Two contestants and a judge on the new TruTV reality show “Motor City Masters” have connections ...

1. 'Motor City Masters' local connections
Two contestants and a judge on the new TruTV reality
show “Motor City Masters” have
connections to Detroit.
■Read the story: Detroit auto designers square off
in 'Motor City Masters'
Camilo Pardo, contestant
Camilo is a multitalented creative force. The man behind the Ford GT is also an artist, fashion
designer and host of glittering parties at his Detroit studio. Besides his stint as chief designer at
Ford, he has taught at the College for Creative Studies, worked at Disney with Pixar on design for
future projects and guested on ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” He
is used to being in the driver’s seat when it comes to his public face, so being a reality
contestant is a big change. “My exposure and delivery is completely controlled by myself so
people will see what I want them to see,” he says. “When somebody else is controlling
it, you hope for the best.”
Darby Barber, contestant
The College for Creative Studies junior describes herself as outdoorsy and has competed in archery
and horseback riding. She’s always been fascinated by cars and trucks and dreams of owning
a vehicle she designed one day. And she’s out to make a name for herself in the male-
dominated realm of exterior design. “I’m the only female in my auto class at
CCS,” she says. Although she thought the workload on the show would be a piece of cake
compared to college, it turned out to be 18-hour days, seven days a week. “The only time you
got to sit down was to eat lunch and dinner,” she says.
Jean Jennings, judge
A former auto correspondent for ABC’s “Good Morning, America” and the
Oxygen network, Jennings is a veteran car writer-editor who has lent her expertise as a guest to so
many network and cable TV news shows that, as she writes on her Jean Knows Cars website,
“I would almost call myself a TV slut, but I’m proud to say that I turned Geraldo
down.” Jennings recently ended her long stint as editor of Automobile magazine during a
reorganization. She says the competition got fiercer as “Motor City Masters”
progressed. Did she make any contestants cry? No, but one time, after she had to let someone go,
she recalls, “I cried so hard my false eyelashes slid right down my face.”
Read more: www.jeanknowscars.com/contributors/jean-jennings,/#ixzz35CbJSoop
http://www.freep.com/article/20140622/ENT03/306220045/1210/business01