Billy Jack has words for Jon and Kate
“Jon and Kate, I want you to know… that I try. When fans tell me that I’m supposed to stop hating, and be passive and nonviolent like they are, I try. I really try. Though when I see these kids… of such beautiful spirit… so degraded… so exploited. . . and this little girl… that we all love… spanked like a naughty monkey … this little girl, who is so special to us we call her “God’s little gift of sunshine”… and I think of the number of years that she’s going to have to carry in her memory… the savagery of this idiotic moment of yours… I just go BERSERK!”
I still have this album
Go ahead and hate your neighbor,
Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of Heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
There won’t be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgement day,
On the bloody morning after….
One tin soldier rides away.
Okay, now I think we are being punked! Ashton? Alan Funt?
Jon Gosselin, Kate Major and Michael Lohan (and his blond escort) had dinner in the Hamptons. Also included was Jill Zarin from RHWoNY and The Mayor of South Hampton.
Kate wanted fame and fortune. She had a wonderful vacation with Steve and the kids in Bald Head Island. Jon had a vacation or two also. The French Riveria and now The Hamptons. Wasn’t it just yesterday that Hailey Glassman was declaring her love for Jon? Yesterday. Yes, that’s when it was. Scroll down. He was publicly kissing Hailey a few days ago. This is a joke, right? Publicity stunt? Episode for a new prank program? That’s it. Jon’s got a new reality program in the works:
“Konned with Jon”, new this fall on FOX
This is Jon’s new buddy.
DOUCHEBAGS UNITE!
Sharing tips for living off your children, exploiting their childhoods and basically being an embarrassment to fathers everywhere!
with Special Guest Stars: Joe Jackson and Joe Simpson.Breaking News!
Star Reporter Dating Jon Gosselin
It’s a stunning turn of events that even Star couldn’t see coming, father-of-eight Jon Gosselin and one of our reporters have fallen for each other.
Kate Major confirmed tonight that she and the Jon & Kate Plus 8 dad are an item, five days after they were first photographed together.
“I didn’t mean it to happen, it just did,” Kate, 26, says. “I went to do a story on Jon and ended up falling for him.”
The surprise news means that Jon, 32, and his girlfriend Hailey Glassman, daughter of his wife’s plastic surgeon, are over.
Tonight Jon and his new Kate went for dinner in East Hampton with Lindsay Lohan‘s father Michael — a long-time friend of Kate’s.
Read next week’s Star for the full story.
Found in Mom’s Basement: One of my favorite sites
Did you ever find a site and just spend so much time there that before you know it hours have gone by? That’s what happen to me the first time I went to Found In Mom’s Basement.
This site is a history of advertising. Considering I’ve been producing ads for newspapers for the past 20+ years, I have a huge interest in advertising styles, typefaces, products, etc.
Cruising through this site is like a trip down memory lane. Please, take a break from cheating spouses and woman who flash their hoochy, and enjoy some good old fashioned American art!
Tyler Perry Sending Kids to Disney
PHILADELPHIA, July 21 (UPI) — Filmmaker Tyler Perry says he is arranging a trip to Walt Disney World for Philadelphia-area day camp children who were denied access to a private club.
Perry said on his Web site Sunday he would send the Creative Steps campers, each with a chaperone, on an all-expenses-paid trip to the Florida resort, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday.
“I want them to know that for every act of evil that a few people will throw at you, there are millions more who will do something kind for them,” Perry wrote.
An attorney for Creative Steps said last week the center would file a federal lawsuit against the Valley Swim Club in Huntingdon Valley, Pa., claiming violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The club revoked swimming privileges of about 65 children from the center after a visit June 29. The center had contracted to use the pool during the summer, but the club canceled the agreement and returned the center’s $1,950 check without explanation.
Some black and Hispanic children said white club members made racist comments during the June 29 visit.
Club officials have denied their actions were racially motivated, insisting they were concerned with safety and didn’t want too many children in the pool at the same time.
“Dating in the Dark”
Why did I watch this show? No extended cable. Rerun on CSI and plain boredom.
Interesting premise. 6 singles meet and pair off. They spend time in the dark to “connect.” Then they see each other and decide if they want to go on with a friendship/relationship. I thought the guys would be the shallow ones but it turns out the shallow person was the best looking woman on there. Her “man,” who she totally sucked-face with, wasn’t a perfect 10. This guy was adorable. I couldn’t believe she was “disappointed” and left him standing on the balcony while she got in the car and drove away. She stated that she hates being judged by her looks. What a bitch. Seriously. Woman like that deserve to be alone or end up with douche bags that cheat on them. Obviously, she didn’t deserve Seth. If I was 20 years younger I’d take a go at him myself.
