College Life

The next level of reality TV is being introduced to MTV called “College Life”. It is even realer than reality TV they actually call it “real” TV. This show has no producers, directors and the cameras are given to college students to tape and tell their own college stories. The stories are shot at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, it will give viewers a coarse and original look at college kids telling their stories their own ways. It involves lots of hookups,breakups, pressure to get good grades, and homesickness.

The cameras have been given to eight sophomore and freshman students to capture their high and lows of the college experience to share with the world. The excitement of the new freedom these young men and women have just got a taste of will be revealed.

I think this show will give kids in high school an honest idea of what to expect when they start living the college life. Since it is taped by the students and there are absolutely no scripts it will be great examples.

Alex, Andrea, Anna, Lindsay, Kevin, Jordan, Josh, and Dan are the names of the eight students doing this project. You can read biographies on the MTV website. You will find that they all come from different backgrounds and each have experienced different amounts of freedom in the life they had before college.

The question is, how real do people act when they know they are being filmed? Most people aren’t comfortable enough with the way they are so that when the cameras come on they are truly being themselves. Even when the producers and directors are gone most of the kids will act differently knowing they are being filmed and might end up on TV for all the world to see.

“College Life” will air April 13th at 9:30.

LC

I am a huge fan of The Hills, and I especially love the shows main girl, Lauren Conrad. If you are like me in that way, you might be a little disappointed when you hear her talk about her chances of coming back. They seem to be slim to none. It sounds like the show is still planning on airing another season without Lauren Conrad, known on the show as LC.
Conrad says, “Never say never, but at this point I think I’m ready to step away and do my own thing.” She is ready to have some more privacy in her life. She is also sick of having every mistake she makes in her life being aired on television for all of the world to see.
Lauren started her MTV reality show career on Laguna Beach. The first season aired during her senior year of high school. After graduation she attended the Academy of Art School in San Francisco for one semester. During the second season of the show she moved back home and began taking classes at a local college before she transferred again to Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.
The Hills starts when she makes the move to Los Angeles, where she worked at teen vogue. The show documented her live, along with the lives her friends. So far there has been five seasons of The Hills and the sixth one will air April 6, 2009.
LC now has an internship at Teen Vogue. She is also planning on writing a book titled “LA Candy” which will be coming out soon. She has started her own fashion line called Lauren Conrads Collection. She is a spokesperson for the make-up brand “Mark.”

North Dakota Winners

America’s next top model has turned two North Dakota girls into something bigger than they ever imagined they could be. Nicole Linkletter and CariDee English both became winners of the show. This opportunity gave them each a jumpstart in the modeling industry. Nicole received a contract with Ford Models, a $100,000 contract with CoverGirl cosmetics, a fashion spread in Elle magazine, and the cover of Elle Girl magazine. While Caridee also received a $100,000 contract with CoverGirl cosmetics, a modeling contract with Elite Models, and a six-page fashion editorial and cover for Seventeen magazine.
Nicole Linkletter was the first North Dakota winner. She graduated from Grand Forks Red River High School in 2003. She attending college at University of North Dakota, St. Cloud State Univeristy, and is currently attending California State University Northridge.
Nicole appeared in cycle 5 of the show. She auditioned for the show in the Mall of America. She was chosen to win because of her portfolio, model attitude, diversity, and fierce catwalk. Winning this show at the age of 19 made her the youngest winner at the time.
After the show, Nicole went on to do a photo shoot in Paris for a couture line, where her pictures were featured in a six-page spread of Elle magazine. A few other things she has been involved in since then include: In Touch Magazine, Celebrity Living magazine, People Magazine, Alice and Olivia Fashion Show 2006, Fashion For Life Benefit Show, and much others.
CariDee English, a Fargo native, was the winner of Cycle 7. Before making her appearance on America’s Next Top Model she worked as a photographer.
There was a lot of controversy during the show about CariDee’s personality. She came across as much more outgoing than the other contestants. In the beginning of the series she came across as fun and out going in a positive way, but later on the judges worried that it might be too much. The judges were unsure if they wanted a winner who appeared to be unpredictable and unstable as the winner. They crowned her the winner after they said she has the much needed “X factor”.
Since the show, Caridee has appeared on One Tree Hill, she has modeled for Wedding Style, JC Penney, and Bisou Bisou and a few of her runway events include: New York Fashion week 2008, Snoopy in Fashion, and GM Style Auto Show.

Good-bye to the Girls

Tonight the fifth season of The Girls Next Door was wrapped up when everyone said good-bye to Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt, and Kendra Wilkinson. All the girls have gotten tired of being tied down to the same man for the past five years, and they’re ready to make a move for the better.
Holly Madison announced her break-up with Hugh Hefner, but Hef hasn’t had a problem moving on. He has already found two new girlfriends who happen to be identical twins. Holly has been handling the break-up well, also, she wishes Hef nothing but the best. Because Holly is no longer one of Hef’s girlfriends she has to move out of the mansion, but she hasn’t got that far yet.
Tonight on the show Kendra Wilkinson announced that she will be leaving the mansion. She is engaged to, professional football player Hank Baskett. The couple plans on getting married in June. They have already talked a lot about having babies together. Kendra says she’s not making this move to go out, go crazy, and be a party girl, instead, she has plans of settling down.
Bridget Marquardt will no longer be living in the mansion anymore either. She was seen at the grammy’s with her most recent love, director Nicholas Carpenter. The two have been together since October. They have met each others families, but what was more important to that for Bridget was them having Hef’s blessings. She said he told her she is always welcome to the mansion and Baskett is too, as long as she wants him there.
Although all the girls are leaving the mansion, there is talk of having a season 6. Even though they will no longer be in the mansion, all the girls plan on staying close by and keeping Hef a big part of their lives.

