ABC FAMILY LAUNCHES ITS FIRST ONLINE REALITY SHOW "RUSH'D," PREMIERING MONDAY, OCTOBER 22 ON VIRTUALRUSH.COM
Online Series Follows Six Lucky Virtual Rush Finalists On A Journey From Their College Campuses to Los Angeles For The Audition Process For A Walk-On Role On The Popular Original Series GREEK
Burbank, CA (October 15, 2007) � On the heels of the success of ABC Family's original series GREEK, which became the network's highest rated original series ever in A18-34 and M18-34, the channel's social networking site virtualrush.com will premiere RUSH'D on Monday, October 22. RUSH'D is an online reality show about six finalists selected from Virtual Rush 10 Week Challenge Contest that ran during the first 10-episodes of "Greek" this past summer.
"Virtualrush.com shows just how successful a social network can be as part of a television franchise like Greek. We were thrilled with the enthusiasm of the participants," said Paul Lee, president, ABC Family. "They literally inspired us to create a show where our audience have become the stars. We think RUSH'D is the perfect vehicle to keep the chatter going on virtualrush.com until GREEK returns in 2008."
Virtualrush.com will document the audition experience of the six finalists to create RUSH'D which will run over a span of several weeks. RUSH'D will take the six contestants from their college campuses to the set of GREEK, where they will get a shot at their own 15-minutes of fame.
After participating in weekly challenges and receiving votes from thousands of virtualrush.com users, these six lucky contestants were selected to audition for a walk on role for GREEK and will be flown to Los Angeles. Their experience will include a hometown visit, a photo shoot, set visit to meet the cast as well as their audition for the producers. All of this will be filmed and posted on virtualrush.com and the community will vote to choose a winner.
When RUSH'D launches, visitors to the site will be able to view daily postings that recaps the virtualrush.com challenges and show the exciting experience of the six finalists as they pursue their Hollywood dream. During the week of November 19-23, the Virtual Rush community will vote for their favorite finalist.
The finalists are:
Laura Wise, 20, of Columbus, Ohio, attends Ohio State University and majors in Public Relations and Fashion. Her user name is WhiteCup.
Luke Martin, 22, of Tallahassee, attends Tallahassee Community College and majors in Music and Psychology. His user name is Ivory_Rockstar.
Jenna Walsh, 20, of Chicago, plans to attend MacCormac College and major in Sports Medicine. Her user name is Jenziebaby.
Nate McGee, 21, of Wichita, attends Wichita State University and majors in Psychology and Creative Writing. His user name is NjMcGee.
Chrissy Celotto, 26, of Rock Hill, South Carolina, attends Winthrop University and majors in Interior Design. Her user name is Van Wilder.
Jason Stephens, 27, of Utica, attended Utica College of Syracuse University and majored in Business Management and Marketing. His user name is ChiKappaDelta.
Virtualrush.com is a niche social network centered on collegiate life that allows viewers to join the virtual Cyprus-Rhodes University community by creating a profile and uploading content. After creating a profile, a visitor can select a co-ed fraternity or sorority they'd like to join or they can take a personality quiz to see if they should join GREEK's resident "Slacker" Cappie in Kappa Tau or "It Girl" Casey and the Zeta Beta Zetas. They can interact with other members of the community and be ranked by the community to be eligible for a walk-on role and other prizes. Visitors who create online profiles for virtualrush.com must be 18 years or older, but younger fans can visit the site, vote for their favorite photos & videos, and post comments.
GREEK, a new original series by creator Sean Smith, is a dramedy set at fictitious Cyprus-Rhodes University, which focuses on social minefield that is the Greek system. Viewers will see this unique cast of characters navigate their way through this treacherous terrain as they try to find their place at Cyprus-Rhodes University. Shawn Piller ("Wildfire," "The Dead Zone"), Lloyd Segan ("Wildfire," "The Dead Zone") and Anne Kenney ("Beautiful People," "The Division") serve as executive producers. Patrick Sean Smith ("Summerland," "Wildfire") is creator/co-executive producer. The ensemble cast includes Jacob Zachar as Rusty, Spencer Grammer as Casey, Scott Michael Foster as Cappie, Jake McDorman as Evan, Paul James as Calvin, Clark Duke as Dale, Amber Stevens as Ashleigh and Dilshad Vadsaria as Rebecca.
Part of the Disney-ABC-TV Group, ABC Family, distributed in over 91 million homes, features original movies, series and specials reflecting today's families and entertaining and connecting with adults through relevant stories about today's relationships, all told with diversity, dysfunction, passion, humor and heart. ABC Family's programming is a mix of quality acquired series and theatricals as well as original movies and scripted dramas. ABC Family is also the destination for Holiday events with "13 Nights of Halloween" and "25 Days of Christmas" branded programming events. ABC Family. A New Kind of Family.
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