Michaele Salahi Is The End Of Reality Television
Do you remember the first season of The Real World? In my opinion that was reality show that started reality television. If you are not old enough to remember anything beyond The Real World Vegas I encourage you to go back and find the first season of that show. It was real. There was no playing to the camera. It was an experiment to see what would happen when you threw a bunch of different personalities into a mix and with people out of their normal comfort zone and made them all live together.
All was good in the world of reality television until Puck came along. In the history of reality television I credit him with being the first person who was a "character," A lot of it was him, but there was some enhancement. The problem was that other people who also wanted to be on reality shows saw that Puck got a lot of the camera time even in a season with Pedro. Puck also became famous beyond the scope of the show and from that point in time, every cast member on every reality show has tried to be the "character" and to be famous for longer than the run of the current season of the show.
This has led down the slope to Michaele Salahi, the White House party crasher, who along with her a-hole husband are set to star in the Real Housewives DC. To me this woman is like the Michael Lohan of reality television. She will say or do or wear anything to get attention and tv time. In addition to the party crashing, the husband threw a drink in the face of another cast member and I think is banned from being around the other cast members for awhile because of it. Yesterday on The View, Whoopi Goldberg touched Michaele Salahi's back and now the woman is claiming she was abused physically and verbally and is holding press conferences. I think that Bravo needs to be very careful here. Yes, more people will initially watch to see what the fuss is about, but I think she could be so hated and her husband so despised by the end of the season that people will turn away from Housewives and the network.
She and her husband are that divisive. They will literally do or say anything for fame. They have no walls. They have no line. The repeated crossing of that line is going to be the end of reality television. Michaele Salahi is not going to end it on her own, but the crossing of this line means that from now on to get your 15 minutes or to try and stay relevant after the show ends, that line will be pushed so far it will disintegrate. In order to get attention in the 24/7 world of buzz, everyone who is on a show or wants to be on a show will push a little harder and harder and then finally in the next year or two, something will make it explode. I don't know if it will be a death or an injury, but something will happen. It has too. You can't just keep pushing and pushing and not expecting anything to happen. The bubble will burst. Michaele Salahi is the beginning of the end.
