'Trading Spaces' comes to campus

By Cara Quackenbush

While most Santa Clara students enjoyed the last remaining days of Winter Break, four Delta Gamma seniors returned early to get a head start.

Their pre-quarter training, beginning Friday, Jan. 4 through Saturday, Jan. 6, included a starring role in one of The Learning Channel's (TLC) most popular daytime programs, and a lesson in "reality" television.

Typically featuring older couples, 21-year-olds Chrissie Leibman and Lisa Sunseri of the Delta Gamma sorority house and Courtney Chatalas and Nicole Volpe of "Blue House" became the youngest group to ever participate in TLC's "Trading Spaces."

During the hour-long program, neighbors trade houses for two days, each pair choosing a room in the house to have redecorated. Along with an interior designer, a carpenter and a $1,000 budget, the neighboring couples transform each others living rooms, kitchens, dining rooms � or in this case a chapter room and a living room � into more comfortable places for the sorority sisters to spend time.

"[The producers] were looking for a change of pace from married couples and an older audience," Director of Photography Mark Gambol, who works closely with both the guests and producers, said. "That's who typically own houses, so they went in search of some younger people."

According to Gambol, the show hasn't specifically targeted a narrow set of demographics in the past because all different kinds of people watch the show.

"Every college female I know watches the show. I knew it was a popular show, but I didn't realize how popular," Leibman said. "We didn't realize it would be such a production."

The "production" was caused by a "highly secretive" operation, involving an entourage of "Trading Spaces" trucks, crew members and equipment.

The commotion drew neighbors of all ages to the two houses. Some crawled on the sidewalk to see into the rooms and others held up hand-made signs for hours. One woman made her way past security and into "Blue House" looking for television cameras and a glimpse of the show's famous carpenter Ty Pennington.

"She was trying to catch her 15 seconds of fame," Leibman said.

In addition to the unexpected attention, the weekend was also full of other surprises for the four women.

"Being the learning channel it's education-oriented, and I was really surprised at the things that were staged," Chatalas said. This included a sewing machine with no thread and several crew members � including the producer � who also rolled up their sleeves while the camera wasn't rolling.

Chatalas and Volpe described a part at the end of each show called the "hurry-up scene." The scene's purpose is to create tension, making one couple look as though they will not have the room finished on time.

Because Chatalas and Volpe were so on top of things, they were actually told to slow down.

"We had to take down the curtains to make it look like we had just installed them," Chatalas said.

In fact, it seemed the only obstacle to a smooth shoot came long before the filming even began. In order to bring their cameras on campus, the producers were required to obtain a permit from the Santa Clara University administration.

According to Chatalas and Volpe, the school's administration was not initially supportive of the request, expressing concern about how Delta Gamma and Santa Clara University would be portrayed.

"The school said that they wouldn't have chosen this show to portray the school. But what show would you choose?" Chatalas said.

"Because its The Learning Channel you can't swear ... you have to wear a huge shirt ..." Volpe added. "For me its unfortunate because I would be more connected to the school than to my sorority if it didn't act the way it did."

The administration eventually did agree to grant the program a photography permit, but refused to turn on the Benson fountain for the short on-campus photo shoot. According to the administration, this was due to their efforts to conserve water and energy over the break.

Despite the school's reservations, the women felt that they took their role as role models for the school quite seriously.

"There were four of us representing thousands and thousands of people � the Delta Gamma chapter, Santa Clara University, all sorority girls, 21-year-olds ... that's a lot of labels put on four people," Leibman said.

"The average couple on the show is not really responsible to any group, so if they do something stupid its not a big deal. Its kind of a lot of pressure," she added.

At the end of the three days, both houses were pleased with their new living spaces.

"We didn't want it to look like a college living room at all," Leibman said. Instead, they preferred something "classy." "elegant," and "DG-ish."

"You can tell it wasn't overly expensive � for one room $1,000 isn't a lot. But it still looks good," Delta Gamma senior Wendy Gibson said.

According to Gambol, the segment will be aired in late April or early March along with a sorority/fraternity segment from the University of California, Berkeley, with a spring break theme.