Chasing Fame

Michaele and Tareq Salahi, the couple who crashed President Obama's first State Dinner were in the process of trying out for a Reality Show with Bravo Media and apparently this was not the first time the couple had gone out of their way to get close to Barack Obama.

The couple's Facebook page reports that they previously had gotten close to Obama only days before Obama took the oath of office One photo shows the Salahis in a group shot with Obama and some of the musicians who performed at an inaugural concert. Other photos show the Salahis in the empty, glass-enclosed box from which the Obamas watched the concert and, according to the caption, "backstage with the Secret Service at the Lincoln Memorial during the Presidential Inauguration."

Bravo Media and Half Yard Productions, the crew that filmed the couple preparing for the White House event, were told by the Salahis that they were invited to the event but never produced an actual invitation. Mrs. Salahi reportedly was trying to land a spot on the reality show "Real Housewives Of D.C."

Paul Gardner, the Salahi's attorney, has stated on the couple's Facebook page that they had been cleared by the White house to be at the event and he has been quick to claim that his clients have done nothing wrong but he is never available for comment or interview. Federal Law makes it a crime to willfully make false statements on any matter within Federal jurisdiction. It is not clear exactly what the Salahis told the officers at the checkpoint that allowed them access but it is very clear that the couple was not on the guest list, making it an absolute case of knowingly and willfully fabricating an invitation to the event. This makes it unequivocal that something wrong did occur and laws were broken, without regard to the office of the President of the United States.

The Virginia socialites apparently can not keep their business out of court, when they are not crashing diplomatic functions or otherwise seeking that ever illusive fifteen minutes of fame. To date, the last count of civil lawsuits involving the Salahis that are floating through the legal system of Virginia's Fauquier County is sixteen (16), according to an investigation done by CNN.

Lawsuits involving the Salahis range from judgments against them for overcharging customers (one settlement for $15,000.00 which they have not paid) to bankruptcy.

You can search the Internet and find no less than 246,000,000 links to "reality television" on the Yahoo Search Engine. Programming includes anything from the current and popular "Survivor" series (CBS) to shows like "An American Family" of 1973 (PBS), which is touted as the first actual reality show. Technically, the first reality show honors should go to "The Adventure Of Ozzie And Harriet" show (ABC) of 1952 (you can find a great article about it at Ezine Articles). However, like them or not, reality shows on television seem to be here to stay

October 15, 2009, the Heene family of Fort Collins, Colorado led America on a wild goose chase to chase down a home made balloon that they claimed their six year old son was a passenger of. The hoax was an attempt to land a spot on a second reality program, the first of which was two appearances on the program "Wife Swap" (Lifetime). The Heene appearances were pulled after the balloon incident according to Wikipedia but that information seems to be disputed.

NBC's "The Biggest Loser" at least motivates their contestants to lose weight which, in turn, affords them better health. ABC's "Dancing With The Stars" aids contestants in learning not only how to dance, but teamwork, self respect and discipline among other things.

Shows like Fox's "Temptation Island" which began in 2001 and was dropped in it's third season, would deliberately set the stage for infidelity, suspicion and possible divorce. Bravo Media tried their own fiasco in 2003 with "Boy Meets Boy" whereas a gay man had to pick his choice from 15 men, not all of whom were gay (supposedly). If the contestant did not ultimately choose a gay partner, he would lose the game, no money, no potential love...nothing other than humiliation. It might be a good thing to remember that in 1995 a gay man was gunned down, due in part to his participation in a taping of "The Jenny Jones Show" titled "Same Sex Secret Crushes" where the object of the crush was a straight man. The show was never aired but Jenny Jones was fined $25 million by a court of law for negligence in the man's death. "Amish In The City", a 2004 venture from UPN, showed us that Amish teenagers are not as innocent as some thought they should be and demonstrated yet more dysfunction. The trend towards reality programming seemingly adds more negativity than entertainment. We are shown the worst of ourselves over and over again for nothing more than a cash prize, if any.

Reality shows on television are beginning to spawn a whole new genre of people so desperate for attention that they will do anything to put themselves in front of a camera. It was barely more than a month ago that authorities chased a Mylar balloon across Colorado, a hoax that used a child as a possible victim and wasted law enforcement resources. It was a stunt for the benefit of getting attention, just the same as the Salahis crashing the State Dinner and telling the world they were invited when they were not. The craving for camera time will eventually get someone seriously hurt or maybe even killed in the pursuit of fame.