[B]Reality Blurred Article on Eric and Jessica[/B]
[quote]Eric Stein and Jessica Hughbanks are still a couple, five weeks after leaving the Big Brother 8 house and reentering the real world.
Their romance is "still going strong," and Eric and Jessica "plan to continue their long-distance relationship until Jessica graduates, then see what happens," the Wichita Eagle's Denise Neil reports. But in the short term, they'll only see each other on holidays, although Eric just spent a week with Jessica in Kansas.
When they are together, fans respond. "People are always really happy to see that we're together and that we're having such a good time with each other," Eric said. Some of those fans are apparently actually calling them "Jeric" (because smashing two names together is still apparently new and hip) and others are campaigning to get them cast on The Amazing Race.
As to their experience this summer, the paper doesn't focus much on the game, but both are critical of this season's winner, **** Donato. "He was edited in a favorable manner. They made him look heroic. But it wasn't really like that," Eric said.
He recently "quit his job at a New York City talent agency, [and] isn't sure what he'll do next. He's taking some time off to decompress and might start looking for work after the first of the year. He hopes to find a job in the entertainment field. Jessica is just one year away from finishing her broadcast journalism degree at Wichita State University, and she'll go back to school in January," according to the paper.
[url=http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/big_brother_8/2007_Oct_29_eric_jessica_together]reality blurred + Big Brother 8's Eric and Jessica are still together[/url]
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Wichita Eagle Article on Eric and Jessica
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[I]Catching up with 'Big Brother's' Jessica, Eric[/I]
Yes, they're still very much together -- and plan to be for a long time. Yes, Evel **** was as evil as he appeared -- and maybe even more.
And yes, actually, Eric does kind of like Kansas after all.
Earlier this week, I had the chance to sit down with two of last summer's most popular "Big Brother 8" houseguests -- Haysville's Jessica Hughbanks, 21, and her on-screen/off-screen love, Eric Stein, 27.
The pair has been out of the "Big Brother" house for a little more than five weeks, and both have been busy trying to fall back into their old lives -- now altered by their reality stardom.
Today, Eric will fly home to New York City, ending a seven-day stay with Jessica and her family.
I met up with the pair last week for a 45-minute chat in Jessica's parents' homey Haysville living room.
It was fun, if not a little bit surreal, to talk with Jessica and Eric -- or Jeric, as their fans call them.
I loved watching this summer's "Big Brother," a CBS reality show that traps 14 people in a house where cameras (and fans with Internet access and too much time on their hands) can watch their every move.
Jessica and Eric, who often appeared to be the only mentally fit people in the house, became my two favorite houseguests over the course of the summer. So it was a treat to have their undivided attention and a chance to ask them any old thing I wanted.
While we talked, Jessica, in a slinky sweater dress and tall boots, cuddled close to Eric, who was wearing a ribbed sweater and his signature inner-ear earring.
It was obvious that the pair's summertime romance was still going strong, and they confirmed it.
They've been able to see each other regularly since the show wrapped up. They traveled to Los Angeles for the Fox Reality Channel's "Really" awards, where they picked up a trophy for "Best Shomance."
Jessica then went to New York City, where she met Eric's family and went with him to see Broadway's "Legally Blonde."
Then, it was Eric's turn to travel to Kansas, where he met Jessica's family, did a few radio interviews and determined that Wichita wasn't terribly different from the suburban New York City town he grew up in.
"We don't have fields," he said with a laugh. "But there are the same stores and the same kinds of things... I actually like it a little more peaceful and quiet."
Eric's week-long Haysville visit included a side trip to Odessa, Texas, where the two appeared at a hockey game.
And in March, the two will be paid to embark on a "Big Brother 8" cruise with the rest of the cast and a literal boatload of fans.
Oh -- and their devoted fan base has started a campaign to get CBS to cast "Team Jeric" on "The Amazing Race." (To find info on joining in, visit loripadillaphotography.typepad.com/teamjeric/).
Tough life, huh?
Among the other topics I discussed with Eric and Jessica:
• America's Player: The last time viewers saw Eric and Jessica on "Big Brother," he'd just revealed to her that he'd been working all summer as "America's Player," basically doing the viewers' bidding behind his roommates' backs.
The task was difficult, Eric said, but the most difficult part was keeping it from Jessica.
He was a wreck on finale night waiting for her reaction.
At first, she said, she was confused. It took days before she truly understood what Eric's role had entailed.
After the finale, they stayed up all night talking, Jessica said. And once everything was all clear, she was fine with it.
"I hoped she would be understanding, and she took it as well as anyone could be expected to," Eric said.
• Evel ****: Though the two say they have no hard feelings toward any of their former housemates, they had choice words for **** Donato, who won the show's $500,000 prize.
Both said they were appalled by Donato's caustic reign of terror. They kept waiting for the mean streak to backfire on him, but it never did -- partially because Donato had an unwavering ally in his daughter, Danielle, and partially because the viewers were keeping him on the show via Eric's America's Player votes.
"He was edited in a favorable manner," Eric said. "They made him look heroic. But it wasn't really like that."
• Being famous: Getting used to fame has been... interesting, both Eric and Jessica said.
They're not noticed as much when they're alone in public. But when they're together, they're swarmed.
"People are always really happy to see that we're together and that we're having such a good time with each other," Eric said.
• Carol: Three sets of this season's "Big Brother" contestants were stuck in the house with a surprise "rival" from their past.
Jessica was one of them. Fellow Campus High graduate Carol Journey was cast as Jessica's rival -- though it all fizzled when Carol was the first person evicted from the house.
The two were best friends as kids, then got caught up in silly high school competitiveness.
"That was the fall of us," Jessica said. "We were so competitive with each other."
They haven't talked at all since the show wrapped, but Jessica says she doesn't consider Carol an enemy. In fact, she thinks they might have teamed up on the show had Carol stayed longer.
• What's next: Eric, who quit his job at a New York City talent agency, isn't sure what he'll do next. He's taking some time off to decompress and might start looking for work after the first of the year. He hopes to find a job in the entertainment field.
Jessica is just one year away from finishing her broadcast journalism degree at Wichita State University, and she'll go back to school in January.
She's also rejoining the Thunder dance team and hopes to get her spot back on the Wichita Wild dance team, as well.
The two plan to continue their long-distance relationship until Jessica graduates, then see what happens. In the short term, they plan to see each other for all of the upcoming holidays, both of their birthdays and the cruise.
"We're kind of taking it a day at a time," Eric said.
[URL]http://www.kansas.com/164/story/212047.html[/URL]
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