One couple connected and left together. They were boring.
The third couple was fun. The woman was kind of kooky looking but cute and giggly. The guy was dark (personality) and gorgeous. He had a sad life, if he was telling the truth, and he seems to have many emotional issues that this woman will probably not enjoy dealing with. It was still nice that they showed up for each other. He felt validated and she was thrilled to be with a guy so good looking (and I truly believe she liked his personality.)
Seth Cooperman
When Love is Blind
NYC native Seth Cooperman dishes on ‘Dating in the Dark’ for a new reality series on ABC
BY Seth Cooperman
It’s a sweltering summer day in Los Angeles. I’m alone in a strange room, awkwardly sitting in a beanbag chair, waiting to meet a woman I’ve never seen before who may just be the love of my life.
After several minutes, the door to the room slowly opens. My heart racing, I quickly look up and I see nothing. Yes, she’s there, and no, I’m not blind. I just forgot to mention that the room is dark.
Very dark.
Pitch dark.
You-can’t-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face-even-after-being-in-there-for-an-hour dark.
Thus begins one of my adventures on the new ABC show, aptly named “Dating in the Dark.”
Maybe you’re asking, “What’s a good-looking boy from New York City doing in Los Angeles on a dating show? Can’t he meet a girl the old-fashioned way, like on JDate?”
If you asked that, you sound just like my mom. And my answer to you would be same as it is to her: Dating isn’t easy.
My eight years of dating in NYC are memorable, but for all the wrong reasons.
There was the first date at Grimaldi’s with the girl in an arm bandage because her pet bird had attacked her. The online date I met at Serendipity 3 who used her high school prom photo for her profile picture. The girl I had to meet at her upper West Side apartment because she barely left the house (she believed everyone stared at her because she was so hot and that made her uncomfortable).
The list goes on and on.
I decided to audition for the show because I obviously wasn’t meeting the right girls on my own. Everyone, including me, could easily dismiss a prospective romance based on a quick glance. Compared to that, dating someone in the dark seemed like a great option.
The show process started with an audition for producers where I detailed my dating life. After I passed that phase, I moved on to a very long personality test.
Yes, I drink alcohol. Yes, I believe in true love. No, I never thought of killing my family.
I passed again and I was accepted onto the show.
I soon learned that I not only get to date all the girls on the show, but that one girl in particular was chosen to be there specifically for me, based on my personality test and the advice of compatibility experts. How many times can you say you’ve walked into a bar knowing a girl there was specifically chosen for you? The show sounded awesome, at this point.
The week in the “Dating in the Dark” house was a whirlwind of “blind” dates and fun activities. Men and women were separated in different wings of the house and we only met the opposite sex on dates in the central dark room.
At first, we chose whomever we wanted to date. Then we had a mix of free-choice dates, and dates with our expertly matched partner.
I had my doubts, but I found I was choosing to meet the same girl the experts selected for me. And we didn’t need any light to have an awesome time. We cooked meals, drank wine, shared personal stories and even had a chance to golf. Well, putt. But we really got to know each other. And it surprised me how much more quickly I got to know all three girls in one week than anyone else I’d dated in that same amount of time.
If you want to know if I’m still dating my match, you’ll have to watch the show. But I will say that, if you get the chance to date someone’s personality before their looks, it can be a nerveracking but rewarding experience.
And it definitely beats dating bird-girl.
Seth Cooperman is an audio/visual designer and writer who lived in New York for eight years before recently moving to L.A. ABC’s “Dating in the Dark” begins Monday at 10.
WrapTV: The Consequences of Children on Reality TV
“Children can’t give consent. Only parents can — and these shows don’t cast adults with a high level of mental health.”
By Dominic Patten
There’s a scene in “Bruno” where Sacha Baron Cohen holds an audition for the “hottest baby photo shoot ever.” The intent is to reveal how fame-seeking parents will agree to anything — including putting their babies in fast cars without a car seat or next to “dead or dying animals” — to get their toddlers on camera.
It would be astonishing … if it hadn’t already become so common on the small screen.
On shows such as “Supernanny,” “Wife Swap,” “Denise Richards — It’s Complicated,” “My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad,” and “Kid Nation” and others, the harmful effects that come from constantly being on camera at a young age is becoming a matter of concern to child-care professionals and even fans of some shows.
And did we mention “Jon & Kate Plus 8”?
Even in this tabloid era, the disintegration of the Gosselins’ marriage and the effect the TLC show and the media attention is having on the couple’s young sextuplets and twins has family and show followers warning that things have gone too far.
