Caffeine Addiction Lands Woman on MTV Documentary

A loyal patron charged through the doors with an MTV film crew one September night. She arrived in her normal state, heavily caffeinated and ready to party.

“She was crazy,” new owner Pam Pravetz said. 

Dunedin native Leandra Barnard, 22, managed to accumulate a $200 bar tab that night — all on liquor-laced energy drinks, and the film crew was there to document it for an upcoming episode of MTV’s “True Life: I’m Addicted to Caffeine,” airing Saturday, June 16 at 2:23 p.m.

The hour-long documentary features Barnard’s life and others with a severe caffeine addiction. 

Without so much as the privacy of a single shower, Barnard said the crew captured 350 hours of her day-to-day life, filmed every two weeks over the course of several months. At the height of her addiction, the 2006 Dunedin High grad was drinking 2,000 milliliters of caffeine a day, or about 68 ounces (the Food and Drug Administration suggests consuming no more than 10 ounces of coffee). She once even had a seizure from downing a 12-pack of 12-ounce energy drinks in four hours, she said.

“She used to not be able to sit still,” Pravetz said.

Barnard, who was once a member of the Scottish Highlander Band and Navy JROTC at the high school, had been consuming large quantities of energy drinks since she was 18. She said she knew she had a problem when she just couldn’t sleep anymore.

"I only cared about my work life and my social life," she said. "I didn't think about the repercussions it would have on my body."

Now she is 32 weeks pregnant and mostly caffeine free.

During the filming process, Barnard developed a familial relationship with the owners and patrons at Eddie's. She recently began working there as a waitress. A watch party, with appropriately themed drink specials, is scheduled for July 7 at 8:30 p.m.; by then, she'll have a full-length DVD with a blooper reel.

Barnard doesn’t flinch when asked if she’s nervous about the footage airing Saturday.

“It is what it is,” she said. “My friends know the real me.”

Follow Leandra on Twitter.