News

Saltillo High graduate to be featured on MTV

January 13, 2008 - Daily Journal

TUPELO - Cable network MTV was in Tupelo on Friday to follow around a Saltillo High School graduate as she shopped and ate downtown.

The footage is for an upcoming MTV show called, "True Life: I'm a Southern Belle."

Raini Fountain is a freshman at Ole Miss and auditioned for the show during a casting call in October on campus. Fountain, a 2007 graduate of Saltillo High School, auditioned because she thought she was the typical Southern belle. Her definition of a Southern belle?

"Someone who is always dressed up and done up to a T," she said, readjusting her hot pink Juicy Couture purse. "She always has her nails done, jewelry and accessories on, she's always with her family, and she enjoys a good home-cooked meal."

Her boyfriend, Justin Smith, who accompanied her during the trip downtown, said he couldn't stop laughing when she said she was going to audition.

"There was no way she was going to get it," he said.

But she did. Plans are still tentative, but it looks like two of the three women featured on the show will be Ole Miss students. MTV did not specify when the show will air.

Reality spin
"True Life" started in 1998 and is the network's award-winning documentary series that tells the "remarkable real-life stories of young people and the unusual subcultures they inhabit," according to MTV.

Previous episodes include "I'm Addicted To Crystal Meth," "I'm a Competitive Eater" and "I'm Moving To Vegas." The series tells its stories solely from the voices and points of view of its characters.

During Fountain's trip to downtown, she ate at THE FAIRPARK GRILL with Smith and then went shopping at Omi Boutique. Karen Trumpore, the owner at Omi, said she didn't know about the visit until about three hours before, when the store got a call about signing a release form for the filming.

After going to Omi, Fountain said she was going to continue shopping around, just like it was a "typical day."

"Then maybe we'll go to the bowling alley," said the elementary education major.

Fountain grew up in Ocean Springs but relocated to Saltillo after Hurricane Katrina.

By Carlie Kollath

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