Z Gamblin Man Dot Com

For those who wonder how real those reality shows truly are, my friend Adrien went on “Parental Control”. Please read below his experience on that show which can be seen on Empty V.

Since most of you haven’t seen my clip of my appearance on MTV’s Parental Control, I will describe my experience in being on that show.  For those not familiar with Parental Control, it is a reality show. The premise is that the parents are not happy with the boy or girl their child is going out with. So they try to pick someone who they think is better than the current boyfriend/girlfriend by interviewing various candidates. Each parent chooses one person who then goes on the date with their son/daughter. At the end of the show, their child decides if he/she wants to stay with their current paramour or will choose the new date.

Someone who works at the MTV studios in Santa Monica contacted me via MySpace to ask me if I wanted to be on the show.  I answered in the affirmative and was asked to call the MTV studios to schedule an interview. Two weeks later, I went into the MTV studios in Santa Monica for the interview. First I filled out a form regarding questions about myself. Then I did a short video while an MTV producer asked me questions. A couple weeks later, I got a call back from MTV saying that the producers of the show liked my video and wanted me to be on their show.
A month later, I showed up very early in the morning in a studio in Culver City. I climbed up the stairs and found myself in a small office.  I introduced myself and was given a sheet of paper with questions on it. These were the questions that the parents would be asking me during the taping of the show. MTV told me to write out my answers and get familiar with the questions. This way when the parents would be interviewing me, I wouldn’t freeze on the spot and would appear to be relaxed.  An hour later, I went downstairs to make up and waited to be called onto the set. It was a really strange feeling standing just outside the door ready to be on camera. Just like déjà because I had watched many Parental Control episodes. Once seated in the chair facing the parents, they started asking me questions. The whole interview took about 15 minutes. This resulted in being onscreen for at least 30 seconds…Once the interview over; I went back upstairs to get my appearance fee. Everyone thanked me and I was given a date when the episode would air. Overall it was a pleasant experience.

In case you wondered, the parents picked two preppie looking guys. How many of you say the parents should have picked me? As to the term reality TV, you must know that the show is produced on a sound stage and not a real living room. If you say something that the producers don’t like, they’ll stop the cameras and tell you what to say or how to say it. I’d say about half of the things that I said were scripted and half were real. In a future, I will put up the video of my appearance on the show. Make sure to log back on this blog or better yet, subscribe to it so you don’t miss any posts.

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