Out in Reality TV: December 2006 Archives

I'm sure jealous Jan Brady would be thrilled to know that her perfect big sister, Marcia, has gotten a little plump. Too many of Alice's home cooked meals? Marcia! Marcia! Marcia! had too many Carbs! Carbs! Carbs! Just how plump Marcia (Maureen McCormick) is, we're about to see when VH1 kicks off a new season of "Celebrity Fit Club" next month - again hosted by out personality Ant who himself has lost 43 pounds ("I'm small as a bug!").
Ran into Ant at an event a few weeks ago and am finally getting around to sharing what he told me about the new season which will also include Dustin "Screech" Diamond, Ross the intern from "The Tonight Show," rapper Da Brat, and former teen pop star, Tiffany.
"I love it. It's going to be different this year because there are a lot of race and gender issues going on, there's a lot of drama. It's off the hook!
He explains how the beautiful and previously slender McCormick, the fantasy of generations of teen boys and lesbians, packed on the pounds: "It was emotional. She had a lot of personal problems and she ate her way through them. She's the nicest person I've ever met. My boyfriend met her and she ran right up to him like she had known him for years. I hate her! She's so sweet. How am I going to be argumentative and combative with someone who I want to take home to meet my mom?"
McCormick, now 50, has never stopped working since her sitcom days. She had the title role in 1997's "the Barbara Mandrell Story," had a recurring role on the NBC soap "Passion," and has had scores of guest spots on various television shows. She's also worked on the stage and released an album of country music.
Diamond is best known for his long-running role as Screech on the "Saved By the Bell" series which he remained on long after original castmates Mario Lopez, Mark-Paul Gosselar, Tiffani Theissan and Elizabeth Berkley all moved on to bigger and better things.
Says Ant: "All he does is tak about penis and how big it is. And he's trying t get me to buy his T-shirt to save his house and buy his porno movie. I bought it and he said he was so large. I'm watching it and I'm thinking, 'How did you measure, from the small of your back?' It's not all that or a bag of chips. It's not even a Twinkie. But he's making about 30 grand a month off of the porno tape! I'm about to say, 'Let's go invest in a video camera!"
On "Celebrity Fit Club," participants like Ross the intern (pictured, left) are enticed to lose weight with cash and prizes. They are divided into two teams and participate in unique challenges and each week, they are publicly weighed on a pair of giant scales.
What would Alice and Mrs. Brady think of all this?

Talked to both Carson Kressley and Jai Rodriguez from "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" earlier this week at the premiere of A&E's "Wedding Wars," a nice event sponsored by GLAAD at the Arlight Theater in Hollywood.
Carson, the show's fashion expert, is wicked funny, so quick and playful. But ya know, I think he's an awful dresser sometimes! He looked like he just grabbed something off the floor and threw it on! Am I a bitch? Maybe.
Anyway, here is some of Carson's red carpet material where he answered any question thrown at him with great humor and enthusiasm.
He had this to say about John Stamos kissing a guy in "Wedding Wars" twice: 'Why can't I be in this movie? I have fresh breath and everything!"
Carson, plenty busy with a new fashion line and a show promoting it on QVC on January 25, says fresh episodes of "Queer Eye" will begin airing sometime in 2007: "We are having a new season of "Queer Eye" this spring/summer. We're like one of those special shows that gets saved until whenever there's room."
He said the new season has already been filmed but as far as filming any new ones he said: 'I don't know, they haven't told us yet They always wait around until the holidays to let you know - keep you on you on pins and needles, wondering if you can buy Christmas presents or not!"

Carson's favorite show is "Project Runway" because "I love to see people yelling at each other while they are actually operating a sewing machine and "Grey's Anatomy" iks always good. I'm a McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) man and I just saw T.R. Knight last night at the Trevor Project and he is looking cute as ever. I'd be happy to welcome him to the gay community, if ya know what I mean. I'm single!"
He says he's going home to Pennsylvania and "you know, liquor and tears like every other holiday."

Caught up with the show's "culture expert," Jai, at the afterparty and he told me he was still on a high from his run on CBS' "Celebrity Duets" which gave him the opportunity to sing with, among others, legends Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle as well as Taylor Dane and Brian McKnight.
"The night I got kicked off I sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with Patti LaBelle and it was one of more overwhelming and emotional experience. I didn't even feel like I was in my skin. I was just overcome with all kinds of emotion. She's great."
Jai recently moved to Los Angeles from New York and said he just finished filming 14 episides of a series called "Style Life" for the new SiTV network which caters to an English-speaking Latino audience.
"I want to get back to acting and live performance which is what I did before ("Queer Eye"). I played a young dad on "All My Children" and on Broadway and it was all great but now I'm here in the television capitol of the world I'd like to go in for some scripts and sort of show what I can do."

I asked Jai, who just turned 27, if "Queer Eye" has been a blessing or a curse as far as his acting career goes: "It's a double-edged sword because you do have that notoriety no matter where you go. The show's been syndicated in over 113 countries. But, it is a blessing because it does open doors that wouldn't have ordinarily been open to you."