Author Topic: Reality-show rejects adjust to life without the cameras rolling  (Read 3571 times)

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Offline puddin

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Reality-show rejects adjust to life without the cameras rolling

ASSOCIATED PRESS
(Friday, June 03, 2005 8:55 am)
So you want to be on a reality TV show? Be prepared. If you actually make it, you’re probably going to lose.

There’s only one “Survivor,” one “Apprentice” and one “Top Model” every season.

Odds are you’ll be eliminated, voted off, fired or just plain told to leave.

The painful process — which doesn’t involve any cameras following your every move — will go something like this:

Captivity

After you get the inevitable boot, you won’t skulk off-camera back to your home in Anytown, U.S.A.

First, you’ll be banished to a hotel or some such place where you’ll be forbidden from leaving and your every move will be supervised by a casting staff, tasked with keeping the show’s secrets confidential.

That doesn’t mean you won’t have fun.

During a past season of NBC’s “The Apprentice,” fired candidates and their chaperones populated half a hotel floor for the duration of the two-month shoot, which included a communal suite filled with food, beer, video games, DVDs and books. The firees were frequently escorted to dinners, concerts and shows while waiting to go home.


AP Photo
Lynn Warren (left) and his domestic partner, Alex Ali, were eliminated from “The Amazing Race.” “You come back and you’re really excited,” Warren said. “And you have to go back to your regular life that you’ve left for two months.” 
 
 


“We basically just kept them entertained to keep them from getting bored,” says one “Apprentice” casting staff member, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Before they’re booked a room at Hotel Reject, eliminated contestants usually undergo a chat with a staff psychologist, who’s on-call

24/7 to assess their mental state and smooth their transition from potential millionaire to inferior flop.

“Sometimes a couple of the people were upset when they first got kicked off,” says the former “Apprentice” staffer.

And after production has wrapped and you’re allowed to go home, you’ll be debriefed on what you can or cannot do.

At the top of the list: a gag order.

Homecoming

Home at last.

Because there’s usually a few months between the end of shooting and when the first episode airs on TV, you won’t be able to reveal where you’ve been. Nobody will know you’ve just had the experience of a lifetime.

“You come back and you’re really excited, and you have to go back to your regular life that you’ve left for two months,” explains Lynn Warren, who was eliminated with his teammate and boyfriend Alex Ali during the latest “Amazing Race.” “We would do so much in 12 hours on the race. Then, you come home and sit around for 12 hours. In 12 hours on the race, you’ve already visited three countries.”

Most reality-show rejects find it difficult to discover normality again after having cameras in their faces.

Janu Tornell, who quit “Survivor: Palau,” found it more difficult than most. After being sequestered as a member of the jury, Tornell did the unimaginable when she came back to the United States: She locked herself insider her home.

“Coming back from ‘Survivor,’ it was really traumatic,” Tornell says. “I was just kind of freaked out by the whole thing.”

Before Tornell could explain further, a CBS spokeswoman pulled her off the phone — Tornell wasn’t allowed to answer due to her nondisclosure agreement.

As a reality-show reject, you’ll become very familiar with network spokespeople.

Usually, they’ll be your last and only link between your ho-hum life and reality-show glamour.

Stardom

Once your show starts airing, one thing is certain: You will be more famous than you ever were.

“We love people stopping us on the street,” says Warren, adding that his favorite part about being a reality-TV star is the free booze from bartenders.

Don’t drink too much, though. You still have to keep all your show’s plots and secrets from your friends and family, who will no doubt hound you each week to figure out the reality behind your reality show.

“For me, it wasn’t difficult,” says Bill Rancic, winner of the first “Apprentice.” “I wanted everyone to enjoy the experience. I wanted them to watch it as it unfolded. I gave my word. And my word is my word.”

One more thing: You should probably try your hardest not to get divorced, arrested or cause a scene until your show has gone off the air and everyone has forgotten about you.

Just ask those “American Idol” kids with criminal records or “Apprentice” hothead Chris Shelton.

Before he was fired by Donald Trump, his mug shot and disorderly conduct arrest made headlines. It was a seemingly mundane crime, newsworthy only because he was on a reality show.

“After we were done, I tried to forget about ‘The Apprentice,’ ” Shelton says, “but then when the show started airing and the press became interested, you can’t really escape it.


http://www.gotriad.com/article/articleview/15567/1/20/

Offline floridagirl

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Re: Reality-show rejects adjust to life without the cameras rolling
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2005, 04:00:17 PM »
Thanks Puddin...Great Article.  I wonder what the whole Janu thing was?  She appeared sort of sickly when she took herself off the show [^/
Life is a reality show.


Offline puddin

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Re: Reality-show rejects adjust to life without the cameras rolling
« Reply #2 on: June 07, 2005, 04:33:13 PM »
well I read that she had to pottie aloton the island  and could not keep any food down , as we saw on the reward trip , but what I would love to know is if shes back to work now and if shes happy ?.. I also wonder if she & Coby remain friends  }bH{ ?

Offline floridagirl

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Re: Reality-show rejects adjust to life without the cameras rolling
« Reply #3 on: June 08, 2005, 04:09:11 PM »
Did you see the last show where the baby had been named after her?  How sweet was that?
Life is a reality show.

Offline puddin

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Re: Reality-show rejects adjust to life without the cameras rolling
« Reply #4 on: June 08, 2005, 05:22:18 PM »
Yup Coby stole the show from Tom  {l{ , it was adorable  }bH{


Offline Bathfizzy

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Re: Reality-show rejects adjust to life without the cameras rolling
« Reply #5 on: June 09, 2005, 02:01:36 AM »
Good article, I guess it would be hard to adjust back to your "normal" life once you finished taping the show.  I know if I were to do one of those shows, going back to my job and the routine would drive me crazy in the beginning.