By DEBBIE ROSEN
For more than 12 hours, Bryan and Kelly on the rooftop of the MTV studio in Manhattan. While without a coat, in below freezing temperatures they survived a slew of challenges given by MTV DJs.
The event was a promotional gig for the new movie, Save the Last Dance. And as this couple, one of 15, kicked up their heels and wiggled about, the hosts sat and partied behind glass doors, waiting to see who would be the last one standing. Starting at noon New Year's Eve, 30 minutes after a screaming crowd ushered in the New Year, Kelly and Brian could be heard screaming with their own excitement.
It was the best New Year's Eve of my life, Kelly said. When the ball dropped and the crowd below us was cheering... it was the most unbelievable feeling and we had to keep dancing through it all, she added with the energy epitomized only by youth. Then, they brought out and handed us this huge check for $20,000 and we screamed again, Bryan said.
So how did these two Oceanside teenagers on hiatus from college for winter break last so long? Whenever a moment of weakness came on the dance floor, he reminded her why they were there and what she hoped to do with the jackpot. I was spinning her because that was one of our challenges and I knew she was getting nauseas, but I kept saying $20,000, $20,000, think Cancun, Bryan said. Bryan's knees began to hurt just a short time after the two started and after six hours later, he wondered how he would last for six more? I looked him in the eye and chanted 20 G's, 20 G's, said Kelly.
Bryan, a six-foot tall lacrosse and track star at Nassau Community College, bundled up for the event that didn't allow the contestants to wear coats. He piled on four layers of shirts before topping it off with a turtleneck sweater to accompany his jeans. Kelly, a fashion design student at Oneonta College, sported black stretch pants, snake skin boots, along with a pink shirt under a back v-neck sweater. She topped it all off with a pink feathery vest.
When the clock stroke midnight, the dance marathon came down to three couples. As soon as one of the three was eliminated, Bryan knew a celebration was imminent. I saw the other couple was tired, so I knew after we had come this far, there was no way I was losing, Bryan said. From midnight until just before 12:30 a.m. the final two couples danced freestyle. That was until the final five minutes, when both had to follow a technical dance routine. DJ's, dressed as referees, blew the whistle, and Oceanside's Kelly and Bryan, in front of millions of MTV viewers, had won.
Along with a $20,000 check the two split, they received free admission to a private party at the Roseland Club in Manhattan where they hobnobbed with MTV's Carson, along with members from
