Jenny McCarthy Says She 'Snuck In' to “Singled Out” Audition After MTV Rejected Her '17 Times' for Being a Playmate
"If you got a dream, you got to put action towards it," McCarthy said of facing constant rejection during the early aughts of her career
Jenny McCarthy isn't afraid to be persistent when it comes to making her dreams come true.
On Monday's episode of Watch What Happens Live, the former Playboy Bunny recalled the early aughts of her career and how she ended up "back at zero," but always had faith she would "make it again" after leaving the Playboy mansion.
After countless of auditions, McCarthy, 51, eventually landed herself a spot hosting MTV's Singled Out, a dating game show which ran from 1995 to 1998. The feat, she said, was thanks to her sheer effort.
"I got cast on MTV, but they rejected me 17 times," she told host Andy Cohen. "They said, ‘We’ll never have a Playmate on this network.’"
Despite the constant nos, McCarthy snuck into auditions and "disguised myself" until she was one of the final two contenders for the role. Eventually, casting executives were able to connect the dots and recognized the former model from her centerfold days.
"They were like, ‘Are you that Playmate that kept calling?’ I’m like, '[laughs].' So that was it," she said, adding that she was up against another female comedian whose name she couldn't remember.
"She was doing jokes! I wasn’t. I was just being strong. Cause you have to be with all these guys. So I was being kooky and just myself and I got it," she explained.
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Cohen gave her props for her determination and noted that her presence said "everything" despite her rejections.
"It does," McCarthy replied. "If you got a dream, you got to put action towards it."
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Though The Masked Singer judge has previously admitted that her time at the Playboy Mansion wasn't quite all sunshine and rainbows, she's credited founder Hugh Hefner for her start in entertainment and giving her the "the opportunity of a lifetime."
“There’s always those people in your life that change the course of your life, and I think about how many people he affected just through me alone,” McCarthy said on SiriusXM's The Jenny McCarthy Show the day after Hefner died in 2017. “Giving me the opportunity to move my parents out of a bad neighborhood and into a good neighborhood; pay off their debts; pay off my college loan; move to Los Angeles so I could pursue my dream."
“It was the thing that made me who I am today,” she continued. “[And Hef] was always supportive, always proud. Whenever I would see him he would always say, ‘You’re doing such a good job.’ I hope I did. I hope I did make him proud."
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