Ahh, young love. It makes the world go round, no? And faking it may also cost Randi Coy, a 23-year-old teacher in Arizona, her job. Coy is the star of the new Fox reality show, "My Big, Fat, Obnoxious Fianc??," in which she has to convince her family and friends that she is engaged to a, well, big, fat, obnoxious man. If she does, she's promised a million dollars. Sadly, though, the joke's on her: the fianc?? is an actor charged with sabotaging the staged wedding with antics like parading before Coy's family in his underwear. (We've only seen the previews, but it looks pretty funny.) Not amused, however, were authorities at Pope John XXIII Catholic School in Scottsdale, where Coy teaches first grade. It seems they object to their teachers marrying strangers for money on national television. Some kind of hang-up about the sanctity of marriage, or something like that. Coy makes recourse to her youth ("I'm young, and I did this for the experience") and hopes for the best. If she gets fired, of course, there's always "Bachelorette."
"Teacher ripped for reality TV role," Arizona Republic, January 20, 2004