Jessica McCann: 10 years later JESSICA MCCANN’S “EXPOSURE” OCCURRED EXACTLY 10 YEARS AGO.
Ten years ago, Richard Branson hosted a reality on Fox called The Rebel Billionaire: Branson’s Quest For The Best. Akin to The Apprentice billionaire Richard Branson challenged 16 contestants to tasks that would prove to him who was most qualified become president of Virgin Worldwide. Although many business-related tasks were incorporated, also included were many tough physical challenges, and embarrassing stunts.
The program, aired November 2004, lasted 12 episodes and would have been forgotten except for one infamous scene. Episode 4, teams had to sponsor an Indie rock band to try to get them a shot at a record contract with Virgin, and a chance to be the opening act at Virgin sponsored “V Festival”, held August of 2004 in Chelmsford, England.
The leader of the losing team was Jessica McCann, a beautiful young blonde 27 year-old; she had college degree and was the owner and CEO of her own small telecommunications company. The challenge she and another male contestant were given were far from the extreme adventure challenges that previous losers had to face, such as tightrope walking between hot air balloons. The young man had to go up in front of the massive crowd of young punk and alternative rock fans and sing an a capella version of Britney Spears “Ooops I did it again.” As you can imagine, it didn’t go over well.
Jessica‘s was told she would have to “streak” the concert – in other words she had to appear stark naked on the stage and give a plug for the band her team had supported. Branson told her that she would be wearing “body paint” for her nude appearance. She assumed her entire body would be painted; however, a woman showed up and painted the name of her band, “RED” on top of her chest and the word “VIRGIN” on her butt in red paint. That was all.
After she went through with her fully nude appearance (and carrying it off with a seemingly positive attitude) Branson turned around and immediately eliminated her from the game. He didn’t give much of a reason to keep her male opponent over her beyond a “feeling” that she “wasn’t ready” to take on an executive role. He even said he thought the two of them had come in dead even in the competition. Jessica McCann is a 37-year-old married mother of one. Her current occupation is Author, Public Speaker, and Relationship Coach. She has written two books about dating and relationships. There are, however, no references to her appearance on The Rebel Billionaire.
