Here is a speech Joshua made at Oklahoma University. Enjoy!
Friday, April 9, 1999
Road Rules star speaks at OU
Kristen Wright
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news@daily.ou.edu
Students arrived to Professor Jon Nussbaum's class Wednesday expecting another lecture about communication. They got the lecture -- from a star of MTV's Road Rules.
Joshua Florence is the 22-year-old blond from Road Rules, South America. What many people don't know is that he is an advertising junior at the University of North Texas. He is also engaged to his girlfriend, Tara Vaughn, who was never mentioned on Road Rules. He even plays the role of father. His daughter's name is Mackenzie, Florence said.
Florence came to Nussbaum's communication in society class to speak about his different roles and relationships on Road Rules.
"It (Road Rules) can be very melodramatic, I know. But life can be very melodramatic," Florence said.
Road Rules is an MTV show with a cast, but no actors. Six 18- to 20-somethings spend about two months together, traveling in an RV. The producers give the group missions every episode, and cameras capture everything the cast does. Some mission examples are tagging crocodiles, looking for tarantulas and spending the night in a ghost-infested motel.
Florence was a cast member in the South American episodes, now showing on MTV. People like to watch this group on Road Rules because of Gladys and Abe. Gladys was kicked off the show for fighting Abe, Florence said.
"She whupped him good," Florence said. "I knew something was weird as soon as I rounded the corner. There's a camera in my face and as I walked in, I could just feel this nasty vibe in the air."
Each 22-minute Road Rules episode is edited from 80 to 90 hours of tape a week. The camera crew wakes up the cast at 6 a.m. and tapes into the first five minutes of their sleep at night, Florence said.
"We would fake like we went to bed -- and then get up and go out," Florence said.
The Road Rules producers act like pop-psychologists in screening potential cast members, Nussbaum said. They must predict how different individuals will react together.
"People like the drama, you know. Like Jerry Springer," Florence said. "It's proven to work. Road Rules and Real World are the two highest rated MTV shows."
Florence admits he didn't censor his actions on Road Rules.
"My mom's a super-turbo conservative Southern woman," Florence said. "She almost soiled her drawers."
In real life we don't have cameras watching our every moves, but communication involves censoring ourselves, Nussbaum said.
Not all college students watch Road Rules, but after Wednesday's surprise lecture, there may be some new fans.
"Besides him being attractive, he's a real down-to-earth person," said Myeshia Wallace, sociology and communication sophomore. "He convinced me to start watching the show."
Florence left his audience with a hint about the upcoming final Road Rules, South America episode. It involves Abe's chihuahua, Menudo.
"Two days after we got home, Abe called me crying his eyes out," Florence said. "Menudo got hit by a van and died. But he got a new female chihuahua for his birthday -- named Selena."
It's rumored there will be a five-minute memorial dedication to Menudo on the final show, Florence said.
"You'll see clips of him in slow-motion," Florence said.
Here is an article I found on the internet about Holly from RR7!
MTV captures CU student's life on the 'Road'
By Greg Glasgow
For the Camera
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When 20-year-old University of Colorado student Holly Shamb learned she had been selected as a member of the 1999 cast of MTV's "Road Rules" series, she wasn't in total disbelief.
"I was definitely surprised, because you don't expect it to happen," she says. "But when I left the final interview in L.A., I just had a good feeling."
Shamb, now 21, was chosen to join five other young adults for an eight-week trek through Latin America. They took on a series of challenges designed by the producers of "Road Rules," the seventh season of which debuts at 8 p.m. Monday on MTV.
Creator Jonathan Murray is pleased with the latest episodes.
"Our goal with 'Road Rules' has always been to reinvent, to not become predictable," Murray says. "It was a little daring to go to Latin America. We wanted to show Americans some of the people and places you won't find on the tourist maps. We tried to give the season the overall theme: 'Don't Judge a Book by its Cover.' "
That theme applies to the cast as well. Though each member appears very different on the surface, they got along so well that Shamb claims "we were the most cohesive cast they've ever picked. We all genuinely cared about each other. I feel very, very close (to the other cast members). We don't talk on the phone that much, but every time I see them it's like no time has passed. I think about them a lot, but they don't necessarily know that."
