By Tim Seyfert

After putting $1 million on the line to star in NBC’s “For Love or Money 2,” Los Altos native Erin Brodie walked away with both cash and romance on last week’s airing of the show’s finale.

Brodie won $2 million when bachelor Chad Viggiano picked her over $1 million.

On the show, 15 men competed for a shot at choosing between Brodie and a six-figure payday. Each week, Brodie narrowed down the bachelors until only one was left. In order for her to win $2 million, Viggiano had to pick her over the money. If he didn’t, Brodie would’ve walked away with nothing.

The show was a spinoff of the surprise summer ratings winner, “For Love or Money,” in which Brodie was a contestant and beat out 15 other women when bachelor Rob Campos picked her as his potential mate. When Brodie took the money over Campos, the show’s producers offered her the chance to either take the money or gamble it double or nothing on the sequel show.

That gamble proved to pay off at the end of the “For Love or Money 2″ finale. The episode aired Sept. 8 but was taped more than three months earlier.

Upon winning both Viggiano’s affection and $2 million, Brodie told her new beau that she would not have won the additional $1 million if he had not picked her. She then handed Viggiano a check for $500,000 to split the additional winnings with him.

“This is insane,” Viggiano said on the finale. With Brodie responding, “We have a lot of money to go and play.”

Brodie and Viggiano appeared on NBC’s “Today” show last week and said they plan to resume dating, which they had to suspend until “For Love or Money 2″ finished its television run.

Brodie lives in San Francisco.