VIDEO: "Megan" Casting Director Explains Why She Put Ryan Jenkins On TV
Aug. 25 2009, Published 12:00 p.m. ET
The casting director who chose the late Ryan Jenkins, the alleged killer of his ex-wife model Jasmine Fiore, spoke with Larry King Monday night to explain what she saw in the 32-year-old to place him on the VH1 reality show Megan Wants A Millionaire.
Stuart Brazell said Jenkins "was the ideal contestant for these shows. You want a big personality. You want loud. You want someone that's entertaining and that's going to cause conflict in the house. That's exactly what I looked for and that's what he was."
Brazell said she met Jenkins, a Canadian millionaire, on an escalator at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, where she was casting for the dating show, Megan Wants A Millionaire. The show aimed at matchmaking "trophy wife" Megan Hauserman to one in a group of more than a dozen wealthy bachelors.
Brazell said of Jenkins: "First person comes over, baby, baby, baby. He hit on me."
She said that Jenkins, the wealthy son of an architect, married Fiore in a shotgun wedding three hours after meeting her at a Vegas strip club.
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"He text messaged me the next day and said, 'I met the love of my life,'" Brazell told King. "This is the woman of my dreams ... I would also say that he was happy to marry someone from the U.S., because he was very much looking for citizenship. I think that had a big part to do with it as well."
Jenkins was wanted on first-degree murder charges after Fiore's body was found mutilated and stuffed into a suitcase in a Buena Park, CA. dumpster on August 15; he was found hanged Sunday evening at the Thunderbird Motel in Hope, British Columbia, less than four days after being charged in the killing of Fiore.
VH1 Monday pulled the plug on both shows associated with Jenkins; the network said in a statement: "We’re sad to announce that both Megan Wants a Millionaire and I Love Money 3 officially have been canceled."