June 4, 2004 UNT Inhouse publication: UNT student and former librarian goes from ‘Super Shy to Superfly’ on TLC’s Faking It

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UNT student and former librarian goes from ‘Super Shy to Superfly' on TLC's Faking It

Former UNT librarian Haley Holmes, a doctoral student in information science, traded her reference manuals for shot glasses in February to be filmed for an episode of Faking It, a series on The Learning Channel.

Those chosen for the reality-type show learn another profession in one month with help from mentors. At the end of the month, the "fakers" try to prove to experts in that profession that they are also experts.

Holmes was tapped to become a bartender at the Coyote Ugly Saloon in New Orleans. The Faking It episode featuring Holmes, called "Super Shy to Superfly," is scheduled to first air Sunday, June 6. For updated times, visit The Learning Channel's web site (www.tlc.discovery.com), then click on the Faking It link, then the Remind Me link.

Holmes, who was an electronic resources coordinator for the UNT libraries before leaving the university's employment in May, is scheduled to receive her doctoral degree from UNT in December. She says she decided to send in her application for Faking It to experience another lifestyle in a different city.

"While growing up, I always wanted to be on TV, but I didn't want to be an actor. I was quiet and shy," she says.

A country/western-style bar with country music on the jukebox and no fancy mixed drinks on the menu, the Coyote Ugly saloon was founded 11 years ago in New York City and the chain now has 10 other locations, including the New Orleans saloon in the French Quarter.

The saloons are staffed by female bartenders, known as Coyotes, who wear sexy clothing, yell, dance on the bar and banter playfully with the customers, perform clog dancing routines, and do stunts such as fire breathing.

Holmes met her mentors, Coyotes Chantel Bougeois and Tara Jenneman, when the Faking It production crew shot footage of Holmes at UNT, which includes some of her UNT coworkers. She left for New Orleans two days later.

"They say that work at Coyote Ugly is 10 percent bartending and 90 percent personality," Holmes says. "Tara spent a lot of time teaching me how to banter with people, and I had an acting coach to help me project the personality. Yelling was another hard part, so I did voice exercises. I also did different types of walking to decide what my bartender attitude would be."

Her training began right away, as she learned how to interact with people and project her personality, took lessons from a voice coach to help her yell and underwent a makeover, complete with new clothes, a new hair style and lessons in applying cosmetics.

Finally, she and three actual Coyote Ugly bartenders each met with three judges and were interviewed about being a Coyote. Holmes and the others also worked a two-hour shift and performed a choreographed dance while being scrutinized by the judges, who selected the best Coyote. Holmes says the judges knew before judging began that one of the four bartenders they were watching was a fake, but they didn't know who was faking it. Holmes can't reveal the outcome of the judging until the episode airs on TLC.

Despite being uncomfortable at times, Holmes says she would become a Coyote all over again.

"I feel more confident now about my physical appearance and how to make small talk," she says.

She also has fond memories of her time in New Orleans and her Coyote mentors.

"I had some expectations about how they were from the way they were made up and dressed and danced, but they turned out to be caring, nice people," Holmes says. "They accepted me into their world faster than I expected them to."


BY NANCY KOLSTI nkolsti@unt.edu

UNT student and former librarian goes from ‘Super Shy to Superfly' on TLC's Faking It

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