Of the current cast's six members, Shamb, who grew up in Durango, is one of three with Colorado ties. Twenty-one-year-old Josh attends the Aspen-based Colorado Mountain College, and Brian, 23, is a University of Colorado graduate living in Philadelphia (MTV won't release their last names; Shamb didn't mind telling her last name). Besides being one of the most athletic members of the cast — she runs at least seven miles a day — Shamb was the only fluent speaker of Spanish, which came in handy on the trip.
"Holly was great coming in and great going out," Murray says. "She was the glue that helped hold the group together. She was profoundly affected by her experiences, but she always handled herself with dignity."
Shamb calls her "Road Rules" experience "the most eye-opening adventure of my life. I saw things I never would have seen and met people I never would have met. It was a little scary because they take you away from what is familiar and what you know, and put you with five strangers, in a strange land. Your fears and anxieties are heightened."
Murray says that when casting the show, he looks for a group of people from a broad spectrum, with different socioeconomic and racial backgrounds. He says he picked Holly because "she's very special — on the outside she can seem very fragile and delicate, yet at the same time she has strong values and a strong compass that she guides her life by."
Shamb believes she was picked for slightly different reasons.
"I've lived a very sheltered, normal, All-American life," she says. "I felt like the most inexperienced person there."
Her most frightening experience on the trip, Shamb says, was spending the night in the jungle with the other cast members. They awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of what they believed were jaguars screaming. The next morning they discovered they had pitched their tent under a canopy of trees that was home to a group of howler monkeys.
Murray, with his partner Mary-Ellis Bunim, also created the popular reality-based MTV program "The Real World." Murray says the idea for "Road Rules" came about when two members of the L.A. cast of "The Real World" (Dom and Tammi) trekked across the country to pick up a third (Jon).
"We thought that 'Real World' took people from around the country and put them in an urban setting: What if we took urban people and sent them out into America?"
Just how real are MTV's "reality-based" shows? Shamb can't speak for "The Real World," but as far as "Road Rules" goes, "it's all real," she says.
"What happens happens, and you're never told what to say or how to act or what you should do."
January 17, 1999
CITRA ROAD TRIP RV CHALLENGE ADDED TO
BRISTOL’S COCA-COLA FAMILY 200 WEEKEND
NASCAR Craftsman Series Drivers to pilot RVs around the high banks of Bristol
ATLANTA, May 12, 1999 — Five NASCAR Craftsman Series drivers soon will be behind the wheel of full-sized recreational vehicles for one of the year’s most unusual races — the Citra Road Trip RV Challenge. And to make things more interesting, it won’t be over until four out of five of them run out of gas before reaching the checkered flag.
In the Citra Road Trip RV Challenge on June 5, NASCAR drivers Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Ron Hornaday, Andy Houston and Mike Wallace will pilot Fleetwood RVs around the Bristol Motor Speedway, accompanied by five college student finalists. In this particular race, it won’t be speed that wins ¾ instead, the last RV to run out of gas will be declared the winner. And in case the teams of NASCAR drivers and finalists need any help finding their way around the half-mile oval track, the MTV "Road Rules-Latin America" cast — Sarah, Holly, Abe, Brian and Josh — will be on hand to help navigate.
Each of the RVs in the Citra Road Trip RV Challenge will have different amounts of fuel. As each RV runs out of gas, it will sputter to a stop. The finalist riding in the last RV circling the track will win the grand prize, a fully customized Fleetwood RV similar to the one used on this season’s MTV "Road Rules."
Student finalists who are riding shotgun were chosen from events on nearly 50 college campuses around the country. One grand-prize winner from each campus had his or her name entered in a random drawing. From this drawing, five finalists were arbitrarily selected for the chance to compete in the Citra Road Trip RV Challenge.
"This year, Citra has been on a virtual road trip, travelling to numerous cities and college campuses across the country," said Andrew Springate, Citra brand manager. "Having the Citra Road Trip stop at Bristol Motor Speedway is a great opportunity for Citra drinkers to experience the adventure and good times that the NASCAR Craftsman Series brings with it."