Kate’s brother and her sister-in-law, Kevin and Jodi Krieder, both of whom have appeared on the show, recently told CBS that they believed the children are “being exploited” by parents obsessed with “fame and the fortune.”
While empirical data to gauge the effect of nonstop media exposure on children is hard to come by, the anecdotal evidence doesn’t look good — even if the ratings are great.
* Paul and Susan Young accused “Supernanny” producers of encouraging their five sons to exaggerate their unruly behavior for the cameras on the U.K. version of the series in 2005. “They left us with children that were more naughty than when they arrived,” the mother told the British press. The fact that the Young’s house might have been burned down by one of the children in 2007 certainly didn’t help.
* “The Real Housewives of Orange County’s” Gina DeLeon believes that appearing on the show had “a devastating effect” for her children, who were not on the show initially. When series regular Laurie Waring hooked up with Gina’s ex-husband George Peterson on season 2, he wanted to the kids to join him in front of the cameras. “They begged not to be on it,” DeLeon told TheWrap, but “George forced them to do it.” DeLeon added that the children “got teased and bullied at school, it was not a pleasant or growing experience for them.”
* Professionals like Charlie Sheen and Pamela Anderson have consciously kept their children off their reality TV excursions. Sheen even fought an unsuccessful legal battle to keep his young daughters off his ex-wife Denise Richard’s E! series. (For more on celebrity reality TV shows and children, see accompanying story.)
“These shows can open the kids to a level of public scrutiny, of shame and of failure,” notes Dr. Drew Pinsky, host of VH-1’s “Celeb Rehab and co-author of “The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism Is Seducing America.” “You have to ask yourself if that is conducive to positive outcomes as they get older.”
Pinsky puts the responsibility on the parents and the producers.
“Children can’t give informed consent by definition, only the parents can do that — and reality shows generally don’t cast adults who have the highest level of mental health. They are severe narcissists who are obsessed with celebrity.”
“The permanency of the images of the children potty training, bathing and having temper tantrums on camera will open them up to derision and bullying as they get older,” says Paul Peterson, who starred in “The Donna Reed Show” in the late 50s and 60s.
For Peterson — who with his nonprofit group A Minor Consideration has been a long-time advocate of safeguarding Hollywood’s on-camera children — long-term pain is the likely consequence of short-term fame.
“Down the line, once the show is over and the cameras have gone,” he asserts, “there will likely be no help for them from predators and others seeking to take advantage of them.”
There is, however, some possible help on the way. “Jon & Kate Plus 8’s” treatment of the Gosselin children is now being investigated by the Pennsylvania Labor Department.
“We received a complaint, and an investigator has been assigned,” Department spokesman Troy Thompson told TheWrap. “Now we’re reviewing the case, which means interviewing the principles, interviewing anyone who has information and going over the company documents.”
At the core of the investigation is whether the Gosselins’ Wernersville, Penn., home constitutes a formal TV set, where the children are being instructed and directed. If so, it would bring the production under the state’s child labor laws.
If not — if it’s considered merely a domestic environment where they are being observed and filmed with little direct interaction with producers and crew – the state would have no grounds for violation, and the investigation will be closed.
The immediate consequences could be a fine — which, according to the state’s laws, can range from $200 to $1,500 — or “to undergo an imprisonment of not more than 10 days, or both, at the discretion of the court.” (For reality shows under fire, see accompanying story.)
TLC put out a statement on May 29, when the investigation became public, stating that it and Jon & Kate Plus 8 “fully complies with all applicable laws and regulations.” Attempts by TheWrap to contact Figure 8 Film and TLC were met with “no comment.”
This is not the first time that the regional authorities have taken a look at the realities children deal with on reality shows. In 2007, CBS’ “Kid Nation,” where children ranging from 8 to 15 competed in the establishment of a non-adult-supervised society, was investigated by a number of departments in New Mexico for playing fast and loose with the rules and safety.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, in whose jurisdiction an on-set grease accident occurred, followed up on the victim’s parent’s claim that the program reflected an unsafe environment and disregard for labor laws. The state of New Mexico itself threatened to get involved with the show for the hours that children were in front of the cameras.
Ultimately, the state dropped its efforts, citing not having received a formal complaint.
As for Jon and Kate, the show went on immediate broadcast hiatus after the couple’s separation announcement and divorce filing. It’s not expected back on the air until Aug. 4 — if it reappears at all.
The couple did put on a united face on Independence Day for a family July 4th picnic at their home, seemingly unperturbed by their estrangement or the Pennsylvania Labor department’s investigation.
