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Dreams Being 'Made' On MTV

How far would go you for a dream? That's the premise of the MTV series, "Made."

Each week, with the help of a coach, "Made" tests the limits of an individual who desperately wants to change something in his or her life.

In Wednesday night's fourth season premiere, University of Mississippi sophomore Britney Wilkes hopes to pass four auditions for a role in the Broadway musical "42nd Street." There's just one problem: She has never tap-danced a day in her life.

Each episode of the weekly series follows one person's story until they achieve their intended goal. In her case, Wilkes has 30 days in New York to learn to tap dance before her audition.

MTV provides coaches to help the subjects attain the goals, so Wilkes is set up with a seasoned dance coach, who is determined to teach her all he can about tap, as well as the drive and dedication it takes to land a Broadway gig.

And Wilkes tells The Early Show co- anchor Harry Smith her experience "was definitely worth it."

She says, "It was very hard because I felt mean sometimes, because I couldn't answer my phone and I would be in five places at once. I'm sure you know how it is, because that's how it is in New York. It's totally different from Mississippi, where it's slow paced and you have time to sit on the phone and tell what's going on."

Leaving behind her family, high school boyfriend and all her friends was particularly challenging. Wilkes says, "To be honest, the first night, it was pretty scary, because I am the baby. When I got here, it was just like, OK, this is totally different than anything I've ever done before. But I just jumped right in it and knew that I was going to have the time of my life."

Her worst single moment came when she had to go to the emergency room. She says, "My foot got infected. I had such severe blisters that it was infected, and it almost went to the bone. It was pretty bad."

Asked what she learned about herself about the whole process, she says, "You got to grow up and take any opportunity you can, because you never know what it will get you."

Other upcoming "Made" episodes feature:

  • an overachiever with lots of friends who wants to be made over into an athlete
  • a 250-pound high school junior who dresses like a grungy rocker who wants to be made into "Mr. North Star," the one young man chosen in a school pageant to represent his high school's spirit
  • Rachel, a smart girl with no self-esteem who is constantly being bullied by the guys in her school who wants to land her big crush as a date for the big dance
  • Kitty, a huge geek who wants to win her high school annual beauty pageant
  • two friends who look like twins who want to be made into movie stars
  • an opera girl who wants to be a hip-hop dancer
  • a popular varsity cheerleading captain who wants to be a skateboarder

    [MTV and CBS are both owned by Viacom.]

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