Sandra Bullock surprises Guys Choice

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Sandra Bullock is the Entertainer of the Year | SpikeTV | SPIKE.com

Sandra Bullock continued her carefully controlled media tour Saturday night with a surprise appearance during Spike TV’s Guys Choice awards, where she was named entertainer of the year, an award decided by votes from members of the U.S. military. Bullock already had been scheduled to hit the 2010 MTV Movie Awards on Sunday night, billed as her first formal coming-out since filing for divorce from husband, Jesse James. (She’s previously been on the cover of People magazine with her adopted infant son.) ‘Let’s be honest here,’ Bullock said to the audience of about 900 gathered for the Guys Choice taping at Sony Pictures Studios. ‘Did I win for being the entertainer of the year, or for the spectacular IED explosion that became my personal life?’ Bullock won the award after an online vote, said Guys Choice executive producer and Spike executive Casey Patterson, where armed service members stationed around the world could nominate anyone. When the network contacted Bullock about accepting it, ‘there was no hesitation at all,’ Patterson said. ‘When she learned it was about the troops, she said yes.’ Bullock took the stage in a form-fitting black dress amid a group of uniformed Army, Marine and Coast Guard troops. ‘I’ll do something I’ve always wanted to do in person, and that’s to thank you,’ she said. Army Staff Sgt. A.J. Calderon, who was on stage for the presentation, said later that the troops had been told during rehearsal that Bullock would not appear. ‘We rehearsed is if someone else would be accepting the award for her,’ Calderon said. ‘So when we saw her walk out, we were completely shocked.’ The firestorm she’s gone through lately, as news of her cheating spouse became public, doesn’t compare to the sacrifice of those in the military, she said. ‘I would do it over and over again if it was to entertain our troops,’ she said, ‘and our extraordinary troops deserve something much more than some actress in a tight dress talking about herself.’ Spike tied the annual award show, and Bullock’s trophy, into its ‘Spike Salutes’ program that aims to connect its viewers to awareness- and fund-raising campaigns for the U.S. armed services. The show airs June 20. -- T.L. Stanley