Jenny McCarthy: the latest version | The Detroit News

Here's Jenny McCarthy, the 2.0 version.

Ever since she hosted the MTV dating show "Singled Out" from 1995 to 1997, McCarthy built a fan base around her outrageousness, and it has suited her well. She went on to do "Scary Movie 3" and, on TV, "Two and a Half Men" and her own sitcom, "Jenny." But, she says, the audience has missed seeing her in that flying-by-the-seat-of-her-pants style on a dating show like "Singled Out."

"People have been coming up to me going, 'God, can't you just do that show again? It was so much fun.' And 'Bring that Jenny back,' " she recalled recently. "And I thought to myself: 'Well, there can't be a show as perfect as that where I can be all those elements.' "

Then NBC came along with an answer, which she refers to as the "Jenny 2.0" version.

"I did realize why they wanted to use me for the second season to just kind of add a little bit more pizzazz, some comedy and kind of bring out the drama that you know exists ... in these shows.

"So when I sat down with them, I said, 'Yes, I would love to do it as long as you let me bring that "Singled Out" Jenny back to TV.'"

On "Love in the Wild," now in its second season, contestants are sent to the Dominican Republic and put through physical challenges to see how their bond as a couple holds together. McCarthy is the new host as the new season begins (9 p.m. Tuesday).

"When I read about these adventures, I thought there's no way they're going to be able to do these things, (but) they did," McCarthy says. "They really manned up, if you will, stuff that I wouldn't even do. And I was the only one that was hurt, if you can believe it, and I didn't do one adventure.

"I pulled my hamstring sleeping, and I was on crutches in between takes."

She adds: "In this show you are forced to see who the person really is as soon as you put them in the adventure. All the fake self kind of dissipates and you see who that person is. And so to me, it saves — we're saving them — years, so to speak. And so when I was going through the show, I'm, like, 'Oh, my God, I would so put myself in this in my 20s.'"

McCarthy, whose own love life has made headlines, says she's "interested" in someone right now.