In May it was reported that actress (and former Miss Puerto Rico) Joyce Giraud is joining the cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills for Season 4, but apparently that isn’t the only reality show this brunette beauty has recently added to her resume!
Joyce is going against 15 other contestants in a Survivor-esque survival competition reality show in which the competitors travel to Russia where they “will attempt to battle the elements and each other in a quest to survive the harsh winter and claim a large cash prize.” There are plenty of twists through the course of the season, but the biggest twist is in the premise — the show is actually a scripted series about filming a reality series! It’s titled Siberia and airs Monday nights at 10/9c on NBC. On the show Joyce exercises her acting chops as Carolina, a bartender from Bogota, Columbia.
Here’s how Joyce, a mother of two (Valentino, 2 and Leonardo, 3,) described the show and Joyce’s character Carolina in a recent interview with He Geek She Geek:
It’s a super-interesting genre that hasn’t been explored much in television. It is a reality show, but it’s a scripted show, if you know what I mean. So it’s a scripted show that has a reality show within it. It’s about a group of contestants that go and compete in Siberia to win $500,000, and then all hell breaks loose.
My character’s name is Carolina (above). The reason why she’s competing is because she’s just a simple girl, she’s a bartender from Columbia, and she wants some money because her uncle who is the only family member she has left is now in need of an operation. She is in debt to everything she is, because he saved her from Columbia when her parents got killed by the cartel and she was the sole survivor.
In the interview Joyce reveals that she is not only an actress on Siberia, she is also “one of the producers on the show.” Joining Joyce on the production team is her Oscar-nominated husband Michael Ohoven, who serves as Executive Producer. (Michael is also founder and CEO of Infinity Media, who along with Sierra/Engine Television, created the show.) “We created the series as a dramatic human experiment shot under difficult conditions and we are thrilled to see it on NBC,” said Michael in a press release announcing NBC was picking it up.
Here’s a description of the premise of Siberia from the show’s website followed by a clip from the pilot episode in which Joyce (Carolina) can be seen helping out an injured man who has just chopped off the tip of his finger:
In 1908, an unexplained event occurred deep in the remote Siberian territory of Tunguska. Now, 100+ years later, 16 reality-show participants descend on Tunguska unknowing of the land’s mysterious past. These contestants, from varied walks of life, will attempt to battle the elements and each other in a quest to survive the harsh winter and claim a large cash prize. What is initially met with unbridled enthusiasm quickly turns to sheer panic as a series of strange events begin to occur. The contestants soon attribute the occurrences to ruses set up by the producers, even dismissing the death of a fellow contestant as accidental. When a contestant is badly injured and no help arrives, the contestants meet the chilling realization that the strange occurrences are not part of the show. With their safety threatened, competing contestants must band together in an effort to survive.
He Geek She Geek tried to get Joyce to confirm or deny The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills casting reports, but she continued to artfully dodge the question just as she did when interviewed at potential new cast mate Kyle Richards’ charity event last week:
HGSG: I found out that yesterday you’ve were announced as the latest addition to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Joyce: No, I wasn’t announced. There was a rumor about that.
HGSG: Oh? I thought they finally confirmed it.
Joyce: [suspiciously] They did? I don’t know…
HGSG: D-i-i-i-d they?
Joyce: I don’t know, I don’t know. I think it’s a great show, and I’m a fan of it. I watch it, and there are rumors out there so…I don’t know!
Chances are Joyce will soon be able to deny or confirm (more likely the latter) her role on RHOBH, but until then you can enjoy her as Carolina on Siberia Monday nights at 10/9c on NBC!
Personally, I think Carolina has a pretty good chance of winning the whole thing — I mean just look at her and tell me she couldn’t melt snow with that body!
