Melissa Smith: The Next Pussycat Doll?

Making the Band with P. Diddy Star Competes

Melissa Smith had already done one reality show Making The Band with P.Diddy, but wasn't able to go to the open audition call, so sent a demo tape. She drove down to Santa Monica and put it in their back door.

When she was accepted she went to the set where there were dry erase boards on the wall with instructions about developing the storyline. Production was constantly watching, examining every move the contestants made.

Robin Antin, Ron Fair and Mark McGrath

They told her she was too "girl next door." The Pussycat Dolls creator Robin Antin was the mother figure on the show. Back in the day, she was a Pussycat Doll in the burlesque shows. Ron Fair auditiond Smith in his studio for the Don't Cha song.

Smith sang a Norah Jones song beforeshe was eliminated from The Search For The Next Pussycat Doll. Producers have to make strategic calls and she was told her storyline wasn't as strong as Chelsea's. In every reality show, you have the victim, the underdog, and the girl you think will get kicked off in the first show...

Chelsea, Asia and Melissa

Smith helped Chelsea with her choreography as was her friend, as she was to Asia and Melissa R.

Throughout the series, producers played up the fact that Chelsea wasn't a trained dancer and The Pussycat Dolls was one of the first girl groups that could dance so they needed someone who was a strong singer and dancer.

Smith was not the next Pussycat Doll, but she's recording, taking vocal lessons and believes her time will come.