VH1's The Surreal Life: Season 4

On a side note, I usually abhor reality shows. Absolute hate and loathe them. I watched The Real Gilligan's Island, partially out of morbid curiosity and partially because it was a short run. The exception to the aforementioned preference is VH1's The Surreal Life. I don't know precisely why but I find this particular "reality series" to be interesting and watchable. Maybe it's the fact that celebs are involved. Maybe it's because although they're human, they're not quite the same humans you would meet on the street. I don't know. What I do know is that I'm oddly drawn to watching this one and continue to do so when I get the chance.

I caught the first episode of VH1's The Surreal Life: Season 4 last Sunday night. My past history here includes watching the entirety of Season 2 (which had Tammy Faye Baker, Ron Jeremy, Tyra Banks and Eric Estrada among others) and the vast majority of Season 3 (Flava Flave, Bridgette (sp.), Dave Couliea (sp.), Charro and Jordan Knight among others). [For the record, I enjoyed Season 2 much more than Season 3. The interactions between the stars were much more compelling and interesting.]

Season 4's Cast

• Joanie Laurer: The former WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment, nee WWF -- World Wrestling Federation) wrestling star known as Chyna (who subsequently posed for Playboy).


• Christopher Knight: aka Peter Brady.


• Shawntae _____: aka "Da Brat." Apparently she's a (if not the first?) female solo Rap artist.


• Jane Wiedlin: From the Go-Gos!


• Adrianne Curry: America's Top Model Season 1 Winner.


• Marcus Schenkenberg: "The" Calvin Klein model.


• Verne Troyer: Better known as Mini Me! (35 years old and 2' 8" in height.)

This looks to be another excellent collection of miscellaneous celebs. Joanie likes to drink and get her way. (She's also not terribly bright though she could easily kill anyone else in the house.) Peter Brady looks like he's going to be playing the "father" role, helping everyone sort things out and work together. Da Brat is a cold, distanced b*tch. Jane is very bubbly and easy-going (and apparently into S&M, as will be explored in a future episode). Adrianne is incredibly beautiful, not shy at all about being beautiful (or without clothes) and it looks like she'll be falling for Peter Brady as things progress. Marcus was pretty quiet so nothing to say there. Verne was, well, out there. He gets drunk *very* easily and is pretty much a pig (mostly towards Adrianne). In the first episode not only did he get completely and utterly wasted, he also drove around on his motorized cart naked before urinating in a corner.

The first episode was the usual meet 'n greet along with a special dinner. The news magazine arrived proclaiming that "dinner would be on Adrianne." I have to say, I immediately picked up on the subtext there. None of the celebs did, though. So when it came time for dinner, they found Adrianne lying on a table, a few leaves strategically placed on her otherwise naked body and sushi resting on those leaves. (From my understanding, an unusual but high-class Japanese practice of having sushi served on the body of an otherwise mostly-naked woman.) Afterwards, Adrianne and Jane went skinny-dipping in the hot tub while Chris (or should I keep calling him Peter Brady?) and Marcus lounged around. Verne showed up later, drunk as a skunk, and then even later on he undertook his "streaking" and "relieving."

I need to check when new episodes of this will be shown. I think the season will be very interesting. The celebs are, for the most part, pretty easy-going, with Da Brat, Joanie (not supposed to call her Chyna) and Verne being the exceptions. I'm going to try and stay tuned in. If there's an interesting episode or event, I'll post about it. (Translation: I don't plan on posting about every single episode as I almost did with Nip/Tuck.) If you have any thoughts or comments, please sound out!