Let me get this out of the way at the start, as the title can sound misleading. This isn’t some nefarious plot by Ray-J to cash in on Whitney post-mortem. Apparently he’s genuinely heartbroken over her death and is unsure if he’ll continue to pursue plans for a reality show, which would include footage of the two of them together. (Remember he did issue a very sad statement after she passed.) Ray-J was pitching a reality show prior to Whitney’s death, and part of that included using his relationship with the famous singer to make his show seem more interesting. In light of this, some are questioning whether Ray J was using Whitney in the months leading up to her death. The Daily Beast has an article about Ray J and Whitney’s relationship and how it came about. They mention that Ray J was sweet and charming with Whitney, but that he wasn’t faithful to her by any stretch. Whitney was allegedly aware of this and didn’t seem to mind. Here’s the part at the end of story questioning whether Ray had ulterior motives for getting with Whitney in the months leading up to her death:

But others are less kind about his motives. One source points to how—just like Brown—Ray J was trying to pitch a reality TV series with him and Houston. “He was just using her like many people did, to get a deal,” the source says.

In an exclusive statement to The Daily Beast, Ray J’s publicist Courtney Barnes says: “It was his show, and they shot footage of the two of them together that appeared in the sizzle reel, which was being used to pitch the show.”

Those who know Ray J say he’s always been a hard worker when it comes to his career. He’s released five albums on independent music labels and promoted them heavily, even when it wasn’t easy. “He’s extremely dedicated to his craft,” says Paula Tuggey, a music executive who has worked on his recent albums. “I can book him from 7 a.m. until midnight. He’ll do anything that he can to get his music out there to be heard.”

On the night of Houston’s death, Ray J was in San Diego.

Steffans [one of Ray's former lovers] says she reached out to him out of concern. “I don’t think Ray is OK,” she says. “I don’t think any of us would be OK. I think Ray is going to be traumatized forever.”

“He hasn’t talked to anybody yet. He’s not ready yet,” his publicist says. Asked if he’s still shopping the reality show that includes footage of Houston, his publicist emailed back, “I don’t know.”

[From The Daily Beast]

Ray J had a dating reality show on VH1 called “For The Love of Ray J,” which aired for two seasons in 2009 and 2010. He also had a two season reality show with his sister, Brandy, called “Brandy and Ray J: A Family Business,” in 2010 and 2011. So it just seems expected that he would be pitching another reality show to try and keep the money flowing. I don’t think it means he was using Whitney. It’s not like he just met her. He first hooked up with her way back in early 2007 when she was divorcing Bobby Brown, according to a source quoted on The Daily Beast. The two were even seen out on a date together as early as January, 2007, I remember covering that. So I believe that Ray cared for Whitney in his way and that he’s probably devastated to lose her. I wouldn’t put it past him to make sure that his reality show makes it to air, and to use Whitney to continue to promote it, whether its disrespectful to Whitney’s memory or not. After all, he made sure that his sex tape with Kim Kardashian got released. He probably planned out the whole thing from start to uh, finish, and we know that Kim’s career was launched from it.

Ray J and Whitney are shown out together in July, 2008. Credit: PRJ/Fame Pictures

Remember the story of “Honey Boo Boo Child,” the 6 year-old Toddlers & Tiaras star whose obese mom regularly gives her “go go juice,” a concoction of Red Bull and Mountain Dew, to prepare for pageants? Well little Alanna aka “Honey Boo Boo Child” is one of the stars of the show who will appear on Anderson Cooper in an episode to air Friday. Anderson talks to the moms about their controversial choice to put their daughters in pageants. He also gives them “pageant makeovers” in an attempt to try and help them identify with what they’re putting their daughters through. Of course these women aren’t self aware enough for it to work at all, and they just see it as good fun. Meanwhile they also call the Dance Moms “brutal” and “worse than us,” but they’ve conveniently minimized what they regularly do to their own daughters. There have been scenes in which the moms are shown bleaching their daughters’ teeth, giving them spray tans, shaving their legs, and having them get painful eyebrow waxes.

TLC’s “Toddlers & Tiaras” always shows little girls getting over-the-top dolled up for this beauty pageant and that. The young ladies spend hours in the makeup chair, a few more hours getting their hair (or sometimes, wig) done and then don outrageously expensive gowns and other custom-made costumes.

But on Friday, fans and detractors of the popular series will see something a bit different when four “Toddlers” mamas and their tots — Alana and mom June, EverRose and mom Kayla, Laci and mom Alicia, and Paisley and mom Wendy — appear on “Anderson.” The host, in an effort to get the mothers to see what their little girls go through for the pageants, gave the ladies a makeover, but not just any makeover — they’re dressed up in their daughters’ favorite pageant looks.

But still, it didn’t seem to change everyone’s minds.

