Avoiding the Drama: An Interview with The Scholar’s Amari

Early this summer, ABC granted us a glimpse into the lives of a handful of college-bound seniors who competed for a full-ride scholarship to the college of their choice in The Scholar. Now, as college is starting, those seniors have once again become freshman and are entering the next stage of their lives. I’ve managed to catch up to a few of them for some interviews in which they reflect on their experiences on the show and share their feelings about their futures.

First up is Amari, who was a definite fan favorite by the end of the show and made it to the Final Three. In this interview with Reality News Online, she shares with us her feelings about the show’s editing, how relationships outside of the game ended up affecting the game, and why people on message boards should watch what they say.

RealityNewsOnline: Hello, Amari. Glad you could join us today!

Amari: Well I am very happy to be here! And glad that there's still interest in the show...

RNO: Okay, first question – How did you hear about The Scholar, and what prompted you to apply?

Amari: I heard about The Scholar from my very fabulous college counselor, Dr. Nissenholtz, who actually appeared on the season finale of the show. I was frequently popping into her office senior year to ask billions of questions, and so one day when I came in she whips out this piece of paper and says, "How would you like to be on TV?" Which seemed very funny "ha ha, sure" at first but then I realized that it was the perfect scholarship for me to apply for! I've got the type of personality that gets a lot of people's attention, I guess, and so I figured the producers would like me. And plus it seemed like a very fun way to potentially win a full ride. It was a scholarship opportunity where, even if you didn't win the whole shebang, you still got a lot out of the process.

RNO: It was definitely fun watching you guys compete. What were your first impressions, when the shooting began?

Amari: Well, when I first found out I was going to be on the show I was very much into the "This is going to be loads of fun!" And then, like a day before meeting everyone, when I was reading the rules and procedures, it started to sink in that hey, this was a competition, and I might very well do poorly, so I was very, very nervous heading into it. Also, everyone seemed to just be very effusive in talking about their accomplishments and such. I don't really like to do that, and so having everyone else lay out all the amazing accomplishments they had had made me think "Wow, these kids are smart; that would be terrible if I were cast to be the stupid one!" But everyone seemed very nice and receptive to making friends with the other cast members.

RNO: Was it difficult for you early on when you weren't getting as much recognition from the others? How did you handle the pressure?

Amari: Well, I think that after the first day or two, I realized that each of us stood out from the others in different ways, and that no one was generally more accomplished than any other person in the house. Ha ha well, I did do some crying in the confessional the first night. Very emotional. But then I got over myself the next day because by then it was clear that I had plenty to offer. Er, in terms of handling the pressure... I think that getting along so well with everyone and being the best person/housemate I could be made everything a whole lot easier to deal with, especially since I kept losing challenges. I think performing well individually and connecting with people outside of the competition made me feel much better when I didn't do so well in team challenges.

RNO: What was it like with all of the other scholars you were competing with living in the same house?

Amari: I think a lot of times competition got separated from what we did together at home. Like sometimes we would go out, do the captain's quiz, then the team challenge, then come home and no one would talk about what had happened that day; we would just become teenagers casually hanging out. But the downside to living with your fellow competitors is that sometimes relationships and interactions we have outside of competition would start influencing the game.

RNO: Any romances that we didn't see on screen?

Amari: No, the major relationships were played out on TV... Ha ha, I mean there was a bunch of, "Oh so and so is cute" and five-minute attractions that came and went quickly, but hey, we are very angsty, hormonal teenagers.

RNO: Haha... Let the record note that you said that, not me...

Amari: Well hey man, it's totally true... if it's something that everyone my age identifies with, then there's no harm in saying so.

RNO: You mentioned that some of the relationships outside of the competition started affecting the game. Can you expound on that?

Amari: Well, for example... The whole Melissa/Max/Alyssa thing caused tension in the film challenge, which they showed playing out. There we were, the Red Team, having a happy, jolly, grand-ol' time and then when we get home we find out that the Gold Team was NOT getting along. So I think that if there was tension between people outside of competition, then it could make it harder to accomplish certain tasks efficiently and without unnecessary conflict.

RNO: I'm still shocked you guys didn't win that one. I really enjoyed the super hero film!

Amari: Awww, thanks, that's very cool of you! Yeah, ha ha, losing a team challenge was nothing new to me on that show, but that one was an especially hard loss and definitely the contest whose outcome I most disagreed with. It was tough, because my team got along with each other so well and we were so happy with what we had produced. The audience really, REALLY enjoyed ours. We were basing it kind of off of that "theatre of the absurd" genre (I think of Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros when I think of this), so it wasn't supposed to be realistic, but I definitely liked the William Shatner caricature that Liz did, that was hysterical. And Scot's character as the disillusioned superhero... Lol there seems to be a disillusioned "someone" in every classic.

RNO: So, switching gears here. Did you feel you were portrayed fairly by the editors?

Amari: I'm very happy with the way I was portrayed, but then again, I didn't get involved in any of the drama that circulated through the house, so I'm sure it would've been hard for the editors to find something damaging to hit me with. Um... at first I was a little perturbed that they showed me all unconfident and such in the third episode when really that emotional "crisis" occurred like the first night. By that point in the competition I wasn't feeling that way. But then I realized that reality TV isn't "real" the way we'd like it to be; they still have storylines, themes, continuity, and development to work with, and so I figured that whatever helped them accomplished that was fine.