MTV asks College senior if she 'wants to be a VJ'

Gabrielle Weber, a theatre major, is used to rigorous auditions. But the College senior's audition for MTV's "Wanna Be a VJ" was a different type of intensity. Standing in front of a large crowd of teeny-boppers in December at the MTV studios in Manhattan, Weber was asked the first thing she would do as a guy. "I'd scratch my balls," Weber responded. "They always do that and I guess I would want to know why." Weber, a slight young woman with large, almond eyes, has always wanted to be famous, and she might just get her chance. An aspiring actress, Weber tried out for the contest on a whim, saying that "it was not a serious audition. I went as a joke." Yet this joke turned into something big, as Weber made the callback to appear as one of the final contestants on the show -- a contest aired on national television. In fact, if she wins five days in a row, beating out three other contestants in a battle of musical wits and charisma, Weber will attain the prize as the newest rookie on Team MTV. The winner of the "Wanna Be a VJ" contest -- determined by call-in viewers -- gets a year-long position as a host at the network. "I think it would be fun to get to travel all over the place, to host weird shows and to meet cool people and talented artists," Weber said. Weber said that she doesn't know how many final contestants there are or when the contest will be aired, explaining MTV will call her with that information later. Growing up in southeastern Virginia and traveling every weekend to Manhattan with her artist mother, Weber has always thirsted for life in the spotlight as either an actress or a photographer. "I want to be one of those well-known people that are known for being talented," Weber said. "In both photography and in acting, fame is the ultimate sign of success. I want to be successful, and fame is a sign of that." Yet Weber has no intentions of using the opportunity as what she calls a "stepping stone to a serious acting career." She went on to say that it would "almost hurt me... because it would discredit me." Weber, a self-described woman with "lots of weird characteristics" who likes "lots of different things" -- including a wide variety of music from trance to hip-hop to top 40 -- would "try to target college people who need a music channel" if she were to win. "There's a big age gap between those who watch MTV and those who watch VH1," Weber said. As a pre-teen who looked up to Kennedy -- the curly-haired and extroverted former MTV veejay -- Weber stopped watching the channel when "it started to suck because they stopped playing music and showing Real World and Road Rules 24 hours a day." "College students want to hear more music," Weber added. "Not just Britney Spears." Yet when asked about Spears' popularity amongst fraternity boys nation-wide, Weber joked that they like her "only when she's naked, but I don't think they want to admit to that." So what made this Penn student stand out from the throng of wannabes? "I think judging by the way I acted in the audition they picked me for the male audience because we had to do a commercial and the guy interviewing me was really hot and I was flirting with him. But I wouldn't want to act like that on the show because I wouldn't want to alienate the female audience," Weber said. But even if she doesn't win, Weber values the experience. "I felt really relieved because [as an actress] you could audition professionally for ten years, but now at least I know what it's like to get that phone call and know the feeling that they want to use you," she added.

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