Her face has been flashing on television between commercial breaks on FOX Toledo WUPW all summer. And viewers might see even more of her face, if University senior Leah D’Emilio is chosen as the winner of a competition being held by the station.
After a series of auditions, there are only three contestants left who still have the chance to become the “Face of FOX Toledo.”
The winner will be the station’s “human mascot,” representing FOX at local events like fairs, sporting events, and “all sorts of anything,” according to WUPW’s creative services director, Betsy Russell. She will be the “Face of FOX Toledo” for one year, and will receive a paycheck.
“You hire someone famous to do your commercials. We’re basically trying to make somebody famous by doing our promos and sending them out in public to meet people,” Russell said.
That will mean speaking at schools, meeting advertisers, and working with non-profit groups on behalf of the station. Also, the winner of the contest will probably drive the pace car in the Junior Achievement Grand Prix Race, Russell said.
There will be a final series of auditions for the remaining three contestants this week. The winner will be chosen by July 4, 2005.
Judges from the station will ultimately choose the winner, but viewers have given their input via the Web site, www.foxtoledo.com. Viewers emailed comments about the contestants, and the judges considered the feedback.
“We’ve gotten a tremendous response from viewers,” Russell said.
Russell said they received 520 emails before the remaining contestants were announced.
This is the first year that FOX Toledo will select on-air talent through a contest. Russell credits such an original idea to the station managers, who came up with the idea before she began work at the station in January. Russell previously worked in Georgia, and said she couldn’t think of a similar contest at any news station in her former home or in Ohio. Last year, UPN in Cleveland hired four actors to do improvised comedy to air during commercial breaks, but the audition process was not a contest, Russell said.
“We thought it might be more fun to make a competition out of it, this way viewers do get a chance to tell us what they think. They’re not voting – it’s not a viewer vote of any kind, but we definitely want to know what viewers think of the finalists,” she said.
Preliminary auditions were held at three locations in the Toledo area at the end of April. There were auditions at Lourdes College in Sylvania, Owens Community College, and the Erie Street Market. The contest never specifically targeted college students, but the job would be perfect for a recent graduate, Russell said.
Before the finalists were announced on Monday, D’Emilio was not the only BGSU student in the contest. Two others accompanied her in the final 17. They were University alum Shauna Woody and senior Abby Bollenbacher. Bollenbacher was chosen as finalist with D’Emilio, but she was disqualified. Bollenbacher was disqualified because she is currently competing in Columbus for the title of Miss Ohio. She was unavailable to return to Toledo for the final round of auditions today.
Editor’s note: To vote for your favorite finalist, visit www.foxtoledo.com, and click on the contest link.
