Posted on 08/24/2009 8:37:35 AM PDT by holy joe
VH1 took one reality show off the air and will likely cancel another, this in the wake of a high profile murder-suicide case involving a cast member. VH1 is a unit of Viacom. Both reality shows are produced by 51 Minds Entertainment.
Ryan Alexander Jenkins was charged with the murder of Jasmine Fiore, a swimsuit model and former Playboy employee.
Fiore, Jenkins’ ex- wife, was found stuffed in a suitcase inside a trash bin in Orange County, Calif. Because her fingers and teeth had been removed, the authorities identified her from the serial number on her surgical breast implants.
Jenkins was a fugitive in his home country of Canada. He was found dead of an apparent suicide at a motel in Hope, British Columbia, a town east of Vancouver; this according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
VH1 pulled “Megan Wants a Millionaire” in which Jenkins appeared, when police first classified him as a “person of interest.” But the cable channel subsequently formally canceled the show. However, Jenkins also appeared on a second VH1 show, “I Love Money 3,” which was set to debut in January but will likely be shelved.
The murder-suicide case has reality television executives reevaluating the way in which their shows are cast. Contestants are supposed to be checked out before they are accepted for the potentially intimate reality settings, and the media exposure that frequently accompanies such shows has to be taken into consideration as well.
51 Minds apparently failed to discover that Jenkins had a prior criminal record, which included an assault conviction and misdemeanor battery charge. Normally this kind of information is revealed through a routine criminal background check.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
My wife watches all these shows on VH1, knows all the cast members' names and has favorites she roots for. They're always on the TV in our home. She's gonna be crushed when I tell her "ILM3" has been cancelled. She's already upset they stopped playing "Megan..." partway through the season.
Me? I'm much older than my wife and recall fondly the days when VH1 actually showed videos.
It’s like slowing down to watch a train wreck. Megan is known for her physical assault (front kick) against a castmate on yet a different reality show.
I too miss the days of real videos. But then if I think about the time I wasted watching them... (When I was 19-22)...
Is the Meghan show about Meghan McCain?
This is really bizarre.
For videos, you have to go to VH1 Classic. I watch way too much of that channel.
What a tragic story.
The one thing that comes to mind was his poor getaway. He kills her then removed her teeth and fingers and put her in a suitcase. He then pitched it into a dumpster. He flees to Washington, gets in a boat, and goes to a Marina in Canada.
Why not keep the body till you are out to sea then pitch it over the side? If nothing else, it’ll be longer before they find the body.
Also, since they found out who it was because of the implants the next nutcase is going to cut them out. They should have probably kept that quiet.
As disgusting as these reality shows are, I don’t think this is a reality show problem any more than George Reeves’ death was a superhero show problem.
Bad security happens.
Heavens no. Megan Hausermann, former Playboy model turned perpetual reality show contestant.
Thanks, I see we have that channel in the line up- but I rarely watch it. I’d love to see a few of the videos from the olden days. :)
The fate of ILM3 is still up in the air. The rumor is that this guy won it all, but the winner doesn’t actually get their money until after the reunion show airs.
Honestly, I can’t believe that it took this long for someone from a VH1 reality show to be charged with a crime of this nature. Everyone cast is varying degrees of insane. Although I would have put my money on one of the crazy Rock of Love/Charm School girls. A couple of them have already done time for assault.
What a waste of human potential.
“Reality show” is an oxymoron. There is nothing real about any of them.
What bothers the producers more than anything is that they didn’t get any of it on tape.
Not having cable myself, (thank God) I stumbled upon this “Megan Wants a Millionaire” while in a hotel room late one night... and all I can say is... Sorry, she ain’t ugly, but she ain’t nearly hot enough for me to think Yea, I’ll get into a relationship with her purely based on her wanting my money and me wanting her body.
One nighter and cab fare home maybe, but no way is she hot enough that I’d be fighting to be her “sugar daddy”.
Every time I debate getting cable again, I go someplace that has it, and quickly decide, nope, not getting cable again.
Nevermind. I guess they just announced that they have canceled ILM3.
“Just in case you missed it, we’re sad to announce that the fate of both Megan Wants a Millionaire and I Love Money 3 have been determined: both have been canceled and will not make it to air.”
http://blog.vh1.com/utag/series/megan-wants-a-millionaire/27630/
Reality is too unreal for me.
That's been the formula of these programs for some time now.
When MTV started The Real World, they quickly ramped up to casting based on hookup potentials. Then they also went to pitting a young social conservative against one or more of the housemates (typically one or more homosexuals).
When that got "old" they took to casting people who were mentally off (including a girl who had Lyme disease and was prone to violent fits of outrage and on another season a girl who seemed to have a drinking problem and even had to be carted off by ambulance for overdrinking in the FIRST episode).
The tv producers are exploiting these people who need help and endangering everyone else in the house/program.
Maury Povich, Jenny Jones, Oprah, et al are also “reality tv” (maybe not Jerry Springer).
There’s been a murder of a guest from at least one of these programs because a man was invited to appear on national television under some guise and then a man on the program came out to him to profess his gay love for this dude while the audience laughed and hollered.
But from what I know of this case (very little) the murdered ex-wife didn’t have anything to do with the program and his reason for murder had nothing to do with the program either. But the producers may still have liked him as a character since he seemed “a bit off”.
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