Ray J On The Quest For Love Again

To me, few things are as sublime as VH1’s trashtastic reality dating shows. I’ve never even slightly gotten the appeal of Bret Michaels on “Rock of Love,” but when I started watching “For the Love of Ray J,” a funny thing happened—I wanted him to be my boyfriend. Not only is Ray J majorly hot—there’s something about his relaxed, no cares in the world attitude that is so, so appealing. At the same time, he seemed genuine, putting his emotions out there. Sadly, things didn’t go so well with his season one choice, and so he is back tonight, starting a whole new quest on season two. Trust me, watch it—it will be amazing TV.

Here’s everything you need to know about Ray J:

• His full name is William Raymond Norwood, Jr., and he’s not only Brandy’s younger brother—he’s Snoop Dogg’s cousin.
• He can act. His first role was as the foster son on “The Sinbad Show.” Years later, he landed a role on his sister’s show, “Moesha,” playing her cousin instead of her brother. He was also on the final season of “One on One.”
• He can sing. He has four albums under his belt, including the geniusly titled Raydiation, and he has worked with producers like the Neptunes, Timbaland, and R. Kelly. His biggest hit so far was called “Sexy Can I.” Yes, you can. [Wikipedia]
• Who are we kidding? He’s most famous for the tape showing him boning then-girlfriend Kim Kardashian. The sex tape shot both of them into the semi-famous sphere; though, many people think it was staged exactly for that purpose.
• He’s also rumored to have dated Whitney Houston, Lil’ Kim, and Keisha Cole.
• Last season on “For the Love of Ray J,” he went for Joanna Hernandez, nicknamed Cocktail because she’s (shocker) a cocktail waitress. (She also did a stint on “The Bad Girls Club,” because she’s not out for fame in the slightest.) But during the reunion show, the two revealed that they were having issues. Shortly after, Cocktail said they’d broken up. She wrote on her MySpace page, “When I was on the show, I truly fell for Ray. I invested my time, effort, and emotions into him and wanted things to work. But the reality of reality television is that it doesn’t always work. Ray and I are no longer together.” [Backseat Cuddler]
• After filming, another contestant on the show,  Monica “Danger” Leon, claimed that she was pregnant with Ray J’s baby. He denied this. [Contact Music]
• In May, Tila Tequila dropped the shocker that she was dating Ray J. On her blog, she wrote, “So there have been SO SO SO SO many rumors about me dating P. Diddy, Tyrese, to anyone you could possibly think of! I am not dating any one of those guys, although they are all very close friends… However…...my secret boyfriend…...that I have been trying to keep on the hush hush for soooo long…....is…......are you guys ready???? My real boyfriend is RAY J!!!!! Yes…..we’ve been dating for a while but didn’t want the media to find out cuz it’s nobody’s business…....No man has made me feel so loved and so happy in such a long time.” Presumably, they’re done now or he wouldn’t be doing the show? Maybe they could join forces and do a show together. [Contact Music]