by Gina Scarpa

 

Laura may have grown up in Omaha, Nebraska feeling like the ugly duckling but she eventually gained the attention of the boys around her in high school. Flirtatious and fun, Laura was the perfect girl to throw into The Real World house but she wasn't planning on falling for one of her roommates. Her complicated relationship with Trey has been a main storyline thus far this season and today, we got a chance to talk to Laura about that and more in our exclusive interview with her.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What was it about yourself that you were hoping MTV would be drawn to as a cast member for The Real World?
A. Laura: You know, I really didn't know what they would like about me. I'm a really, really outgoing person. I will walk up to anyone and just start talking to them. I don't care who it is. Also, I'm a really, really big flirt which can sometimes get me into trouble. I hoped that would help me out. Because of being adopted, I was hoping MTV would be able to help me locate my biological family. I know that's been done before but it was worth a shot.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Brandon seemed pretty taken with you right off the bat. Did that surprise you?
A. Laura: It did actually surprise me. To me, I just kind of sought a friendship there. It was kind of weird that he felt something stronger. I didn't really see where it came from because to me, I was just unpacking my suitcase and I wasn't planning on showing anybody the papers yet. He asked so I showed him. He kind of felt closer to me because of that. He kind of took it a different way than I did. I wasn't expecting him to like me so much that fast.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Then again, you were immediately attracted to Trey. What was it about him?
A. Laura: Right off the bat, I saw Toya walk in the door followed by Trey. He's my type and he caught my attention.  We don't really know when it started. I really started to have a crush on him when he tackled me into the pool. He didn't remember that the entire season. I blamed him for the crush I had on him. But no... you don't see a lot of the conversations that we had. He opened to me right away, talked about his dad and his family, and he seemed like a genuine, sweet, nice guy. He carried himself really well. He seemed like he was very educated and that's something I always look for. To end up living with him made it that much better.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: I feel like perhaps Trey is getting a little bit of a bad edit but he really doesn't come across like a nice guy when it comes to you. What do you think when you watch your relationship with him back on tv?
A. Laura: I hate watching it! I absolutely hate watching it! I guess while we were experiencing it, I didn't feel like we were as conjoined at the hip as it makes us seem. We made sure to spend time with all our other roommates. He didn't wanna be the next Zach and Ashley and I agreed 100%. You're not getting to see us interacting with the other roommates and having fun with them and you're not getting to us talking. Now, it's getting into jealousy. It wasn't like that the whole time. That really bugs me. It just stinks that it looks like I'm lovesick.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did you feel about the whole situation with Chelsea, the girl he had back home?
A. Laura: I knew about Chelsea since day one. He wanted to make sure that we knew everything that was going on. He did still really care about her. He said that if he wasn't going on the show, he would be dating her. I kind of made things hard and I wasn't worried about that. I was trying to live one day at a time and get Trey to do the same thing as well. I always knew that Chelsea was in the background. That made it tough.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Switching gears, you really looked like you loved your job at the aquarium and being in St. Thomas!
A. Laura: Oh my gosh. Our job was the best job we could've ever gotten! Everybody knows I love animals, of course, and you see it on every episode. That was really, really neat. That was an animal I never would've been able to work with because we don't have water in Nebraska. I was really excited about that. Working with Marie... she was just as excited as I was. We were ready to learn and just see the aquarists work their entire lives for this. Their lives revolve around work and it was a really neat experience. As for St. Thomas, I loved it. It was beautiful. I haven't ever been on a cruise. I've been outside of the country but not somewhere tropical and so I was really excited about going there. When the plane was landing, I was going crazy in my seat and the person next to me looked at me like I was nuts. It was really hot and I didn't like that because it was a bad hair day every day!

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You mentioned earlier about wanting to connect with your biological family. Will we see that play out this season?
A. Laura: You know, I wish you would. I wish I could say, "Stay tuned for it." We were so far away and on an island, there wasn't much I could do. The good news is that I've found them but I haven't talked to them yet. I'm nervous.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Understandable. What do you think is the biggest thing you learned about yourself from being on The Real World?
A. Laura: The biggest thing I've learned about myself... I haven't gotten that question yet. I think I've learned that... I know one thing I need to work on. I need to work on standing up for myself more. I didn't do that in St. Thomas. I didn't put in my two cents as much as my other castmates did. They always knew what to say, how to back somebody up, and I kind of faded into the background. That kind of stinks. Everybody needs a backbone. That's something I've been trying to work on.

 

The Real World: St. Thomas airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on MTV.

 

(Image courtesy of MTV)

 

Follow Gina @ginascarpa