“No one can act like this is unknown, we have history here,” Paul Peterson told TheWrap. “When Danny Bonaduce, who knows the ways of this biz, allowed cameras into his life, it destroyed his marriage. It destroyed the Loud family back in the 1970s. Now it’s destroyed Jon and Kate’s family.”
“If you these children get in trouble in 20 years you can be sure they’ll be known as one of those kids from ‘Jon & Kate Plus 8,’ ” cautions Peterson. “That will define them.”
http://www.thewrap.com/article/consequences-children-reality-tv_4288
TheWrap Investigates: 11 Players Have Committed Suicide
Susan Boyle should consider herself lucky that when she was rushed to the hospital a day after the “Britain’s Got Talent” finale, it was only for exhaustion.
A Wrap investigation shows that the reality of reality shows is not nearly so benign: at least 11 reality-show participants have taken their own lives — and two more who have tried to — in tragedies that appear to be linked to their experience on television shows.
Many people may know about Paula Goodspeed (pictured left), who killed herself in front of Paula Abdul’s house last November after she was bounced from audtions on “American Idol.” Goodspeed, an obsessed fan of Abdul’s, was found dead in her car in Sherman Oaks after a prescription-drug overdose.
But Goodspeed is just one among a long list of reality-show related deaths.
The victims are as varied as they are unexpected: a deputy district attorney, a single father, a young boxer — even the sister of a contestant on a makeover show prodded to make hurtful comments about her sibling’s “before” look.
And the phenomenon is not limited to the United States. TheWrap’s investigation found suicides and attempted suicide among contestants as far afield as India, England and Sweden.
Certainly, many of these people had pre-existing problems, which may have been why they were looking for such instant TV fame in the first place. But mental-health workers have discovered that many contestants on shows like “Survivor” and “Big Brother” — even those who win — suffer severe and often long-lasting psychological trauma. (Read Part Two tomorrow for more on this subject.)
Here are the victims, beginning with those on U.S. shows:
1. CHERYL KOSEWICZ
“Pirate Masters,” CBS
July 27, 2007
A Deputy District Attorney from Reno, Kosewicz, 35, killed herself after being bounced from the show. Her suicide happened just two months after Kosewicz’s boyfriend, Ryan O’Neil, committed suicide himself. Kosewicz wrote on the MySpace page of fellow contestant Ness Nemir: “I’ve lost the strong Cheryl and I’m just floating around lost. This frik’n show … was such a contention between Ryan and I and plus it’s not getting good reviews … then I made the National Enquirer today so … the hits just keep on coming.” A CBS spokesman did not return calls for comment.
2. NAJAI TURPIN
“The Contender,” NBC
Feb. 14, 2005
The 23-year-old shot himself to death just weeks before his scheduled bout on the series, which chronicles boxers trying to win a TV tournament with a first prize of $1 million. According to the police report, Turpin was sitting in a Chevy Lumina at 4 a.m. with his girlfriend, whom he had been fighting with over their 2-year old daughter. His trainer, Perry “Buster” Custus, said that “he had a lot of stuff on his mind. I was going to talk to him about it while we were driving to camp.
You never really knew what was going on in Najai’s head.”In joining the show, Turpin hoped to earn money to support his family, but participants were not allowed to fight in any other bouts until the live finale of the show aired. He was said to have grown frustrated when the premiere was delayed repeatedly. NBC did not return calls seeking comment.
3. NATHAN CLUTTER
“Paradise Hotel 2,” MyNetworkTV
October 12, 2007
The 26-year-old lllinois native jumped to his death from a cellular tower several weeks after he wrapped production on “Paradise Hotel 2,” which aired on News Corp’s MyNetworkTV. Before filming the show, Clutter had moved to Phoenix, where he worked as a sales manager. The network initially reported that his death was the result of a climbing accident, but a police investigation concluded that it was a suicide. Clutter’s uncle told police that Clutter battled depression and a bi-polar disorder and that his family had sent him money in hope of his moving back to Illinois.
TheWrap received no response to an email to a spokeswoman for the network before publication.
4. KELLI MCGEE
“Extreme Makover,” ABC
2005
McGee wasn’t even a contestant on the show — it was her sister, Deleese Williams, who was flown to L.A. for what producers called a “Cinderella-like transformation” that would fix her deformed jaw, droopy eyelids and crooked teeth. But the night before her plastic surgery, McGee was told she was being dumped from the show because her recovery time “wouldn’t fit with the show’s productions schedule,” said producers.
Williams reportedly sobbed, “How can I go home as ugly as I left? I was supposed to come home pretty!”
McGee had been coaxed by show producers to say mean things about Williams’ looks — apparently with the intention of contrasting those comment with the “made-over” Williams. When Williams became aware of her sister’s hurtful remarks, family members claim, “Kelli went all to pieces” and took a fatal overdose of pills and alcohol in May.
