Looking to ensure her availability for whatever future "experiences" might await reality television's latest soon-to-be has-been reality show contestant, Randi Coy, the 23-year-old woman at the center of FOX's My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance reality prank show, has quit her two month career as a first grade Catholic schoolteacher.

ADVERTISEMENT
Coy, who interrupted her first year of teaching at Pope John XXIII Catholic School Community school in Phoenix during the Thanksgiving break for the filming of My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance, had been on unpaid administrative leave but under contract since the program began filming.

Earlier this month, after having expected Coy to return to work after the school's December holiday break, Pope John XXIII Principal Bill Langley had given Coy a January 16 deadline to decide whether she wanted to return to the school. At the time, Langley told The Arizona Republic that "She has obligations there and she has obligations here." "She has to let us know which obligations come first."

In his intereview with the Republic, Langley also explained his concerns regarding having one of his elementary school teachers appear in the provocative FOX program. "I see commercials like that, then I don't watch shows like that," Langley said. "I'll probably look in on it, though, precisely because I am the principal of the school where she teaches."

After learning the particulars of the program upon seeing Coy appear in the commercials that FOX aired before the show premiered, Langley sent a letter to parents, alerting them to Coy's leave and her upcoming TV appearance. Given the program's premise of marrying a stranger on television for money, Langley explained he felt was concerned the program might conflict with the school's Catholic values. "There's a certain set of values at a Catholic school. Certainly we have a moral obligation under our faith to make a judgment call, not to pre-judge, but to make a call on that," Langley said. "You can't be teaching and do a show like that." "I've got 35 first-grade children who had their teacher leave them," he said. "They don't conceptually know what's going on."

Despite the Friday, January 16 deadline, The Republic reported that Coy only finally got around to informing Langley of her decision of Wednesday, January 21. Phoenix Diocese spokeswoman Mary Jo West told the paper that Coy offered her formal resignation to Langley by telephone at 10:10 AM on Wednesday. "It's simply a contractual decision," West said. "You can't serve two masters, and as a first-grade teacher, she needs to be there every day. It was a hard decision to make. We certainly wish her well."

Reached by The Republic on the Friday of her deadline, Coy had told the paper that she was unsure about her future. "I'm young and I did this for the experience, and who knows what's going to happen?" Coy said. "But right now, I'm just taking it day by day. And hopefully, yes, definitely, I'd like to go back to teaching. I'm just going to see what happens."

It sounds like Coy knew well before Wednesday what her final decision was... too bad she couldn't respect her employer enough to inform them of her decision by the previously agreed upon deadline. It certainly wasn't because she was working on drafting her formal letter of resignation.