INTERVIEW You’re Cut Off’s Jessica Cimato learned how life can change in a heartbeat

One of our favorite new reality shows this season is VH1’s You’re Cut Off. The series features 9 pampered princesses from all over the country who were told they were being featured on a show called The Good Life. Instead, they were cut off from their wealthy mommies, daddies and/or significant others and forced to live in a small house as life coach Laura Baron attempts to teach them responsibility, respect and independence. If they fail to to make it through Baron’s boot camp, they will remain cut off indefinitely!

What makes the show entertaining is the fantastic job of casting, and one of our favorites is the tough and sexy Jersey girl Jessica Cimato. From her VH1 bio:

Jessica is a princess from the Jersey Shore. She’s loud, she’s Italian and she’s doesn’t care what people think about her. Jessica shops so much her mother had to recently convert a spare bedroom into an extra walk-in closet for her stuff. She doesn’t cook, she doesn’t clean, and her parents have always paid for everything. After a lifetime of being pampered, her mother wants to cut her off to teach her how to survive on her own.

Jessica’s Jersey toughness definitely comes through on the show, but it’s tempered by a willingness to try to improve herself and learn something from the experience. So did she learn something from the experience? That’s one of the many questions Jessica was willing to answer in our interview!

Jessica Cimato at the You’re Cut Off premiere party

STARCASM: Prior to going on You’re Cut Off did you spend your time aside from being a “pampered princess?” What were your career/life goals?

JESSICA: I went to school for surgeon’s assistant. Graduated May of 09 and fished my internship in July of 09. I used to work in the ER before I graduated, as a med tech. I loved it. I love the medical field. Being able to help people is what drives me.

S: Prior to the reveal, were you suspicious at all that the reality show you were filming was different than the one you signed up for?

J: Yes. I’m a very observant person. And I knew something was up from the second they brought us to the mall.

S: How difficult was it to adjust to your new environment and peers? How did you cope?

J: For me adjusting to my new environment was easy. What was difficult was adjusting to no money, no credit cards… Being with out my family in LA, I felt abandoned. I coped by mentally talking myself into understanding, “I’m safe, its not just me going thru this, and my dad in heaven is watching over me.”

S: Did you make any good friends on the show? Any enemies?

J: On the show I did make good friends. Some I promise will be in my wedding one day. Others were good company on the show. Enemies? Haha yes! That’s easy for me. People don’t know how to handle my bluntness, so in turn, it gives me enemies.

S: What did you learn from the experience?

J: I learned there is more to life then material things, and that things can change for me in a heartbeat. I could wake up tomorrow with nothing.

S: Has your life outlook changed at all?

J: Yes. I don’t take people and things for granted anymore.

S: Do you think you deserved to go through the program?

J: At the time, no. I didn’t think it was fair and I was very mad at my mom because she never complained before. But I soon saw that she was just trying to help prepare me for the real world and take me out of the fantasy world I was living in. It was wrong of me to believe money makes you and money can bring you happiness.

S: Was that really vomit on your finger at Omarosa’s house?

J: Yes! I think it was vomit. And I hate vomit!! Ughhh, I get weak thinking about it.

S: Have you had any major lifestyle changes since the show stopped taping?

J: Not really. I was just soo grateful to be home!

S: Do your parents still support you?

J: Yes. Mom does still supports me, but now I help out. I have cooked once for her and I help her with anything she needs.

S: How did you like working with Laura Baron?

J: At first I was on the defense with Laura, but I soon realized she was on my team and there to help.

New Jersey’s Jessica Cimato looking tough and sexy

S: There’s a lot of posturing going on in the house. If there was a cage-match between all the girls on the show, who do you think would win?

J: Me against any of them? I’d win. Haha! I’m a Staten Island girl originally, then on to Jersey, and my parents were born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Don’t let size fool yah. And I’ve definitely been in a few fist fights in my life! LOL

S: Which girls seemed to be putting on the biggest show for the camera and which girls were actually taking this opportunity to work on themselves?

J: Gia was definitely putting on an act. I think Jackie was really trying to change.

S: Are you still addicted to tanning and cigarettes?

J: I still smoke which I have cut down, and now I don’t go in tanning beds. I do spray tans.

S: Is there anything else you’d like to share about your self or your experience on the show?

J: Yes. I’m a genuine person. With a big heart. I’m not a bully either. I was under a lot of pressure in that house and the different personalities and that made it hard for me to keep quiet. A lot of disrespect went on in the house and that’s what made me the most hostile. I’m not that aggressive at home or with my friends.