It’s not uncommon for aspiring actors to audition for reality TV shows, hoping a spot on Big Brother or The Real World will get them noticed by a casting director and catapult their career into, well, reality. But now there are people who don’t really aspire to be actors who play roles, they just want to be cast as themselves because they want to be famous, if only for one season of I Love New York. As one such person said, “I see that [reality TV] would fulfill the reason why I want to get into acting in the first place. I have that desire to express myself, to get what’s inside outside and there’s no more raw, real way than reality television.” A few enterprising people have opened schools or started offering classes in cities such as New York and London, teaching people how to be on a reality TV show. Robert Galinsky, an acting coach, performer, and producer, opened the New York Reality Television School after helping someone prepare for Animal Planet’s The Groomer Has It. He shares “eight commandment of reality television,” which include “show confidence not cockiness,” “say ‘yes’ as often as possible” (the reason for all of the hookups on The Real World?), and “never say ‘I am an actor.’” During the class, five TV cameras film the students’ every move to prepare them for the intensity of starring on a show.
Maybe one day, reality TV will become a major at colleges and become such a popular career path that everyone will be on a TV show, and shows will consist of people sitting on the couch watching other reality TV shows. Let’s pray this doesn’t happen though, because even watching Justin Bobby burp on The Hills was more exciting.
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