UMass Student Competes for Cash in Spike TV Photo Contest

The Daily Collegian - 4/2/07

No stranger to risqué photographs of its undergrads, The University of Massachusetts has had one student pose for Playboy earlier this year and now has a contestant in Spike TV's Bracket Babes competition.

Candice Valetutti, a sophomore psychology major and education minor, found an ad for the Spike TV contest on facebook.com promoting college women to submit their pictures for a chance to win $5,000.

Although Valetutti said she did not take the first picture too seriously, when Spike TV emailed her back and told her to take another picture of herself in jeans and a white t-shirt, she scrambled to get a good one and hoped this would qualify her to be a finalist.

"I was so surprised when they called me to tell me I was a finalist…they wanted me to go to my own photo shoot with my own stylist and photographer," said Valetutti.

The photo shoot, which took place on President's Day, was an eight-hour adventure of trying on "crazy clothes" and seeing which pictures worked and which ones did not.

"When I showed my family the pictures, my brother wished me luck, my grandma cried and said that I was going to be a porn star and my father said that I looked 'nice'," said the UMass sophomore.

The UMass campus is also very supportive to Valetutti. "This guy I never met held a door open for me and told me that he voted for me and wished me luck," she said.

Besides the casual greeting and good luck wishes, Candice's friends have started a facebook.com group for her, made "Bracket Babe" chants and have even dubbed themselves "Candice-a-teers."

Candice, who has done modeling in the past, is no stranger to the camera. Some of her experiences include a walk-on role in Spiderman 3, one of the concert-goers in the film Music and Lyrics and modeling in fashion shows and magazines.

Even with all of this background, Valetutti still considers herself "one of the guys" and enjoys tailgating at Giants games, playing Guitar Hero and racing her Mazda RX8 in a predominantly male club.

"Because most of the people in the club are men over 50, when I first started going to the club, I was looked at kind of strangely. After they saw that I respect my car and everyone in the club, I fit in a little bit better," she said.

The winner of the Bracket Babes contest will take part in a New York City press conference, get another photo shoot and receive $5,000.

If she wins, Valetutti plans to give $1,000 to Jessie's House, a group that is part of the Boltwood Project. Jessie's House helps people in-between housing get back on their feet. Valetutti said "We go there and play with, teach and role model for the children living in Jessie's House. It's so rewarding."

Valetutti also said that she might consider modeling more in the future but, as of right now, wants to be a kindergarten teacher.

"It's so nice to have all of my friend's support. With over 650 people in the Facebook group…it's awesome."

Online voting for Bracket Babes ends in a week but Candice's division ends Monday evening. Voting can be done at spiketv.com.