• July 19, 2004
• Vol. 62
• No. 3

Going for Broke

For Love or Money's Preston Mercer and PJ Spillman Take a Chance on Each Other Over the Lure of the Loot

It was against the rules, but For Love or Money's Preston Mercer and his choice, PJ Spillman, just had to see each other. The weekend after the show finished taping, "we went behind the producers' backs and went skiing at Vail with my parents," says Mercer, a Denver mortgage broker. When his father injured his knee on the slopes and Spillman, 24, stayed by his side until the paramedics arrived, she sealed her spot in the whole family's heart. "Dad said, I see a lot of the same characteristics in her as I see in your mother,'" says Mercer, 25. "And this was the first weekend we were together!" There haven't been many since. But in between their few clandestine meetings before the finale aired, they put in many hours on their cell phones: "We wait until our free minutes come around and talk until 2 a.m."

After all, it's not as if they had money to burn. Spillman, a media buyer, and Mercer had to choose between continuing the romance and taking a check worth either $1 or $1 million, and they both chose love. Smart move, since the check was, in fact, worth just a buck. "I was relieved," says Mercer. "Now none of my friends can say, 'Dude, you should have taken the money!'"

For Spillman, it was never a question. "The money wasn't even a factor," she says. Her next step? Moving to Denver from her home in Rockwell, Texas, so the couple can cut the phone bills altogether. "There's a lot of potential for the future," she says. "I found my Prince Charming!"

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Let's Get Ready to Rumble

Dubbed "the bad girls" on the show, bitter rivals Andrea Langi (left), 28, an event planner, and Rachel Veltri, 26, a flight attendant, are getting another chance at romance or $1 million. In the next installment of For Love or Money, which finished taping in April, they have to choose among 15 men—while competing against each other. "Rachel mopes, she's whiney, she complains about everything," says Langi. "I'm positive energy. Half the guys kissed me before they kissed her!" And while Veltri insists that she has been wrongly portrayed as a "money-hungry, game-playing person," she adds, "When you go to a show and there's a million dollars that you can potentially win...if you don't play the game, I think you're an idiot!"