‘For Love or Money’ Bachelor’s Checkered Military Past Exposed

Surprise, surprise. It’s another reality dating show and another failed background check. OK, actually there is one surprise this time – it’s not Fox, but NBC, where this show is currently being aired. But everything else looks remarkably the same, including the fact that The Smoking Gun website is the one who revealed all, earlier today.

The show in question is For Love or Money. The naughty participant? The show’s central bachelor, Rob Campos. The offense? Drunken groping of a female Navy officer’s breasts while he was in the Marines.

Yes, it’s hard to believe that Rob, the man of very few – and dull – words on the first episode could have this other side to him. But then the previews for tonight’s episode have already given us a hint that he may be a different person when drunk.

The Smoking Gun website broke the story and provides a great deal of information they have obtained through numerous interviews. They spoke to an NBC spokesperson, the show’s executive producer, the woman Campos had the incident with, several others familiar with what happened, and even Campos himself.

In short, Campos entered training for the Marines, specifically the Judge Advocate General (JAG) unit, in June of 1998, after having been in private practice as an attorney for several years previously. Part of the training was a 10-week JAG training. Only three weeks into that training, according to the information gathered by The Smoking Gun, Campos knocked at the door of a female Navy officer’s barracks. She opened the door to find Campos, who she knew but not well. He came in and grabbed her breasts (apparently, his version of “Hi, how are you?”). She responded with a well-placed knee to the groin that left him on the floor, whereupon she left. He proceeded to throw up into her bathroom.

Outside of the military, this could have been called “sexual assault” and he could have received jail time. (A friend of mine actually had something similar happen to her once. The guy in question was sentenced to six months of house arrest, though he probably would have been in jail if they hadn’t been so overcrowded.) Instead, he was yanked from the JAG training and sent to Albany, Georgia, to help military personnel do their taxes. He was never promoted past second lieutentant, the rank with which he entered the Marines, and his career officially ended about a year later, even though he was supposed to stay in for over three more years.

Perhaps the worst part of all of this is Rob’s excuse. It sounds more like a stereotypical drunk and dumb frat boy than somebody who has been through law school, private practice, and Marine training. He tried to blame the woman.

Yes, that’s right. The old, sad defense used by accused rapists everywhere: She was asking for it. She trumped up the charges because she was mad at him. Etc.

He claims that he remembers that she had been “making advances” towards him and then he called her and she gave him directions to her room. But then, he blacked out from drunkenness. He actually claims to remember right up until that point, but then conveniently forgot everything else about going to her room, entering the room, etc.

But even then, Rob wasn’t bright enough to shut up when talking to The Smoking Gun. He actually told them, “My buddies said she got angry because I was too drunk to get it up.” I couldn’t believe it when I read that. First, why the hell would anybody be so stupid as to make a comment like that to The Smoking Gun, of all people? Second, why the hell would anybody be so stupid as to make a comment like that, period?

For the record, The Smoking Gun asked if he filed a complaint against her for the supposedly false accusation, well, he didn’t. Gosh. Wonder why.

At the end of last week’s episode, we saw a preview indicating that Rob would get drunk and do something that he needed to apologize for. The Smoking Gun reports that the incident in question will be Rob pushing one of the women with his foot – on her rear. So instead of using his hands on a woman’s breasts, he’s moved down a bit. However, The Smoking Gun suggests that they wouldn’t be surprised if some of his drunken behavior is edited out tonight. I disagree – there was too much in that preview that they’d have to get rid of. There was the incident itself, the apology, and the women giving their thoughts on it. Certainly that incident will echo through the remainder of the show as the women compete for the money, if not for Rob’s affections.

The producers of For Love or Money had used a private investigator to do background checks for the show. When news of this story broke, the P.I. apparently went back to Rob and asked if there was anything irregular about his military service. Rob said no. Well, that’s a great background check! Just ask if there is anything! Sheesh. And let me guess, they spelled his name wrong on the report? Oh, wait, that was Fox’s excuse for the Corey Clark background check screw-up. Anyway, when Rob was confronted with this information later, he claimed he thought it as a private matter. Yeah, because background checks only look at public matters – nothing in private would be an issue, right? Sheesh.

This brings up the question of why the hell he would go on national television? Does he live in a cave (well, his behavior could be described as Neanderthal, though I think that’s giving Neanderthals a bad rap)? Does he not realize that if you have something in your past that you don’t want revealed and you go on a show like this, it will come out?! He was probably sitting pretty in private practice, and likely his current bosses and clients didn’t know anything about his sordid past. Now they do. Now everybody does. Not very smart, Rob. But then, if there is one word I would definitely not associate with Rob at this point, it’s “smart.”

When For Love or Money began, I found myself hoping that in addition to the twists we knew about (the million dollars for the winner, the choice between money or Rob), there would be one final one – that the winner would pick Rob and then the producers would give them both the million to share. In other words, the winner would get both love and money. Awww. Now, however, I want the women to manipulate him like a rag doll. I want them to play him like a fiddle. I want to set Kelly loose on him. They should make him think they are falling in love with him and then drop him like a hot potato when they have the choice for the million.

He took his stupidity on a small scale (though not small to the woman involved, I’m sure) and made it stupidity on a national scale. I’m not sure what he was hoping to get by going on this show, but the scorn and derision that will almost certainly follow these revelations are exactly what he deserves.

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at rno@pobox.com.

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