Williams, who now is raising her sister’s two children, is suing ABC and production company, Endemol Productions, for breach of contract, willful infliction of emotional distress and negligence. ABC referred questions about McGee to Endemol, which did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
5. MELANIE BELL
“Vegas Elvis,” unsold pilot
March 25, 2005
Bell, not a contestant but a producer of the show, jumped from the Stratosphere Hotel after a day of filming. Her family says she was suffering severe depression stemming from her battle with anorexia. A news release for the fledgling show actually promoted the fact that “Vegas Elvis” was “the second reality program in less than two months to suffer a cast member suicide,” apparently referring to the death of boxer Turpin. It claimed that Bell’s death was, basically, a more exciting suicide than Turpin’s.
6. DANNY BONADUCE
“Breaking Bonaduce,” VH-1
September 2005
The former “Partridge Family” child actor tried to kill himself with vodka and Vicodin after his wife asked for a divorce while the couple was filming their reality series — and just prior to the Sept.
12, 2005, airing of the first episode. The programs shows Bonaduce swilling an entire bottle of vodka and screaming at a producer, “I’ll cripple him for life.” VH-1 producers claim they wanted to stop filming after the off-camera suicide attempt but his wife Gretchen “really begged us to keep filming.” Gretchen says she allowed the filming because “I wanted to use every leverage I had to get him help. Danny loves to be on TV.” A spokesman for VH-1 did not return calls seeking comment.
7.JAMES SCOTT TERRILL
“Supernanny,” ABC
July 4, 2008
The Georgetown, Kentucky, single father died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds after appearing on the series that purports to help parents deal with out-of-control young children. Terill, 37, struggling with financial and parenting issues, called the police while at the cemetery where his father was buried, threatening to shoot himself. The police stayed with him on the phone for an hour but were unable to stop him. A spokesperson for ABC did not return our calls seeking comment.
It’s the same problem in other countries, as well. TheWrap was unable to get comments from spokesmen in other countries:
8. SIMON FOSTER
England
“Wife Swap”
April 15, 2008
Foster lost his wife Jane, his house and his job after appearing on “Wife Swap.” Finally, he was found dead in a tiny room in Brighton, after consuming excessive quantities of methadone and alcohol. He and Jane were featured on the program because they lived “an alternative” lifestyle, each having girlfriends outside the marriage. A friend of the Foster said, “The show put an enormous strain on Simon, he was really never the same. To be shown with your wife happily seeing another woman made him a laughingstock.” Soon after filming, Jane moved in with her lesbian lover and took the couple’s two children, Foster’s boss fired him and he ended up homeless. Viewers were told in an update that the Fosters had divorced but did not link the end of the marriage to the show.
9. CARINA STEPHENSON
England
“The Colony”
May 2005
Stephenson, 17, the youngest reality suicide, took her life two weeks before her role was to air. Her body was found hanging from a tree in a Yorkshire forest two days after she went missing; it later emerged that she had been visiting suicide sites on the internet. On the sites, Stephenson was encouraged to take her own life and given advice on how to kill herself, which her mother claimed Stephenson followed in her actual attempt. “The Colony” — filmed in Australia — is described as a “fly-on-the-wall series that shows how modern day families would have coped as settlers in 1800.”
10. JO O’MEARA
“Celebrity Big Brother”
February 2007
O’Meara has recovered from a suicide attempt after fellow contestants accused her of being a “bully and a racist.” Her conduct towards the eventual winner, Shilpa Shetty, was questioned, and O’Meara claimed that she received death threats after leaving the show.
She later described her attempt in detail, in which she downed pills and whiskey before passing out on her bathroom floor. A friend found her in time to revive her, but O’Meara still is furious with the producers for “abandoning” her. “I was in so much pain and just hurting, I couldn’t believe what I’d become and how I’d been shown on the telly. I was shaking, but I poured the whiskey into the glass, then I just took one Nurofen, then another, then another,” O’Meara said in April 2007. Her mother says she’s recovering from her suicide attempt but, “She’s not eating, she’s wasting away.”
11. SINISA SAVIJA
Sweden
“Expedition”
July 11, 1997
Savija threw himself under a train after being voted off the island on an episode of “Expedition: Robinson,” the 1997 program that was guided by producer Mark Burnett, who renamed it “Survivor” for the United States run. His suicide led Burnett and other producers to subject potential contestants to psycohlogical testing before casting. Savija’s widow Nermina said the 34-year-old “became deeply depressed and agonized. He felt degraded as a person; he was a glad and stable person before, and when he came back he told me, ‘They are going to cut away the good things I did and make me look like a fool to show that I was the worst, the first to go.”
