the couple’s imperfect relationship seems to be a perfect fit.
“We’re complete opposites,” said Lloyd, a native North Carolinian who won the $500,000 grand prize on Season 11 (2009) of TV’s “Big Brother.”
Their 15-month relationship has gone from one extreme to the other, from being cooped up in a house together 24-7 to living 587 miles apart and seeing each other an average of one or two weekends a month.
“You always hear about ‘Amazing Race’ breaking people up and stuff like that, but it helped us in our relationship and understanding each other better,” Lloyd said.
Well, it did, after they got over wanting to kill each other.
“Yeah, that’s true,” Lloyd said with a laugh. “We didn’t even talk to each other for almost a day, but the next day we were better and then we totally stunk up the next challenge, so we just laughed. I mean, we did as bad as you can do, but we laughed about it. We’ve been great ever since.”
“It wasn’t at all what I expected,” said Schroeder, who will be keeping his hand in acting and modeling, which he has been doing for 10 years.
Schroeder also will be returning to his “regular job” of selling commercial airtime on radio stations early in 2011. Lloyd is finishing up two years of study at a community college and is interested in pursuing a career in dental hygiene.
“Having your significant other with you, I wouldn’t recommend it,” he continued. “But we progressed in our relationship and learned a lot about each other from that experience.
“I learned to be more patient. Getting through that without killing each other made us stronger.” Lloyd learned it was fun to do reality TV, but she prefers life off-camera.
“Regular life is fine for me. It was fun, but I don’t really need to go right back to it. I’m over it,” said the former waitress who was recruited for “Big Brother” by a talent scout while she was working at a restaurant. “Jeff does more of these things than me.
“It’s cool to be recognized by people, though. It shocks me sometimes that people still even know who I am or care. I figured you have your 15 minutes of fame and then everyone forgets about you.”
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