Is winning a reality show really the easy way out?

I think a lot of people see winning a reality show as the easy way out, the easy way to fame or to your dream job. I definitely don’t think that is completely true in all cases though. People who win have never dealt with anything like the fame they receive afterwards or haven’t had the chance to work their way up to the job they get after the show. All of this can be so overwhelming for the ordinary person.

Christian Siriano, a 23 year old, became the youngest person to win the reality show Project Runway. While presenting his line of clothes at the semi-annual fashion even, he was blocked from the hall where his clothes were being displayed by a body guard because he didn’t recognize him as a designer. That is just one incident that shows the difficulty of becoming a big time so quickly. There is a documentary out called “Eleven Minutes” it was created by Project Runways first winner, Jay McCarroll, it takes a look at all the months it took him to finish his 11-minute runway collection, raising financial backing and selling the line, and it also asks whether or not a reality show winner can transfer its television success into the real world.

Siriano now has a deal designing low-cost shoes and bags for payless. What he says about winning Project Runway, “It definitely gave me a platform, but for other young designers I would say, it's not the best way to go if you want to be a real, serious designer.” Other Project Runway contestants have sold their clothing in U.S stores, and some have appeared as guests on television shows, but a limited few have actually held their own runway shoes.

Project Runways season 6 finale show is at the Mercedes-Benz fashion week fall 2009 in New York City.

American Idol: Bikini Girl

If you are an avid watcher of the reality TV show series American Idol you probably know who I am talking about when I say “bikini girl.” Her name is Katrina Darrell, a 20-year-old who tried out for the eighth season of American Idol wearing nothing but a small two piece bikini. After she was done singing she got in a verbal fight with Kara DioGuardi, who was judging at the time. She was eliminated from the competition, and while having her talk with Ryan Seacrest she pulled him in for a kiss. Without her on the show anymore they turn to Tatiana Del Toro to keep the drama alive.

Tatiana Del Toro, is a 23 year old Puerto Rican dancer and lingerie model. She made it into the top 36 by the skin of her teeth. The first try out she had she did anything she could to annoy the heck out of Simon Cowell. She also gave Simon sexy snap shots of herself. There is a lot of talk about her making it this far just to make the show more interesting and add drama and entertainment. Tatiana also gives the people someone to hate, which will make people watch more for the pleasure they get from the put downs she receives. I think keeping her may be a waste of their time though, because once the phone lines start ringing and the competitions is up to the people I don’t think she will last very long.

Unlike any other season, this season has 36 semifinalists. The contestants will be grouped into 3 groups of 12. After they are grouped, Idol will have three weeks where the twelve will perform during two hour pre-taped Tuesdays at 8PM. While those who voted at home votes will be revealed Wednesday at 8PM during the one hour show. The male and female who received the highest number of votes from home voters will automatically be one of the 12 finalists. For more information on this seasons American Idol visit: http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/alleged-identities-of-american-idol-eighth-season-top-36-released-8352.php

Double Shot at Love Season Finale

If you have been a big “Double Shot at Love” fan you probably tuned into the season finale that aired last week. I will give you a little recap on what the show is about if your not a regular watcher. This show’s goal was to find two hot, twin, bisexuals true love. It started off with 12 women and 12 men and they had competitions to see who got alone time with the girls, the more alone time you got the better the girls got to know you. Each week they had elimination where the girls would have to make a decision and send competitors home.
This week, only two competitors remained, and if all worked out right they were both suppose to have someone in the end, but there was a twist they could not discuss their decisions with each other. Rebekah and Trevor were the two to make it to the finale. Rebekah came out first and both of the girls ended up confessing that they were in love with Trevor. So, when Trevor came out the girls told him they both fell in love with him and it was now up to him to pick who he wanted to be with. He said he had to follow his heart and chose Vikki. Rikki left crying.
For previous episode summaries visit: http://www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/a_double_shot_at_love/episodes.jhtml
I think a lot of people enjoyed seeing an ending like this because they realized that even people as pretty as these girls don’t get what they want and don’t always get a happy ending. I have a feeling there might be another season with just Rikki looking for love again, or maybe them both if Vikki and Trevor don’t work out. I think this, because back when the show was “A shot at Love With Tila Tequila” she thought she found love the first time and it didn’t work out so she had another season to try again. These shows become very entertaining because the viewer often starts to gain feelings for the competitors.

Watch the season finale at: http://www.mtv.com/videos/a-double-shot-at-love-one-shot-too-many/1604218/playlist.jhtml