12. TANIA SAHA
India
“Fatafati”
September 2008
The 21-year-old Saha swallowed poison immediately after being rejected as a participant on the Indian reality show. Apparently she brought the bottle of poison with her to the audition.
(Additional reporting by Tina McGilton and Lucas Shaw.)
_______________________
Part 2.
By Frank Feldinger & Tina McGilton
The second of two parts; previously, “Win, Lose or Die: 11 Reality-Show Players Have Committed Suicide.“
Katie Gold made it to the final four on the first year of “Survivor’s” Australian edition. Throughout the program she received a continuous stream of letters saying, “You’re a disgrace, you disgust us.”
When the show was done, Gold (pictured below) continued getting hate mail, suffered clinical depression and had to undergo years of psychotherapy to deal with, as she put it, “serious trust and abandonment issues.”Mental-health workers have discovered that often people who compete on shows like “Survivor” and “Big Brother” — even those who win — suffer severe and often long-lasting psychological trauma as a result.
“The obsession to be on TV is like the obsession to use drugs and alcohol,” Miami psychologist Dr. Jamie Huysman told TheWrap. “It’s just a symptom of a much deeper emotional problem, and the sufferer’s malaise infects the entire family.”
Huysman, who has a special practice in which he treats victims of reality shows and their families, says he has treated over 800 people since he founded AfterTVCare in 1992.
He started the practice when the producer of a TV talk show asked him to intervene in a case where a man who had appeared on the program was threatening to kill his daughter and himself because of what he revealed about lusting for her.
“Reality shows open wounds which no one can suture, so after your appearance, you’re left to bleed to death,” he said. “In effect, everyone who appears is thrown out of the lifeboat when their segment ends. “For everyone who appears — winners and losers alike — the lights go down, clinical issues remain. (See more on the interview with Dr. Huysman.)People don’t have any idea what it’s going to feel like to have so much of their life exposed to the camera, said Dr. Michelle Callahan, who recently served as a co-host and life coach on the mean girl makeover reality series “Queen Bees” on The N network.
“They underestimate how much stress they can deal with,” Callahan told TheWrap. “They think, ‘Oh, we’re cool, we’ll have so much fun and it’s gonna do great things for us so it’s worth it for the exposure.’ “Callahan added that often contestants don’t realize how much scrutiny they will have to endure even after their time on the show has ended. “Your persona on the show extends back to your real life,” she said. “If you’re on ‘The Biggest Loser’ and the show ends and you’re driving down the street and you stop at Popeye’s, people are gonna say, ‘Hey, you still look fat.’ Your weight issue has become public. That’s a lot of pressure to endure.”Weight, especially, can bring out the insults.
Jade Goody (pictured below), a 21-year-old dental nurse from London who died from cancer earlier this year, was dubbed “the most hated woman in the United Kingdom” during her 2002 “Big Brother” stint and was routinely called out for being bitchy, two-faced and fat.
A newspaper columnist wrote, “Jade is one of the most hated women on British TV and life will be hard for her when she leaves the house but don’t feel sorry for her … vote the pig out.”
And she wasn’t the only one to be targeted: A 15-year-old who had the misfortune to look something like Jade was beaten up after being mistaken for the contestant.
“We live in an age of disposable people,” Huysman told TheWrap. “The producers don’t care about the players, they care about the sponsors who want eyeballs, confrontations, meltdowns — they love it when people cry or are brow-beaten. That’s why the highest-rated shows are the ones where people get crushed emotionally.”
What doesn’t happen naturally often is added by the shows’ producers, he said: “No one tells these people it all will be edited, not just to shorten the running time but to manipulate character development. Character defects may be exaggerated simply by editing down their good qualities.”Some contestants end up being the good guy; others end up as the villains.
“Americans aren’t comfortable with ambiguity,” Dr. Jorga Leap, a professor of social welfare at UCLA, told TheWrap. “So, just like a dramatic series, the producers decide before taping who will wear the white hat and whom the black. The problem is, we all are made up of good and not so good qualities and the contestants don’t get to choose which qualities they want displayed to the audience.”
“It doesn’t matter if someone is a strong personality or a basket case,” she added. “Everyone loses their sense of self — and that’s why the worst traumas are suffered after the program airs; people are left with, ‘Now what?’ And they have to face a society that thinks they know you because they saw a version of you on TV.”
The only difference between so-called reality shows and dramatic shows is that they get real people to play the roles,” said Huysman. “You may think you’re the smart, sexy one, only to see yourself portrayed as a calculating bitch when the show airs. That’s why so many winners suffer a type of post-traumatic stress syndrome.”
