Another instance of a similar casting decision was made for ‘Rat Saw God’ (2006), where in the opening scene Veronica is trying to track someone down at a rental car agency. The scene unfolds in two parts, in the first Veronica tries, and succeeds, to solicit information from Douglas a rental-car manager played by Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy. When Douglas appears to be out of information Veronica leaves, returning shortly after with a ‘disguise’ now wearing a different jacket and glasses this time speaking with Stacy, played by Kim Stolz, a contestant from that season of America’s Next Top Model, who won the role as a prize from the episode which aired earlier that evening. This scene in particularly interesting to view critically in terms of Thomas’s approach to drawing in viewers from the mainstream and cult audiences. In ‘Rat Saw God’ fans of Top Model, can see Stolz cameo and potentially become regular viewers. Fans of cult television were intended to recognize Whedon, who had recently given Veronica Mars a thrilling endorsement on his website after a marathon…show more content… Show. Ever’ which is itself a reference to another cult TV staple. Showing off his enthusiasm not only through his review but taking a cameo role exemplifies the enthusiasm of the cult fan, and the persuasion tactics they often use to encourage other cult fans to consume a text. This scene caters both to cult fans and mainstream viewers, doing so in ways that continually draw upon information form the real world, outside the boundaries of Neptune and the diegetic world in which the show otherwise operates. Umberto Eco argues that a cult text “…must provide a completely furnished world so that its fans can quote characters and episodes as if they were aspects of the fan’s private sectarian world, a world about which on can make up quizzes and play trivia games so that the adepts of the sect recognize each other through shared expertise.” (Eco 1990: