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It's 10:41 p.m. on Sept. 8, the home stretch of the two-hour conclusion of NBC's For Love or Money 2, and Manhattan's Mercury Bar has been taken over for a party for the hit reality show. Along with about a dozen friends, the show's three key players are here–Erin Brodie and Chad Viggiano and Wade Whistler, her final two suitors from an initial pool of 15. They're looking up at a giant screen and watching the show they taped three months earlier at a rented mansion in Bel Air. Onscreen, Brodie has just told Whistler he's not the one for her, and now she faces Chad alone in the estate's candelit garden: "What I'm saying is that I'm falling in love with you." In a moment he'll tell her whether he requites her feelings and wants to gamble on a romantic future with her–or just say the heck with it and walk off with $1 million. But the clincher, watched by an average audience of 12.3 million, is interrupted by a commercial. Whistler, his face turned to Viggiano, yells, "Take the f———dough!"

He didn't. Which is why Viggiano, 30, and Brodie, 31, are together in Manhattan, gazing into each other's eyes and laughing at their pal Whistler's wisecracking. "This is 10 times better than I thought it would be," says Brodie, referring to her experiences with Viggiano–and to a serious chunk of change ($2 million) and even more celebrity than she reaped from the first For Love or Money, which had 15 women vying for bachelor Rob Campos. "You know what I love? I love when 13-year-old little girls recognize me at Starbucks."

In the first Love or Money, those girls witnessed how she coolly took the money over a honey. Brodie, a former software sales manager from San Francisco who now hopes for a TV career, romantically roped in Dallas lawyer Campos, then refused him for $1 million on the finale, broadcast July 7. Her mother, Palm Desert, Calif., real estate agent Sue Brodie, found Love 2's conclusion far more satisfying. "It was very touching at the end for her to lay her heart on the line in front of cameras," says Brodie, married to former San Francisco 49ers quarterback John Brodie. "Mothers like to have everything wrapped up in a neat little package."

Her daughter plans to give $500,000 from the big package for Love 2, which began shooting three weeks after the first one wrapped April 20, to her new boyfriend, an L.A.-based vice president of his family's food-processing business. "I plan to sit down with Chad and figure out what to do," she says. "We plan to find a good investment adviser." (They need one: see box.)

Meanwhile, they're ready to invest some quality time in the relationship. She's already spent two days with his parents, Bernard and Jamie, in the Bay Area. "They took out my baby pictures," Viggiano says. And they've discovered a range of compatible tastes, especially for music: Sinatra, classic rock, rap. "Chad's the best guy in the world." says Brodie. "No BS, no pretension." Not much talking about feelings either. Watching the finale, he just wants to keep her in his embrace–and the questions at arm's length.

Are they in love? "Pass," he says.

What about marriage? "Pass."

Erin: "The thing about marriage is..."

"Pass."

To keep their relationship secret from the public after taping ended, they had to be even more tight-lipped. With Brodie living just a few miles away from his second home in San Francisco, "she'd come over, cook me dinners, hang out," he says. They'd speak on the phone several times a day or–when no other arrangement could be worked out–simply drive by each other in their cars. "We'd set it up on the phone," he says. "Here I come, here I come, there you are, boom, wave, and you just drive by." Those tensions were nothing compared to the show, where cynicism and romance constantly tugged at each other. Brodie found Viggiano frustratingly hard to read. "I would be wondering, 'Okay, Chad's getting more close to me now–is that because he knows that I'm whittling down [the men] and he has to act more into me, or does he have actual feelings for me?' "

Then there was the great sicko surprise in Week 5, when Rob Campos, 34, showed up like a ghost boyfriend from a horror flick. Neither Whistler or Viggiano had a clue who this late interloper was. Brodie angrily confronted series creator JD Roth. "You just blew my chances here," Roth recalls her telling him. "You're creating doubt in the other guys–and that doubt may not only cost me a relationship but cost me $2 million as well."

But she and Viggiano found their groove anyway. They agree the turning point came when they donned hockey gear and were sent wobbling onto the ice at a skating rink. "I knew I was totally falling in love," Brodie recalls. Says Viggiano: "We felt really comfortable with each other. You can see her legs were draped across mine. All we did was laugh, laugh and laugh."

He's laughing again at the Mercury Bar, as Brodie comes over and wraps her arm around him. "He's stuck with me," she says. Yes, she's smiling.

Tom Gliatto
Cynthia Wang in Los Angeles and Diane Herbst in New York City

  • Contributors:
  • Cynthia Wang,
  • Diane Herbst.

More From This Article

What's Next for Wade?
Though Wade Whistler, 29, has returned to Dallas and his sales job with his family's metal fabrication business, not all remains unchanged. "I'm dating someone," he says in his soft southern drawl. "It's pretty new. I'm taking things as they come."

Whistler, who calls Erin "a good all-around person" and Chad "a complete guy's guy," says he expects to remain friends with the pair. As for his failed attempt at romancing Erin, "I think this has helped me handle relationships more maturely and a little slower," he says. He also has discovered his inner ham: "I didn't know I had it in me. If someone else sees that in me, offer me something. Come on, people!"

About the Money...
It was a sweet TV moment: Chad chose Erin over $1 million and she rewarded her beloved by giving him half of her jackpot. Now. the fine print: The $1 million Erin won in the first show remains hers alone. She's only splitting the $1 million bonus she got for getting Chad to choose her over the money; which is why her check to him was for $500,000. And she wont be living the high life anytime soon. That first million would've been paid out in annual installments of $25,000 (before taxes) over 40 years or a lump sum of $465,000. Twice-thwarted Rob Campos will also receive a "consolation prize," but NBC won't say how much.

Where's Rob?
The first show's hunky but boorish star, Rob Campos, who asked the bachelorettes which one wanted to pull off his boots, has lately been promoting the show in Australia (he's still apologizing for his antics). Series creator JD Roth says the unattached Dallas-based attorney's celebrity has also made him a hit in cases going before a jury. "He's a well-known guy. It'd be wise to have him in the courtroom."

Where's Paige?

Paige Jones has kept busy since that April night Rob tossed her for Erin on the first For Love or Money. In July, Jones, 22, moved from Dallas to Los Angeles to pursue "the acting thing." She's also established a Web site (www.lovepaigejones.com) where shoppers can buy Paige T-shirts and sample her poetry. Though a new romance busted up after just one month, she says, "I really do want a relationship."