Jade Goody actually got a chance to switch hats, when she was given her own talk show, “Just Jade,” in 2006. With a public plea for forgiveness, Goody stage-managed a kiss-and-make-up session with the fellow contestant she mocked and made a “goodwill visit” to India, where she toured a children’s charity, apologized again and made a donation.
Finally, unwilling to give up her newfound notoriety up to the end — literally — Goody invited the cameras to film her as she was dying, for a two-part tribute called “Jade: With Love,” that aired in 2009. Her funeral was broadcast live in England.
So how does one prepare for the onslaught reality shows bring?Potential contestants need to be “brutally honest about the possibility that people are going to be critical of them,” Callahan said.
“You have to think about the worst case scenario and be sure you can live with it — people invading your privacy, family coming out of the woodwork to sell you out, people picking on your weight or your skin — is it all worth it?”
Dr. Geoffrey White began working as a therapist on reality television programs like “The Mole” nearly 10 years ago. Now he screens potential cast members to make sure they’re not too unstable. He also supervises contestants while the show is in production.
“The best way to screen the cast is not to talk to them but to put them in situations where you can watch them interact,” White told TheWrap. “Most people can make a pretty good impression in an interview or filling out a form, but if you place people in two or three mock situations, then you can really judge the way someone will respond to a situation.”
White believes there should be greater ethical standards created for the screening process.
“There is enormous potential for risk, and nobody is really following these people up or watching over their welfare,” he said. “An industry standard should be created and producers should be held liable should anything happen.”
(Additional reporting by Amy Kaufman.)
Sir Paul was on David Letterman: Now with “Helter Skelter” Video
After all these years, a live concert and a bad marriage (both of us), I still get all tingly and excited by seeing Paul McCartney. With his dry sense-of-humor, he told Dave that he didn’t come on the show because, “I really don’t like it very much.” Straight poker face. Not a joke and kind of awkward.
Paul never dissapoints. He talked about the Beatles at the Ed Sullivan Theater in 1962, the “Paul is Dead” rumor and Michael jackson buying the Lennon-McCartney song catalog. I was hoping he would say that MJ willed him the songs back but he didn’t. He seemed genuinally hurt that MJ bought those songs. “It’s just business, Paul.” is what Michael told Paul. Karma.
Paul and his band played “Get Back” on top of the marquee of the Ed Sullivan Theater. Pretty cool. People were filling the streets and were thrilled to be seeing a Beatle (without paying). I swear, there was a woman watching who looked like me! Maybe it’s my twin and she was there in spirit. Who know.
I love Sir Paul McCartney and when he passes, I’ll be as sad as those MJ fans. Probably sadder. I’m still not over the fact that John Lennon was murdered.
2009 Emmy Nominations are Announced
Nominees: Outstanding Comedy Series:
“Entourage” (2004)
“Family Guy” (1999)
“The Flight of the Conchords” (2007)
“How I Met Your Mother” (2005)
“The Office” (2005)
“30 Rock” (2006)
“Weeds” (2005)
Nominees: Outstanding Drama Series
“Big Love” (2006)
“Breaking Bad” (2008)
“Damages” (2007)
“Dexter” (2006)
“House M.D.” (2004)
“Lost” (2004)
“Mad Men” (2007)
Nominees: Outstanding Made for Television Movie
Coco Chanel (2008) (TV)
Grey Gardens (2009) (TV)
Into the Storm (2009) (TV)
Prayers for Bobby (2009) (TV)
Taking Chance (2009)
Nominees: Outstanding Miniseries
“Generation Kill” (2008)
“Little Dorrit” (2008)
Nominees: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin for “30 Rock” (2006)
Steve Carell for “The Office” (2005)
Jemaine Clement for “The Flight of the Conchords” (2007)
Jim Parsons for “The Big Bang Theory” (2007)
Tony Shalhoub for “Monk” (2002)
Charlie Sheen for “Two and a Half Men” (2003)
Nominees: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Simon Baker for “The Mentalist” (2008)
Gabriel Byrne for “In Treatment” (2008)
Bryan Cranston for “Breaking Bad” (2008)
Michael C. Hall for “Dexter” (2006)
Jon Hamm for “Mad Men” (2007)
Hugh Laurie for “House M.D.” (2004)
Nominees: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie
Kevin Bacon for Taking Chance (2009)
Kenneth Branagh for “Wallander” (2008)
