Kloecker was one of eight people chosen to participate in the latest reality TV show, Murder in Small Town X, on Fox television. Living with her sisters in West Hollywood, the Erie native was working at Universal Pictures when she got an e-mail message looking for cast members to be crime investigators in a new reality TV show.

"Fox wanted ordinary people on the show that people can relate to," Kloecker said. "They wanted to know about my religion and cultural background. I guess I had the Irish-Catholic, big family appeal."

Whatever she had, her e-mail response landed her an interview with one of the show's producers, Gordon Cassidy, former co-producer of the hit MTV show Real World and, coincidentally, also a Penn State alumnus.

Cassidy and yet another Penn State graduate, Robert Fisher, Jr., were two of the three co-creators, co-writers and executive producers of the show, which is set in a fictional town of Sunrise, actually Eastport, Maine. The show chose 10 non-actors to investigate a "murder" that occurred in the town.

"We were trying to take reality TV into a new arena. It is sort of a reality TV hybrid. There are real people in a fictional situation," Cassidy said.

The 10 investigators were given a crash course in investigative techniques in Portland, Mass., before arriving in Sunrise. Their cozy new hometown has a serial killer on the loose, and the murderer wants the investigators to play a game. Each week two of the investigators leave the house to find another clue about the killer's identity. The game has a catch -- for every two people that leave, one becomes the next victim.

The show's publicist, Jason Clarke, said, "Most of them forgot it was a TV show with actors. One lady (looked at the camera and) told her kids that if she doesn't come back, to remember — Mommy loves you."

Apparently, the ever-present death threat didn't bother Kloecker.

"It is like being in a giant game of Clue," she said, "or a really expensive haunted house."

A really expensive haunted house with nine strangers — one of the reasons that Cassidy believes the show is appealing to a larger audience.

"There are people living together in a charged atmosphere, and this mystery is unfolding around them," he said.

According to Cassidy, with their total immersion in the town and its residents (26 of whom are actors) the 10 investigators couldn't help but be drawn into their imaginary reality.

The game's almost over. Tonight's two-hour season finale will reveal the murderer and decide the winner. The last investigator left will receive a cash prize of $250,000 and a new Jeep Liberty.

As of yet Kloecker is still alive. Asked what she thought of the experience she said, "It was one of the most fun things I ever did."

Does that mean she lives?