Jenny McCarthy on Love in the Wild Season 2: "By Forcing These Kids Into the Adventures, They Drop Their Representative — and Their True Colors Come Out"

On May 10, 2012, NBC held a press call with Jenny McCarthy ahead of the Season 2 premiere of Love in the Wild, set to debut Thursday, June 7th with a special two-hour episode at 8 p.m. McCarthy — who replaced the show's original host for its second season — spoke about bringing her son to the Dominican Republic for four weeks of production, the philosophy behind the show's format, and why she ended up on crutches while the contestants dove off cliffs unscathed.

By forcing these kids into the adventures so quickly within the first hour of meeting them, they drop their representative. Their representative can't survive what we're making them do — and their true colors come out.

Why she said yes to a second-season show

McCarthy was candid about her initial hesitation: "When they first asked me to do the show I thought to myself — to go on a show on the second season I needed to know that the format worked. If the format didn't work, no amount of bleach or pushup bras is going to help the show." She watched every episode of Season 1 back to back before agreeing: "I saw that the format indeed did work. The format I fell in love with. I thought it really brought out people's authentic selves quickly, it had adventure, it had drama." Her core insight about why the show works: "You send out your representatives when you first start dating and that representative is selling you. In the show, by forcing these kids into the adventures so quickly within the first hour of meeting them, they drop their representative. Their representative can't survive what we're making them do and their true colors come out. In the real world it might have taken them six months to see a red flag — whereas they see it by day two because of the show."

Four weeks in the Dominican Republic — with her son

McCarthy brought her son Evan to the shoot for the full four weeks: "As a single mom I kind of need to drag him everywhere I go. It was one of the most incredible experiences of both of our lives. Evan fell in love with the island, I fell in love with the culture." She described the workload: "It's not like I can drag a teleprompter to the jungle. I had intricate dialog that were sometimes four pages typed out — full pages — about maps and where they need to lead to and what they need to do specifically and I couldn't mess up one word. I was memorizing four hours a night and then working sometimes 14-hour days." She paused, then added: "Then I made out with somebody at the wrap party. Okay."

The biggest surprise: she was the one who got hurt

McCarthy described the show's adventures as genuinely dangerous: "These kids were doing such dangerous adventures — I couldn't believe what we were asking them to do. Huge athletes couldn't have done half of the stuff we made these kids do. Cliff diving, jumping ropes with snakes, having to carry tarantulas over — it's like Fear Factor and Survivor combined in the same soup." The twist: "I was the one that wound up on crutches. I pulled my hamstring so for like two episodes I had to be carried around on crutches — and I pulled my hamstring while I was sleeping. So I felt like a real wuss. That was the biggest surprise for me of the whole trip — that I was the injured one while these poor kids diving off cliffs managed to make it."

Dating advice from the show's host

Asked for dating tips, McCarthy offered two she'd developed from personal experience: "On your first few dates, keep an eye on how your man treats the service industry — your waitress, your waiter, the valet person. You can kind of see someone bleed through if they're snappy or rude or not respectful to people that are trying to help you out. I take that as a big red flag and that person doesn't usually get a second date." Her second test: "If you make it to two weeks or a month, the next litmus test is to go on a weekend trip somewhere. Spending at least three days somewhere, you can again see the true self even if it comes out for just five minutes. So that's usually how I keep going or end it immediately — and it seems to have done me well." Love in the Wild Season 2 premiered Thursday, June 7th, on NBC.

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