WAVERLY - A casting call for the next season of the ""Big Brother"" reality TV show brought a variety of characters to The W sports and fitness center in Waverly Saturday.

Applicants filled out 13-page questionnaires and then had up to two minutes to sell themselves in front of a video camera.

One candidate, an attorney, did a little dance. Another had a hangover and finished his spiel in 15 seconds.

"You get all kinds," said Shaun Hynes, producer for KGAN, the affiliate of CBS, the network on which the program is aired.

Twenty-five aspiring house guests applied in the first group.

Hynes' crew ran the auditions, but show producers in California will decide who makes the cut.

The "Big Brother" show, which is entering its 11th season, isolates a group of strangers in a house equipped with constant surveillance for three months.

As the season progresses, house guests are voted out, and the last person remaining gets a $500,000 prize.

Nick Stufflebeam of Cedar Falls said the tryouts came at the right time.

The 28-year-old father of three was laid off recently from his job at a machine shop because of the tough economy.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Stufflebeam said.

He said his wife, who turned him on to the show, is supportive. If he gets on the show, it would be like he was out of town on business, he said.

Patrick Cain, a bank employee, traveled hours from his home in Minneapolis for his video pitch, which lasted just shy of the two-minute limit.

"I just turned 40, so of course I'm gorgeous," Cain told the camera. "If I want a job, I just go for it."

Saturday was Cain's fourth "Big Brother" tryout, and he told the camera that he's back and reminded the viewers that they already have his video.

Off camera, Cain said he had callbacks following earlier auditions in Kansas City, Nebraska and the Twin Cities.

"I really like the characters. They don't appear to be cookie cutter," Cain said. "I like seeing people do everything they have to do to get to the end,"

Not all of the contestants had prepared for the tryouts.

Stephanie Perleberg, 21, a Milwaukee native studying at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse, came to the sports center to run the steeplechase event at a college track meet Saturday.

She had no idea about the casting call until she saw the signs.

"I'm up for anything," said Perleberg, who recently switched majors from recreational management to nursing.

She said she watched the show when it first came out while she was in high school.

Shaun Hynes said the show's producers decided to scout the Waverly area because one of the characters on the show - Iowa native Ryan "Jessie" Godderz - wore a cut-down Wartburg College T-shirt.

KGAN staff also have held auditions for other TV shows like "The Great Race," "Survivor" and "American Idol."

"It's great for us as a TV station to have local people on these shows," Hynes said. "That boosts our viewership."

Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com.