Life little changed for local star of MTV's 'Road Rules'

By NATALIE STOREY Chronicle Staff Writer

Abram Boise has noticed he has a few female admirers lately, although they aren't exactly in what he would describe as his target female audience.

Ever since Boise got back to Bozeman from a stint as cast member on MTV's Road Rules, his friends' little sisters and daughters of co-workers have been asking about the blonde 20-year-old.

But Boise, who is quoted on MTV's Web site as saying he is "passionate about wooing women," said being on Road Rules hasn't helped him out very much in the dating department.

"I'm sure it doesn't hurt," he said. "But it's not like there are flocks surrounding me."

Road Rules is a reality TV show in which cast members travel around a country in an recreational vehicle performing missions like climbing up the side of a hot air balloon to retrieve a flag. The program airs at 8 p.m. on Mondays. Boise was part of Road Rules South Pacific, which was filmed in Fiji and is the 12th season of the show. Two episodes of the show have aired.

Boise said he thinks he comes off as a male chauvinist on the show, but says there is much more to his personality than the outspoken skirt chaser who appears on TV.

"My real attitude toward women is really not at all like what is on the show," he said, claiming he is actually a romantic.

Besides his genuine attitude toward women, Boise said there are other aspects of his personality he thought received less air time than his "wild side," such as his faith in God and his sense of social consciousness.

"Now that I'm back, I really question whether or not they put me on a show with people they knew I would have controversy with," Boise said.

Boise said MTV used a lot of footage from times when he and other cast members had been drinking.

Friend Zac Mienk watched the show and said he thought Boise is more complex than the character who appears on Road Rules.

"I always thought those shows tend to focus on drama, and I knew it didn't portray, completely, the Abram I know," Mienk said.

Boise said constantly having to deal with MTV's cameras didn't bother him. In fact, in the first episode of the show he felt comfortable enough with the cameras to strip off his clothing and swim in the ocean.

"There was something about the cameras that made me say, 'Hey I'm gonna get naked and run around on national television.'"

On the trip, cast members had to sleep together every night in the RV, weren't allowed to accept rides from other people on the island and they only had $15 a day each to live on. They had a 2 a.m. curfew every night and they had to park the RV in a specific place each night.

Boise has been invited back to MTV to participate in a Road Rules/Real World challenge show, which MTV will begin filming in July. He said he knows little about the challenge show.

Restrictions in his contract prevent Boise from talking too extensively about the actual filming of the show and the audition process. However, he said during his interviews, he succeeded in convincing naive MTV casting agents that he had been attacked by a bear as a child. Eventually he told the casting agents the truth, but the fabricated story helped him land a spot on the show.

Boise, a native of Livingston, has always been outspoken. He is a senior studying prelaw at the University of Montana-Western, in Dillon, and will be the student body president in the fall.

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