Ex-Broncos cheerleader is Ultimate Spike Girl

By Michael Roberts in Media, Sports, Television & FilmFri., Oct. 9 2009 @ 9:32AM
Westword.com



Spike TV markets itself as television for dudes -- horny dudes, presumably. No wonder the net has just-completed a search for the "Ultimate Spike Girl," a babe who embodies every male fantasy and is willing to parade her assets around for fans of erections and hand lotion everywhere.

And your winner? Denver's own Renee Herlocker, a former Broncos cheerleader (from 2000 to 2006) and Mile High Sports personality whose willingness to bend over pool tables has definitely paid off. "The prize was a year contract with Spike," she says. "I'm basically their new correspondent-host" -- a gig she earned shortly after filming a featured spot in an upcoming movie that's generating a little bit of interest: Iron Man 2. Look below to learn more about that, and to peruse more photos of Herlocker showing off her acreage.

​Iron Man 2 "was a really fun project," Herlocker says, explaining that "I'm actually in the opening of the movie. The lead character, Tony Stark [played by Robert Downey Jr.] has a cast of professional superhero cheerleaders called the Ironettes, and I'm one of them."

In addition to strutting her stuff, Herlocker says she was originally scheduled to speak a line or two prior to Downey delivering a big speech to a convention crowd. Problem is, he was having problems memorizing all the dialogue, so the sequence was cut down in length, and her speaking part wound up being scrapped as well. "It's all good, though," she says -- and she praises Downey, who was on set for one of the three days she spent shooting in L.A., as "a really good guy."

Immediately afterward, Herlocker heard through a casting company that Spike was holding a cattle call in L.A. as part of its Ultimate search. So she headed to Santa Monica, where she memorized a short passage and shared it on camera, then answered a few questions about herself. "They were looking for a girl who likes to go out, get dressed up and put on makeup, but also likes to hang with the guys," she says. "And I truly am that girl. I'm a girlie-girl at heart, but I'm also kind of a tomboy who's always loved sports, and that's what they really honed in on -- the sports involvement."

After that, silence for two months -- at which point she was informed that she'd made the top fifty. Spike flew her out West for another series of interviews; turns out she was the only contestant from the hinterlands. The resulting video was posted to Spike's website, with visitors encouraged to vote for their favorites with an eye toward trimming the fifty to eight finalists. And given the photo below, it's hardly shocking that Herlocker advanced to the next round.



The top eight subsequently gathered at the House of Blues in Los Angeles for a televised special hosted by former WWE girl Stacy Keibler, with a panel of judges made up of various Spike personalities: Alan Ritchson, Sam Jones III and Darin Brooks of the forthcoming series BlueMountainState, and Will Greenberg, known as the Food Dude."

Herlocker says "the judges asked us questions, just to see more of our personality, to see if we knew anything about pop culture and sports -- whether we were really a guy's girl." In other words, the kinds of things emphasized on her Spike Girl page, which offers these "quick facts" about her:

• A big fan of drinking games

• Not high maintenance

• Loves sarcastic guys

• Hosted a TV sports show in Denver

• Knows sign language

In addition, "they showed videos of us, which was cool, because they came out to Colorado and filmed me at home and at places like Red Rocks," Herlocker goes on. "That was great, to show viewers a little bit of Colorado. And then they narrowed it down from eight to four to three to two -- and then to one, of course."

​The finale aired on October 1 (it can be viewed by clicking here) -- and Herlocker soon learned about her initial Spike Girl assignment. "My first job is October 17. I'll be hosting the red carpet for the 2009 Scream Awards that Spike is airing," she says. "And I'll also do a lot of other hosting -- hosting launch parties for new video games, going to movie premieres, interviewing celebrities. It'll be a ton of great stuff that's going to be seen on Spike TV and Spike.com."

As a result, she'll be on the road a lot, and although she says she loves traveling, she concedes that a move to Los Angeles may be in her future. "There'll be a lot more opportunities there, especially if something comes up at the last minute.

"Spike has been great," she continues. "They've been so supportive of me and my career, and they want me to be involved in other things to build my brand."

And to appear on TV wearing clothes. Maybe.