CJ Perry Was Blown Away By Getting The Surreal Life Gig, Bonded With Dennis Rodman

In an interview with Fightful, CJ Perry spoke about getting cast on The Surreal Life and bonding with Dennis Rodman on their time in wrestling. Here are highlights:

On getting cast on the show: “I feel, in life, you have to work really hard. You have to be diligent and disciplined, have a good attitude. You might try, try, try over and over again and get ‘No’s’, but all that work will, at some point, pay off. All the big jobs in my life, that kind of happened. With Pitch Perfect, randomly got the job, and the Surreal Life, the same thing. It blows my mind of how many people—I believe that production was telling me they cast this for over eight months. I never auditioned for it. Literally, the day after I got released, I got a call from my manager being like, ‘The Surreal Life wants you.’ I was like, ‘Wait, so the Surreal Life with like Brigitte Nielson that I based my entire character off on WWE? Like Flavor Flav?’ Yes, yes. It’s so crazy,” she added. “So I was blown away. Really, really blown away. I was really, really nervous going into it because I had just gotten released. So I was going through all these emotional ups and downs and trying to figure it out, what do I want to do? What am I going to do? I was so focused on everything wrestling, WWE, wanted to become Champion. It was interesting being thrown into this situation where I’m living with seven strangers who are all celebrities and from all different walks of life, all different perspectives, different cultures, different religions, different careers, and we’re put in this huge, beautiful house in Mexico City with no doors, by the way. That, on the other side, that’s giving me anxiety, and cameras at all times. Not just sometimes, but literally cameras everywhere, mics everywhere—even in the bathroom.”

On meeting the cast: “So I would definitely get anxious about it. But it was interesting being put in that where someone like Kim Coles. Kim Coles, Tamar Braxton, even Dennis Rodman, they gave me so much great advice for what I was going through. I don’t know if that will make the cut or not make the cut. There’s only so much that you can put into seven episodes. We don’t know much. I don’t know if it’s seven episodes, nine episodes, six episodes. There’s been a lot of things floating around and I’m going to be watching these episodes for the first time on Twitter with you guys. So I’m not sure what will make it and what will not, so you guys will have to tune in. But, truly grateful because Kim gave me so much great advice after she finished with Living Single and Living Color, and then Tamar with giving so much different advice with things she’s gone through. Really it was Dennis Rodman that—it’s gonna be really interesting to see how it all plays out on the show—but instantly we had a connection because of wrestling.”

On bonding with Dennis Rodman: “Of course. The first thing, I couldn’t believe Dennis Rodman was there. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, Dennis Rodman! This is crazy!’ Then also because he was in wrestling and I think that was so cool and incredible. He’s always able to somehow be relevant in pop culture,” she said. “So he really got to evolve and I didn’t want to hear that. I was like, ‘What? I’m sorry, I want to be champion.’ He retired at thirty-six. Just like giving me things that at first I was not so happy to hear, but sometimes honesty is the best policy and it really made me, after leaving, really keep that into perspective. He would always be like, ‘Why are you gonna do something that you’re good at? Do something that you’re great at. You’re great on the mic. You’re great at managing.’ He’s like, ‘You’re always going to compete against Charlotte Flair in the ring.’ I would get hot about it. In hindsight, I’m really grateful for that experience because I took a lot inside and thought about a lot of those things. Then moving forward, everything I do, I’m like, ‘I want to be great at it. Even if I loved this, I love it and it makes me happy, I don’t want to do things that I’m good at. I want to do things that I’m great at and I’m not going to compromise that anymore.’