Anderson: Going through the whole process does it make you at all rethink or put yourself in your daughter’s shoes in a way you didn’t before?
June (Honey Boo Boo’s mom): I don’t rethink any decision that I’ve made for my daughter as far as pageants. This was all in fun for us today, yeah, the corset is a little tight. With her, she enjoys doing it, so we are going to continue doing it.

Anderson: What about for your daughter? Does [dressing up like your daughter] make you think differently for dressing your daughter like this?
Alicia (Laci in the Lady Gaga costume’s mom): Not at all. I mean, she doesn’t have anything, it’s different for children, it’s not showing anything, it’s a swimsuit for her.

On how they’re better than the Dance Moms
Audience: I was wondering what you thought of the show “Dance Moms” and if you found yourselves being compared to the show?
Paisleys Mom: they make us look good.
Alanna: They are worse than us, they make us look really good.
Anderson: What do you mean they’re worse?
Alanna: They are brutal. That one mom.
Kayla: I think they are mean, they seem mean-hearted.

[Introduction from The Clicker and transcript via The Anderson Cooper show]

Well of course they don’t think they’re as bad as the Dance Moms. I haven’t seen that show, but I bet they’re about the same. It might be all down to editing too. I’m just disappointed that the mom who puts padded boobs and a fake butt on her 4 year-old didn’t get a makeover.

By the way, Paisley, the girl shown below, is the same one whose mom put her in the “Pretty Woman” “prostitot” costume. Look at how ridiculous the mom looks in a similar outfit.

Here’s a preview of the show and more clips are now below.

Update: the videos are here!

Honey Boo-Boo Chile’s mom, June, gets a pageant makeover. Anderson’s response is the best.

Alicia, Laci’s mom, gets a Lady Gaga outfit makeover, but notice that she has flesh-colored cutouts instead of showing skin at the sides.

Honey Boo Boo Chile’s mom calls pageants “a sport” and defends the use of “go-go juice.” I love how the other moms are giving her the side eye. Anderson tries the go-go juice and it’s adorable.

Toddlers & Tiaras moms diss “Dance Moms” and say they’re better.

A mom defends her eight year-old daughter’s weight loss and admits that she used to weigh 300 pounds. Honey Boo Boo Chile’s mom looks down the entire time. This kind of made me feel sorry for her, although she needs to take a lesson from this lady.

The Duggars are back and were on the Today Show yesterday. (Video is below.) Last night was the premiere of the ninth season of their TLC reality show, “19 Kids and Counting.” They have not yet aired footage of Michelle finding out she had a miscarriage at five months, but a preview reveals that it will be shown this season, and we’ve also heard that they’re going to show footage of the memorial for the baby. They’re famous for having a huge family, and they’ll continue to have kids as long as “God” grants them with kids. This is what they always say, and it’s not surprising to hear them continue to say it after their last baby was miscarried and their baby prior to that was born prematurely and with health problems. They’re tenacious, and they already have a schoolhouse full of kids but that doesn’t diminish the tragedy they suffered. The story is sad and heartbreaking and you feel for Michelle. She’s handling all this very well considering what she went through, but I get the very strong impression that she feels that its her duty to promote a pro-life agenda. Anyway here’s what they said to Ann Curry, whose one-note “are you ok?” approach to celebrity interviews was actually appropriate in this instance:

Michelle and Jim Bob spoke to Ann Curry on TODAY Tuesday, their first public appearance since the miscarriage in early December.

“It’s devastating, and many others have experienced very similar situations,” Michelle said. “Probably the hardest part is that when a loss like this occurs people really don’t know what to say…. We realize our sweet little Jubliee is with the Lord, and we will see her again someday.”

And if another child isn’t in the cards, the Duggars say they’re enjoying being grandparents. Their oldest son, Josh, has two children with his wife Anna.

“We have heard so many things about being a grandparent and now we know why it is so great,” Michelle told Ann Curry. “You get the joy of playing and spending time with them but you don’t have all the responsibility.”

Their grief over the loss of the baby they later named Jubilee Shalom will be on display in their reality show this season. A preview clip provided to TODAY by TLC shows Michelle and Jim Bob in the doctor’s office for what they thought would be a routine ultrasound. Instead, they found out the baby’s heartbeat had stopped. Michelle is crying and cradling her belly with her hands, while Jim Bob sits next to her with a look of shock on his face. “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away,” she prays between sobs. “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Jim Bob prays with her, then says softly, “Michelle, I’m so sorry.”

Michelle had also suffered a miscarriage during her second pregnancy. That first miscarriage was what caused Michelle and Jim Bob early in their marriage to rethink their plan to have two or three children, and instead to eschew family planning and leave the number of children they have up to God.