Brendan Gleeson for Into the Storm (2009) (TV)
Kevin Kline for “Great Performances: Cyrano de Bergerac (#37.8)” (2008)
Ian McKellen for King Lear (2008) (TV)
Kiefer Sutherland for 24: Redemption (2008) (TV)
Nominees: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Christina Applegate for “Samantha Who?” (2007)
Toni Collette for “United States of Tara” (2009)
Tina Fey for “30 Rock” (2006)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus for “The New Adventures of Old Christine” (2006)
Mary-Louise Parker for “Weeds” (2005)
Sarah Silverman for “The Sarah Silverman Program.” (2007)
Nominees: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Glenn Close for “Damages” (2007)
Sally Field for “Brothers & Sisters” (2006)
Mariska Hargitay for “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (1999)
Holly Hunter for “Saving Grace” (2007)
Elisabeth Moss for “Mad Men” (2007)
Kyra Sedgwick for “The Closer” (2005)
Nominees: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or movie
Drew Barrymore for Grey Gardens (2009) (TV)
Jessica Lange for Grey Gardens (2009) (TV)
Shirley MacLaine for Coco Chanel (2008) (TV)
Sigourney Weaver for Prayers for Bobby (2009) (TV)
Chandra Wilson for Accidental Friendship (2008) (TV)
Nominees: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Jon Cryer for “Two and a Half Men” (2003)
Kevin Dillon for “Entourage” (2004)
Neil Patrick Harris for “How I Met Your Mother” (2005)
Jack McBrayer for “30 Rock” (2006)
Tracy Morgan for “30 Rock” (2006)
Rainn Wilson for “The Office” (2005)
Nominees: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Christian Clemenson for “Boston Legal” (2004)
Michael Emerson for “Lost” (2004)
William Hurt for “Damages” (2007)
Aaron Paul for “Breaking Bad” (2008)
William Shatner for “Boston Legal” (2004)
John Slattery for “Mad Men” (2007)
Nominees: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie
Len Cariou for Into the Storm (2009) (TV)
Tom Courtenay for “Little Dorrit” (2008)
Ken Howard for Grey Gardens (2009) (TV)
Bob Newhart for The Librarian: The Curse of the Judas Chalice (2008) (TV)
Andy Serkis for “Little Dorrit” (2008)
Nominees: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Kristin Chenoweth for “Pushing Daisies” (2007)
Jane Krakowski for “30 Rock” (2006)
Elizabeth Perkins for “Weeds” (2005)
Amy Poehler for “Saturday Night Live” (1975)
Kristen Wiig for “Saturday Night Live” (1975)
Vanessa Williams for “Ugly Betty” (2006)
Nominees: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a drama Series
Rose Byrne for “Damages” (2007)
Hope Davis for “In Treatment” (2008)
Cherry Jones for “24” (2001)
Sandra Oh for “Grey’s Anatomy” (2005)
Dianne Wiest for “In Treatment” (2008)
Chandra Wilson for “Grey’s Anatomy” (2005)
Nominees: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
Shohreh Aghdashloo for “House of Saddam” (2008)
Marcia Gay Harden for The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009) (TV)
Janet McTeer for Into the Storm (2009) (TV)
Jeanne Tripplehorn for Grey Gardens (2009) (TV)
Cicely Tyson for Relative Stranger (2009) (TV)
Nominees: Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series
“The Colbert Report” (2005)
“The Daily Show” (1996)
“Late Show with David Letterman” (1993)
“Real Time with Bill Maher” (2003)
“Saturday Night Live” (1975)
Nominees: Outstanding Reality Competition Program
“The Amazing Race” (2001)
“American Idol: The Search for a Superstar” (2002)
“Dancing with the Stars” (2005/I)
“Project Runway” (2005)
“Top Chef” (2006)
Nominees: Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program
Tom Bergeron for “Dancing with the Stars” (2005/I)
Phil Keoghan for “The Amazing Race” (2001)
Heidi Klum for “Project Runway” (2005)
Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio for “Top Chef” (2006)
Jeff Probst for “Survivor” (2000)
Ryan Seacrest for “American Idol: The Search for a Superstar” (2002)
Nominees: Outstanding Reality Program
“Antiques Roadshow” (1997)
“Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan” (2004)
“Dirty Jobs” (2005)
“Intervention” (2005)
“Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List” (2005)
“MythBusters” (2003)
Nominees: Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special
Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger – London, New York, Johannesburg (2008) (TV)
Kathy Griffin: She’ll Cut a Bitch (2009) (TV)
Ricky Gervais: Out of England – The Stand-Up Special (2008) (TV)
The 31st Annual Kennedy Center Honors (2008) (TV)
Will Ferrell: You’re Welcome America – A Final Night with George W Bush (2009) (TV)
my Snark 