Breaking up with your girlfriend on national TV might be hard to get through, but it could get you a spot on MTV's "College Life."
At least that's what Jordan Hickson found out.
Hickson, a member of the show's current season, is from Mukwonago, Wis., and has been attending Madison University for two years.
Hickson said he has become accustomed to carrying a camera around with him wherever he goes since he joined the show last year.
"On our campus, a lot of people were excited about the show and they didn't think it was a bad thing, and a lot of people liked the show after they watched it," he said. "But a lot of people didn't like the show because our school wasn't on board with it, so we couldn't show the academic side very well."
Hickson said his ex-girlfriend was on "College Life" first, and once they broke up, the producers gave him a camera as well.
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"Well, the main point of the show is that my ex and I are going through our relationship drama in college," he said. "Another girl is going through roommate drama with living in the dorms and living with someone you didn't know and things like that. Another kid, he is trying to adapt to the college life and he parties too much and doesn't get good grades."
Hickson said there are times when the camera should be turned off and he tries to respect that.
"At one point when I didn't have my own camera, me and my girlfriend were going through a really hard time," he said. "I told her to turn off the camera because I didn't want people seeing us breaking down to each other. It was tough just during the really hard times, but after that one point where we had a really hard time it was pretty easy to get through."
Hickson said his friends are very accepting of the almost constant presence of a camera in their daily lives.
"A lot of my friends don't really care," he said. "They know that I have to do it, and I respect them enough that if they say they don't want the camera out I won't bring it out, and we just have fun."
Hickson said parties are among his favorite places to film.
"You have to explain a lot about why you have a camera, but once you have, a lot of people kind of go crazy in front of it. It is just fun," he said. "When you're out at night, people react to it. People react in all sorts of different ways. Some people react to it badly and they say, 'Get that camera off me,' but it's really entertaining."
Hickson said he tries to bring the camera to places where he knows it will be OK to film throughout the night.
"I avoided problems by filming it at a friend's house where I knew it was OK to be filming," he said. "But some people feel weird, and you have to get permission to film where you're at, so basically once you get permission, you have the right. If people say they don't like it, and they don't want to be on it, then you just try and respect them and make sure the camera isn't pointed towards them."
Hickson said he likes doing the show because it is different from most reality TV where there will be a whole camera crew following a subject around.
"It's a mini camera, and you take it everywhere," he said. "The only
people you have around you are people who collect tapes from the camera and people to collect release forms from people, but other than that no one is around except us."
Airtimes for MTV's "College Life" can be found on Mtv.com/ontv/schedule/
