Omorosa: Reality TV’s Ultimate Opportunistic Vixen

As if we didn’t have enough reality shows about looking for love and lust on television, Donald J. Trump has now become a matchmaker on television. Omorosa became somewhat of a celebrity after her stint on the first season of The Apprentice. She was vilified on the show for being an outspoken and angry Black woman who couldn’t get along with most of her colleagues. According to pubic opinion, her worst offense was sabotaging one of the contestants, an African American male contestant the grand prize. If you’re a fan, you know the story well. After the show, she seemed to embrace her profile as the reality TV vixen and was casted on several other shows.
This June, she premiered her own reality show with Donald Trump as her matchmaker. The show is aired on TVOne, which is a network with a large African American audience. Instead of the possibility of being fired, she has the power to vote off one of the “Bachelors” vying for her approval. The format of the show is similar to “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelette” except on this show as the Lady O, she has many advisors from spiritual to culinary. Guest appearances have included a pastor, former apprentice contestants, a chef and her mother. The show is entertaining and filled with challenges for contestants to win dates with her.
From her introduction on The Apprentice and Ultimate Merger, viewers learn that Omorosa is well educated and has achieved a great deal as an Entrepreneur and profession in the political arena. She worked in the White House during Clinton’s first term. In spite of her public persona as a bad girl or a woman the public loves to hate, she has the resume to make a living without resorting to making out on television with strangers under the charade of finding a man. This show has been produced on the heel of her failed marriage with a man she raved about on The Apprentice.
Omorosa is not the first person to become hook on the reality TV bug after her first experience. She even documented her plastic surgery splurges on television as a mother-daughter bonding extravaganza. Trump’s involvement as one of Executive Producers is one of the many surprises of The Ultimate Merger. On the other hand, we have to give Omorosa credit for forging a relationship with Trump that may exceed the longevity of The Apprentice. She is the only contestant from the show to launch her own show with Trump’s financing and stamp of approval. The only other Apprentice winner with a reality show is co-starring with his wife on the E! Channel. For a contestant who did not win the top job on the show, she seems to have stretched her 15 minutes of fame to one that keeps her in the black (no pun intended) and in the public eyes.
I’m not a fan of reality shows with a focus of finding a man or woman or swapping wives for entertainment. Many reality show contestants often claim to be motivated by their families, children, wanting to empower others and make a better life for themselves. From those shows, I now know that people come on reality shows for three primary reasons: fame, money and self-promotion. Anything else that is gained through a show whether love, friendship, career, travel, house or even an STI are secondary perks. In the case of the STI and other non-fatal bacteria, it’s an unfortunate by product of exposing yourself to the elements in the search for the ONE.
I’m not an expert on reality shows and I won’t attempt to provide a critical analysis on their effect on the public and their viewers. What I know from the few that I’ve watched, including The Ultimate Merger is that they capitalize on the worst aspects of people’s lives and accentuate negative stereotypes. That being said, it is possible to find a few dignified moments or discover a person who stomps public perceptions or stereotypes. Can you think of few examples when you witness something positive during a reality show? Next time you’re watching your favorite show or while channel surfing and you bump into a new one that you just can’t stop watching, see if you can a glimmer of human decency in one of the revolving characters. But then again, if you’re looking for what’s good in our society, reality shows should be the last place for you to look.