Return to Reality
By Jammes McGarrigle
In the summer of 2000 former UTA student Eddie McGee survived 88 days in the “Big Brother” house, becoming reality TV’s original big winner.
He survived cancer at age 11, which cost him his left leg, but whether or not his acting career can survive the legacy of the show remains to be seen.
Four years have passed since he stepped out of those famous doors and back into the world. With the media circus long gone McGee said he has the chance to take stock of his current situation.
“It was a total zoo,” McGee said. “I definitely had my 15 minutes of fame back when I first got out. I got a few offers from a couple of other reality shows so I could have gone in and made a good few bucks but I opted not to and tried to make the right decision.”
As a broadcasting major and a theater minor McGee maintains that working in the entertainment industry is something he had long since wanted to pursue as a career. In leaving behind the threat of overexposure, he said he held back in spending the $500,000 he won on “Big Brother.” He said his largest personal extravagance was a 1987 Buick Grand National, not coming till two years later.
“The government took more than half of it,” he said. “I invested a good deal and with the rest of it I put my little brother through college. I’m proud to say he graduated with a degree in criminal justice from a university here in New York.”
McGee’s slow and steady attitude has seen him booked for five films since the show and two television programs. His most notable role was his appearance in the 2001 independent production Drop Dead Roses, which received nationwide release through Blockbuster in May earlier this year. He is currently keeping himself busy with a smaller role in a science fiction/comedy project entitled Mattie Fresno and the Holoflux Universe which might be out as early as next year.
Despite the lighter side to the roles he has taken McGee said he performs his acting duties with a sense of obligation.
“In film and TV when you’re telling a story you’re gonna need your John Candys, the big heavy guys, and your gonna need the little guys like Danny DeVito,” he said. “It’s the responsibility of TV and film to properly portray a crosscut of cultures and there are no disabled actors out there. You can’t name one disabled actor and yet we make up, I think it’s 52 million Americans. Sooner or later some disabled actor is going to break through and do it.”
McGee keeps in touch with close friends among the faculty and staff, who say they can see the character of the boy they know shining through in some of his roles. Drop Dead Roses features a scene of McGee vaulting over a desk with the irrepressible, childlike enthusiasm friends know of him. Elsa Corral, administrative assistant for the office of the president, has kept an eye on his film work.
“I’ve seen him do that all the time,” Corral said. “Instead of walking round the counter he’ll jump over the counter. Watching that we all kind of looked at each other and thought, ‘oh my God that’s so him.’”
Part of McGee’s game plan for the future includes keeping reality TV at arms length. He insists he won’t be lining up to take part in any all-star reunion and seldom takes time to touch base with the reality shows that currently flood our television screens.
“It was a rarity,” he said. “I was there for the first wave, nowadays they’re everywhere. They’re opening malls, they’re doing Bar Mitzvahs, sweet sixteens they’re everywhere. Reality stars are a dime a dozen, so if you think that its going to help out your career then you’re sadly mistaken.”
He admits to catching the first few minutes of this season’s “Big Brother” just to observe how the producers have redesigned his old room. Aside from that, though, he says he is happy to leave it behind.
McGee first came to UTA on the wings of a scholarship for wheelchair basketball in 1996. He maintains a close relationship with mentor Jim Hayes, coach of the Movin’ Mavs, who still holds Eddie to his promise to finish his college education someday.
“He is the one kid in my 30-year history here that calls me every Father’s Day, every New Year’s and on my birthday,” Hayes said. “Whether I’m there or not there’s a nice long message on the answering machine. Typical Eddie McGee, sometimes its 3 o’clock in the morning.”
In remembrance of his friend, Hayes has a pair of McGee’s old Puma training shoes held alongside various awards in the corner of his office trophy cabinet. One day, in accordance with the current student fad, McGee raced into the gym and hurled his old shoes up into the rafters where they stayed for a good while, Hayes said. Since they were removed by the staff, he said he has been keeping hold of them.
“One day when he comes back here I’ll return them to him framed — maybe once he finishes up his education,” he said.
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Return to Reality
