I've only watched a couple episodes of Jon and Kate Plus 8, the TLC reality TV show hit with the family raising 8 year old twins and 5 year old sextuplets, and should say upfront that I find it a hard show to watch because matriarch Kate is so mean to her husband Jon -- but is anyone else finding the tabloid coverage of Jon's shady behavior with an 18-year-old a little feministly troubling?
I'm a little ashamed to admit that I completely mindlessly accepted that, on Bravo's Make Me A Supermodel, the modeling industry would require size 2 female model Salome to lose some weight in the hips, but got all outraged when they told male model and former ballet dancer Sandhurst that his thighs were too big for him to model jeans. And that it seemed plausible to me that female model Fo on America's Next Top Model was probably too short at 5'8" to make it in the industry, but that it was completely ludicrous that Make Me A Supermodel's Colin is too tall at 6'3". I feel bad now about my double standards!
Click read for the rest of the post. Picture of Sandhurst struggling to get denim over his self-described "thunder thighs." I'm not seeing it.
And continuing the trend of writing posts about reality shows I don't watch, a big HA HA (in an unserious way, of course!) to professional frenemy Heidi Montag and her new husband, the unpleasant Spencer Pratt, from The Hills. Heidi and Spencer called Ryan Seacrest in a panic today because guess where they went immediately after their wedding? That's right, MEXICO.
click on the read button for the rest of this post.
I don't watch Celebrity Apprentice, but after hearing about last night's episode, I'm wondering if I should start: apparently, the Rivers Melissa and Joan are featured this season, and when Melissa was kicked off under questionable circumstances, Melissa flips out, starts shrieking at the producers, storms out, and starts shouting obscenties at random people. Then Mom Joan storms off, calls Annie Duke a Nazi and a "poker player whore pit viper", threatens to leave the show, and then Ivanka Trump gets called in? Huh?
Why is it always a race war on America's Next Top Model?? Natalie, the contestant who got booted this week (upside down at right), has a spiteful interview up on the E! website, where she says she must have lost because Tyra is giving preferential treatment to the two remaining African-American contestants, Aminat and Teyona.
"Tyra definitely has a soft spot for Aminat and Teyona. I think she just loves [their] personalities. I feel like they're most relatable to Tyra, since Tyra was a black model struggling. I think she has a hidden emotional connection with the black girls, and I think that's where a lot of favoritism comes from. I'm not accusing her of it, but that's just my opinion.
more ranting and raving if you hit the read link below.
Did you watch the preview of the Real Housewives of New Jersey yet? Five women, three of whom are related by blood, marriage, or both, and all of whom are implied to have possible mob connections (or at least mob pretentions). One of them, Dina, is married to the younger brother of her sister's husband, and works in the combined family's event planning business. Dina spends most of the RHONJ preview episode telling everyone how rich she is, how unpleasant she is to work for, and terrorizing her assistants and family, all of whom "affectionately" refer to her as a bitch. Dina's response: "If you think I'm a bitch, then bring it on." Intriguing, right? Click through if you want to hear about Dina's previous reality TV gig!
I know I should probably be writing about the latest older-lady-younger-man dating reality show the Cougar, but if you want to see an impressive 40-something woman on reality TV, I'd recommend you change the channel from Stacy the needy feline and watch Penny Jo Johnson instead.
Penny Jo, along with eight other people, is starring on the Discovery Channel's Out Of The Wild, where they drop nine people with no backwoods experience into the Alaskan wilderness and see if they can hike their way back to civilization. A sensible, tough 47-year-old "body piercer and landlord" from Kentucky, Penny Jo is also the only one on the adventure with any real hunting experience.
For those of you clicking through to the "read" button for the rest of the post, spoiler alert.
Well, I hope Pirate Hunters USN will note that the current head of the U.S. Navy's anti-piracy task force is Rear Admiral Michelle Howard (pictured at right), who in 1999 became the first African-American woman to command a US Navy ship, and in 2006, became the firstwoman second African-American woman and first female Naval Academy graduate to achieve the ranking of Admiral.
It looks like Spike TV will have cameras on the USS Boxer, where Rear Adm. Howard is currently stationed, so I'm hoping to learn more about her if the show ever hits the air!
Everyone's already linked to this, but why not us too? Here's every quiet woman's perfect revenge fantasy, seemingly-meek Susan Boyle, mocked by the TV audience for her spinsterhood and middle-aged looks, showing up Simon Cowell and all the haters on Britain's Got Talent with a lovely version of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miz. I know what she's been dreaming a dream about!
As your feminist reality TV blogger, I've got the standard (short) list of complaints about The Amazing Race to run through: why hasn't an all female team ever won in the 14 seasons the show's been on, are the women being unfairly edited to look moreshrewishunderpressure than the men, etc etc., but I've got a new one for you: looks like we're going to have a discussion over the impact of the word "bitch" next week!! You can hear the wholestaffnow: "AGAIN?" [Note: I would have linked to Andi's awesome CNN snippet on the same topic with Rick Sanchez, but I can't find it on YouTube! Well worth watching.]
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