I love VH1’s “reality” show The Surreal Life. It is a celebrity version of The Real World that originally aired for two seasons on the WB network before VH1 picked it up. Now in season six, the premise of the show is simple. They take six celebrities (well, a few are pseudo celebrities at best), put them in a house for a few weeks and film what happens. Even though many of the celebrities in the house are past their prime, they have not lost their diva attitudes, so there is always drama. Former Surreal Life alums include Jane Wiedlin (The Go-Gos), child star Corey Feldman, Flavor Flav (Public Enemy), Adrianne Curry (America’s Next Top Model), Charo, Tammy Faye Bakker, and baseball player Jose Canseco. This year’s house has television greats Sherman Hemsley (The Jeffersons) and Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch)as well as Tawny Kitaen (Bachelor Party) and CC Deville (Poison).
Some of the conflict that goes on in the house is obviously arrange by the director. In Season 4, there was one bedroom with one bed and two bedrooms with multiple beds. Of course, everyone wants the single room and usually the first person there gets it. This year was different though as everything in the single bedroom was small in scale. Disregarding that, former WWE wrestler Chyna Doll (who is a big girl) moved all her stuff into that room. The last person to enter the house was Austin Powers’ Verne Troyer, who is only 32 inches tall. It seems obvious to everyone that the room was meant for Verne. Everyone that is, except Chyna. Much quarrelling ensued and only when Verne threatened to quit did Chyna decide to let him have the room.
The Surreal Life has spawned three spin-off reality shows: Strange Love, My Fair Brady and The Flavor of Love. Each star has brings their own personal conflicts such as broken marriages, relationships, past addictions, and the desire to return to stardom. Overall, it is a great mixture of television that is the equivalent of a train wreck but fun to watch anyhow.