Gather ‘round ladies, it’s Girl Code!
With fire engine-red hair and a nasally, optimistic voice similar to Fran Drescher’s, there’s no denying Carly Aquilino, 23, stands out from the cast of MTV’s Girl Code. Though Aquilino appears much shorter and petite in person compared to the small screen, she is a big personality.
Walking into the Robert M. Smith Student Center, she charmingly apologizes for making the student press wait.
“I hope nobody’s mad at me,” she said. She settles into her chair. “Sorry, my ear has hair dye on it. I took out my ear buds today and they were covered in dye.”
Even though the dye was about three days old, Aquilino said she dyes her signature red hair every week and a half. Her natural hair color is brown, but she wishes it was naturally red, she said disappointingly.
Known for her sarcastic humor, Aquilino can usually be seen tweeting things that will leave her Twitter followers cracking up. In preparation for her and Chris Distefano’s trip to Slippery Rock, she tweeted on the way, “In Pittsburgh! Getting 10 inches tonight! (Not the good kind)” in reference to the snow that was expected to arrive Tuesday night.
All joking aside, Aquilino swore by her honest humor on Girl Code.
“We say what’s on our mind,” Aquilino said. “We say things like ‘If a guy does this you need to leave.’ or ‘Or if a guy does this you need to make sure he sticks around.’”
She admitted that guys like watching Girl Code too.
“I hear it all the time that guys like to watch Girl Code because it lets them into our head. And they don’t understand us, like, ever,” she said.
Aquilino also references her parents’ behaviors on the show and tweeted about her father’s inability to change the TV remote control’s batteries with the hashtag, ‘Dad Code’.
“I think Dad Code would be hysterical,” she said. “Because I think people are also able to identify. People would be like ‘My dad does that too!’ I think that stuff’s really funny. Parents are almost really innocent. They don’t know technology or what’s going on! My dad just watches the Italian Channel like, ‘Boop a dee boppidity boop a dee bing!’”
Aquilino confessed that sometimes fans can be hypersensitive to some of the things she will tweet and says she has to be careful sometimes.
“On Twitter and on Instagram if you say something it’s so easily taken out of context,” she said. “I personally know that I’m really sarcastic so I have to be careful. People will be like, ‘Oh you’re racist!’ about something that really isn’t racist. I think people definitely get really sensitive but at the same time you need to have your freedom. No matter what you say, people are going to have a hard time. It can be a picture of a puppy and someone will say, ‘I hate puppies! Puppies are racist!’”
As a lover of puppies, Aquilino also said she enjoyed watching the Puppy Bowl this year over the Super Bowl. She said she wanted all of the puppies and she loved the penguin cheerleaders and the kitten half-time show with cats playing the piano.
Aquilino warned that celebrities and comedians alike need to be cautious when people follow them, she said as she jokingly made a creeping motion. But she assured her work came from humble beginnings.
“I feel like I’m the same person that I always was,” she said. “Less than a year ago I was working at a hair salon answering the phone as a receptionist. Girl Code had aired for half a season and I was still answering phones. People were coming in saying ‘Were you TV? I saw you on TV and you were like talking about boobs!’ and I was like, ‘That wasn’t me. I need to wash this girl’s hair out.’”
Aquilino said adjusting to the fame was definitely a life change but she has welcomed it.
In addition to Girl Code, Aquilino is continuing to perform stand-up across the U.S. with new shows forming along the way. Aquilino joked her next big project will be becoming the new Wendy’s girl.
Aquilino and Chris Distefano provided stand-up and a question and answer segment at the end of the show which unintentionally revolved around students asking questions about the couple’s recent break-up. As the questions flew, they calmly laughed off the awkwardness and admitted they are still very close friends.
So girls, remember: dye your hair often, be careful on social media, racism isn’t cool, even from puppies, and be yourself. But if it doesn’t work out, you can try advertising the Baconator. It’s Girl Code.
