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CUP: Paige Duke Over Scandal
Former Miss Sprint Cup Paige Duke puts photo scandal behind her with reality TV show...
Bob Pockrass  | http://www.scenedaily.com  |  Posted January 08, 2012   Charlotte, NC
Ex-Miss Sprint Cup, Paige Duke, helps paint the start/finish line at Texas Motor Speedway on November 1, 2010 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo: Getty Images
Paige Duke used to have a demanding, time-consuming job that prohibited her from dating people at work. She lost that job in what some would call scandalous fashion.

So as part of her new job, she is relishing the chance to put her past in the rear-view mirror. And date again.

Duke, a former Miss Sprint Cup, was fired last July when nude photos of her taken years earlier for a college boyfriend surfaced online. She can’t reveal how successful she has been in her quest for a boyfriend. She can’t spoil the ending as she stars in the new CMT reality dating series “Sweet Home Alabama.”

Her new role is as a woman looking for love as 22 men hope to win her heart.

The 10-episode season airs weekly at 9 p.m. ET on Fridays, with the opening episode this Friday night.

It’s not the first time Duke will be on the show. She was a contestant last fall when the star was former Clemson quarterback Tribble Reese – a friend of Duke’s from college – and she was eliminated after the fifth of eight episodes.

But she was soon back with the show, this time as the star of the coming season, which recently wrapped up filming.

“It was a life-changing experience – it gave me my confidence back with everything that happened with NASCAR,” Duke said in a phone interview Friday. “It gave me a chance to be myself and for me to be out in the public eye again for something good and for people to see really how I was.

“Then people can formulate their opinions about me after they see how I really am. It was just a really good opportunity overall for me.”
Ex-Miss Sprint Cup Paige Duke signs an autograph during a question and answer session with fans prior to qualifying for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway on June 4, 2011. (Photo: Getty Images)

Duke works at a hunting farm in Minnesota, which gives her the opportunity to continue modeling and pursue other opportunities. She was selected to appear as a contestant on the show in August, and she knows people question her trying to find a man through reality television.

“Most people will just shake their head or question it, think it’s kind of crazy,” she said. “I was kind of like that, thinking, ‘How does this really happen?’ But [I decided] I am going to give it a try.

“If God put this experience in my life for a reason, even if there is a 1 percent chance I’m going to find the guy I’m supposed to be with, my soul mate, I’m going to do it. So I did it. I had such a wonderful time.”


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Bob Pockrass

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