Talk shows as well as the blogosphere were a flutter yesterday with several juicy D-list Christians on reality shows doing some pretty stupid stuff. I don’t relish in their individual shortcomings, as much as I am encouraged that maybe this is the teensiest beginning of the fall of reality TV as a genre.
Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt were out and about yesterday discussing the ephinanies they had while shooting “I am Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here,” which include Spencer being baptized by actor Stephen Baldwin. But almost everywhere the beautiful couple went they received a Spedi Smackdown including rebukes from Al Roker on “The Today Show” and Whoopi Goldberg on “The View.” During an interview, among other questions, Roker asked Montag if she was proud of her diva behavior on the reality show, to which she eventually responded “Yes.”
But better yet was Whoopi Goldberg going after the couple’s flippant attitude toward their contracts and pretty much everything else about the famous for nothing couple. And it was truly funny to watch Barbara Walters restrain Whoopi with her arm as Whoopi rolled her eyes in response to Heidi’s claims that she is a modern day Mother Theresa which is why she is posing in Playboy and why Spencer Pratt will be running for office with Sarah Palin in 2015, which, by the way, is not an election year.
But let’s get back to Stephen Baldwin. While he was converting bad boys out in the jungle, his house is being auctioned off because of foreclosure, much like what happened to another D-lister Christian Willie AamesOn the other hand, Aames doesn’t have three brothers with showbiz careers who just might buy that house at a deep discount for him. Aames also hasn’t appeared on two reality TV series this season, which one might think would have generated at least some income for Stephen Baldwin.
But the biggest backlash against a celebrity Christian has to be against Kate Gosselin of the TLC series “Jon & Kate Plus 8.” Not only are viewers showing their intelligence by staying away from the show, sending ratings way down since the season opener, but a video has surfaced that is worse than all of the videos of alleged mistresses or “bodyguards.” In the clip, Kate and her children are getting ready for an interview and she refuses to give one of her daughters some water, though does ask for some water for herself.
Again, it is not that I think I could handle having my life scrutinized in the way these people often do–which is exactly why I wisely do not throw myself out there for reality TV opportunities as these celebs do. But I believe that I am seeing the first signs that the general public is becoming seriously annoyed with the superficial, entitled behavior that is the antithesis of the Christianity these and other stars claim to endorse, to the point where ( gasp!) the public may start tuning these celebs out all together.