After she got ceremoniously dumped, after the cameramen moved on to their next assignment and after the rented limousines drove away, Stephanie Tipper transformed her weeks-long stint on reality television into modeling for pageants, magazines and fitness videos.
In 2007, Tipper joined “The Bachelor: Officer and a Gentleman,” the ABC Network’s 10th installment of the show that winnowed 25 contestants and one bachelor, U.S. Navy doctor and triathlete Andy Baldwin, into a fairy-tale marriage proposal.
Tipper, an alumna of Rogers High School and the University of North Alabama and a former organ donor coordinator, has become a self-managed model who never lets an opportunity pass.
After she returned from Los Angeles, Tipper took part in swimsuit competitions and is now Miss Hawaiian Tropic South Carolina. She will compete in March at the international pageant, Miss Planet Beach South Carolina, which is a runway for Tommy Bahama beach-themed wear. She also will be a fitness model for Oblique magazine and face model for Your Beauty, of Charleston.
Tipper, who lives in Folly Beach, S.C., said when the show began to air, she started to become recognized in Charleston.
“I enjoyed it, but at the same time, it was invasive,” she said. “I definitely have a new respect for celebrities.”
Since 1992, when MTV’s “The Real World” ushered in the new genre of reality television, the post-show lives of former contestants have been anybody’s guess.
Jennifer Hudson, for instance, who was booted halfway through “American Idol” in 2004, came back and won a 2006 Academy Award for best supporting actress in Dreamgirls.
Then there was Richard Hatch, the first winner of “Survivor,” who failed to pay taxes on $327,000 he earned as a Boston radio show co-host and additional money from rental property, which landed him in federal prison until 2010.
Even Baldwin, the “Bachelor,” had a mixed history – he split with his eventual fiancee, Tessa Horst, four months after the show ended.
During the show, Tipper – known to viewers as Stephanie T. – portrayed the villainous Southern belle determined to come out on top and make the other women jealous. Entertainment Weekly named her “The One Everyone is Going to Hate.”
Baldwin gave Tipper many of the firsts on the show: the first rose – a signifier of whom he liked – the first date on a yacht and even the first kiss.
Those firsts were what the audience got to see, including the producer’s story arc of Tipper as a jealousy-inducing, in-your-face woman who would steam roll the other women to get to her man.
But there’s also Tipper’s version – one that she can voice now that her two-year contract with the show has expired.
“I am a confident person, and through the magic of editing, they can make you look however they want. You have no control over how they make you look,” Tipper said.
One example requires some setup: On a group date to Lake Tahoe, Devon, one of the bachelorettes, was in the bathroom crying over an injured ankle as Tessa (the eventual winner) consoled her.
Tipper was in a different room in the suite, untangling the necklaces of another Stephanie and rolled her eyes in frustration.
The editors put the scenes – crying then eye-rolling – together into what seemed like a reaction.
“When you see something like that, of course it frustrates you,” Tipper said. “I knew what I was getting into; I read the contract I signed. They can even cut and paste your sentences so that it is something that you didn’t even say.”
Some reality shows have acknowledged this “writing” – a process whereby hundreds of hours of tape are mixed and matched to form a narrative of the producer’s liking.
What else do the producers like? “They wanted us constantly interacting with one another,” Tipper said.
To reach that goal, what looked like a huge mansion where the women stayed included access to five rooms – the rest was roped off for production – with no music, no television, no reading.
Plus, filming occurred at all times of the day or night.
Before the show, Tipper’s mother, Cathy Markovitz, advised her about some expected realities of the show, even though neither had been on a show before.
“I had a feeling I guess you could say,” Markovitz said.
“We tried to inject a whole lot of reality in the fiction. We even guesstimated the number of shows she would be on,” Markovitz said.
When asked about her daughter’s portrayal during the show, Markovitz said, “They usually keep the villain on the longest time and they put you on the most.
“I was hoping she would be a really tough villain – you go girl!” she said. “I wanted her to throw them under the bus.”
As for the future, Tipper said, “The show is not going to shape anything in my future. My future is up to me, and I hope to find a career that I’m happy with.”
“Overall, I would do it again,” Tipper said. “I would love to do more reality TV.”
The Bachelor’ contestant expands career | TimesDaily.com | The Times Daily | Florence, AL
