POISON SCOOTER

Fame Games

God bless VH1 and the desire of C-list celebs to embarass themselves for our viewing amusement. Yep, the Surreal Life is back (sort of). Instead of the Real World format the show has used the past 6 seasons, this time the celebrities are all ex-cast members competing in silly games to win a 100K. But the real reason anyone watches is to see the likes of Briggette Neilsen chilling with Vanilla Ice and CC Deville. And if the first episode is any indication, we are in for another wild ride compliments of Ms. Glamazon Neilsen and her new foil, Chyna Doll.

The tragedy of the first episode is the plight of Mini Me Verne Troyer who goes from co-host, to participant, to bottom feeder in the course of an hour. If you haven't seen it, let me explain as best I can. Jordan Knight, the New Kid, was a reclusive pussy on his season of Surreal Life. Why he came back is anyone's guess. But luckily for the viewing public he had a quick freak out and left the show unexpectedly. (He says death in the family. Sloppy voice over work and editing suggest a mental breakdown.) Enter Verne who was co-hosting with Robin Leach up to this point and now gets tossed in to keep the numbers at an even 10. The result of losing the insipid competitions is to cast off the losing celebrities from the A-List (the nice part of the mansion) to the B-List (the crappy decor adorned part of the mansion.) and poor Verne was banished to the B-List after losing the first challenge.

Watching these quasi- famous trainwrecks co-habitate isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it is so mine. I could watch Emmanuel Lewis, Ron Jeremy and Traci Bingham chit-chat for hours and not get bored. And since the preview of the upcoming season pretty much reveals that Vanilla Ice is running away with the contest, I'm all the more intrigued.

posted by Scooter @ 4:08 PM