Driving the Grainger Ford, Biffle won the 1998 Cintas Rookie-of-the-Year title. Harvick, driver of the Porter-Cable Power Tools Ford, was named 1998 Driver of the Year by the Motor Sports Press Association. Hornaday, driver of the NAPA Brakes Chevrolet, became the first two-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion in 1998 and set records for total wins and short track victories. Houston, driver of The Cat Rental Stores Chevrolet, finished second in the 1998 rookie-of-the-year standings. And driving the Team ASE Racing Ford, Wallace won his first Bud Pole in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 1998.
The newest soft drink from The Coca-Cola Company, Citra is the ultimate thirst-quenching citrus soft drink for active, fun times with friends.
MTV "Road Rules-Latin America" is a show that followed five "regular people" on a road trip through Latin America in a Fleetwood RV. The televised travels of Sara, Holly, Josh, Abe and Brian featured adventures in Mexico, Belize and Costa Rica.
ROAD RULES’ CAST TO MEET BMS FANS IN THE ‘CITRA ZONE’
The five cast members from MTV’s "Road Rules" will meet Coca-Cola Family 200 fans in the "Citra Zone," just prior to the Coca-Cola Family 200/zMAX 100.
From 6-7 p.m., Citra and the "Road Rules" gang consisting of Sarah, Holly, Josh, Abe and Brian, will open the "Citra Zone" on the lower concourse of the Darrell Waltrip grandstand. The "Road Rules" cast members will meet and greet fans and award prizes to attendees who can answer "Road Rules" trivia questions.
Earlier, at 4 p.m., Citra, a thirst-quenching citrus soda from The Coca-Cola Company, will host the "Citra Road Trip RV Challenge" with the "Road Rules" cast. A national contest drew five college students, the finalists in the "Citra Road Trip RV Challenge." Five RVs, occupied by the cast members, the finalists and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers Ron Hornaday, Greg Biffle, Mike Wallace, Kevin Harvick and Andy Houston, will circle the track until four of the five run out of gas.
The student occupying the last RV running will win a Fleetwood RV.
ROAD RULES’ CAST TO SELECT zMAX 100 STARTER
FROM AMONG FANS VISITING THE ‘CITRA ZONE’
BRISTOL, Tenn. (Tuesday, June 1, 1999) – One lucky visitor to the "Citra Zone" will be waving the green flag at the "zMAX 100" for NASCAR’s Slim Jim All-Pro Series on Saturday.
Fans attending the "Coca-Cola Family 200/zMAX 100" doubleheader at Bristol Motor Speedway this Saturday will have a chance to meet the cast of MTV’s "Road Rules" in the "Citra Zone" from 6-7 p.m. on Saturday.
Citra and the "Road Rules" gang consisting of Sarah, Holly, Josh, Abe and Brian, will open the "Citra Zone" on the lower concourse of the Darrell Waltrip grandstand in turn four from 6-7 p.m.. The "Road Rules" cast members will meet and greet fans and award prizes to attendees who can answer MTV and "Road Rules" trivia questions.
The final prize will be a chance to climb the flagstand and wave the green flag for the "zMAX 100" at 7:30 p.m.
Earlier, at 4 p.m., Citra, a thirst-quenching citrus soda from The Coca-Cola Company, will host the "Citra Road Trip RV Challenge" with the "Road Rules" cast. A national contest drew five college students, the finalists in the "Citra Road Trip RV Challenge." Five RVs, occupied by the cast members, the finalists and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers Ron Hornaday, Greg Biffle, Mike Wallace, Kevin Harvick and Andy Houston, will circle the track until four of the five run out of gas.
The student occupying the last RV running will win a Fleetwood RV.
Bristol Motor Speedway, a .533-mile high-banked oval, is a division of Speedway Motorsports, Inc., a New York Stock Exchange company. Speedway Motorsports, the owner and operator of Atlanta, Bristol, Lowe’s (Concord, N.C.), Las Vegas and Texas Motor Speedways, Sears Point Raceway and 600 Racing, is a leading marketer and promoter of motorsports entertainment in the U.S.