Between 20 to 30 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. Dr. Rebecca Brightman, an OB-GYN at Mount Sinai hospital in New York, told TODAY in an earlier interview that having a lot of children doesn’t increase the risk of miscarriage, but that Michelle Duggar was at increased risk because of her age — she is 45, and women over 40 are more likely to have babies with chromosomal abnormalities, which is a leading factor in miscarriage.

[From The Today Show]

It must be comforting to believe in an afterlife so much that you know you’ll see your loved one again. I know that sounds snotty but I honestly mean it. I’ve heard my religious friends say similar things about people they’ve lost.

This is how the Duggars make a living now, and they’re promoting their show and sharing their trials with the world. Unlike other visits to NY City, Jim-Bob and Michelle were on their own without their kids. They have plenty of little babysitters at home I guess. I found it surprising that they describe being grandparents as enjoyable because there’s no responsibility. How much responsibility do they feel for their own kids?

We’ll soon see another huge family, their friends the Bates with 19 children of their own, on TLC.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Jim-Bob and Michelle are shown at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington DC on February 10, 2012. I guess they left their kids at home for that, too. Credit: Mark Wilkins/FameFlynet Pictures

As you probably know by now, all of the writers here at Celebitchy read the weekly tabloids religiously. I enjoy the tabs for many reasons – first, I just enjoy the idle gossip, the silliness of it all. Secondly, I enjoy trying to figure out why a story is framed a certain way, if the tabloid actually has a source deep in a celebrity’s camp, if there really was an eyewitness to a certain event, that kind of thing. Over time, I’ve learned to just flat-out ignore certain stories – like, I rarely read anything about reality programming, because I feel like the tabloids are just recycling plots off of the actual shows. But CB called my attention to a story in this week’s Enquirer, all about “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills SHOCKERS!!” Unfortunately, it’s not about the sexual act “The Shocker”.

The basic gist is that some of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills might be leaving, and Lisa Vanderpump is definitely NOT getting her own spinoff show – she taped a pilot and she was looking forward to getting away from the other bitches, but alas, Bravo didn’t pick up the show. There’s also a little thing about a woman named Linda Thompson, who is 61 years old and the ex-girlfriend of ELVIS, might join the show.

But buried deep within the story is this gem:

While Lisa may be out, two other women may be moving in. Sources say producers have asked Elvis’s former girlfriend Linda Thompson to join the cast, as well as 29-year-old LeAnn Rimes. Rimes made headlines in 2009 when she had an affair with new housewife Brandi’s then-husband Eddie Cibrian and has since married him.

One insider says the Brandi/LeAnn match-up would be “an instant recipe for fireworks” – and that means big ratings!

[From The Enquirer, print edition]

CB asked me if I thought LeAnn would actually consider it. I do think there’s a decent possibility – I mean, think of all of the attention LeAnn would get! And she would get to one-up Brandi ON TV! Considering LeAnn wants to BE Brandi Glanville to the point of a creepy Single White Female-like stalking-obsession, I think this is a valid possibility. However, there are totally reasons why LeAnn wouldn’t do it too. Like, she’s crazy, but is she THIS crazy? Doesn’t she want to convince people she’s still a country superstar?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

This photo is from another disgusting challenge on Fear Factor, described below

I need to talk about this story finally after reading about it for a couple days. This is a follow-up and it’s just a gross as the original stories. Apparently on an recent taped episode of Fear Factor, contestants were made to drink donkey semen. This really happened, but the episode hasn’t aired and it never will thank God. Two of the contestants who participated in the show called in to a local radio station to discuss their reaction. One woman said that she understandably vomited (who wouldn’t?) and she described how it tasted. There aren’t enough exclamation points that I can put after “EWW”!!!! As a result, Fear Factor execs gave them a call and reminded them about their confidentiality agreements.

As if forcing contestants to drink donkey semen wasn’t bad enough, “Fear Factor” executives are apparently waging a campaign of fear against contestants.

In the wake of NBC’s decision to yank Monday night’s episode featuring the (poor) taste test, twin contestants Claire and Brynne Odioso gave an interview Tuesday morning with their hometown Tampa Bay radio’s “Cowhead Show” describing in detail what their mugs of donkey semen — complete with urine chasers — tasted like. (Bitter with “with hints of hay”, for those who are really curious.)

A few hours later, however, the twins were reminded in a phone call from a show representative that they had signed confidentiality agreements. The staffer warned them to stop talking to the media or else face legal reprisal, TMZ reported.

“We are disappointed because we wanted to share the experience with our friends and family,” Brynne Odioso told Patch.com

“We feel no animals were harmed during the stunt, and it is known that animal semen is consumed in parts of the world like Australia and New Zealand.”

The episode, entitled, “Hee Haw! Hee Haw!,” was replaced with a rerun on orders from NBC’s parent, Comcast, after news of the donkey semen stunt leaked on the Internet, to much disgust.

“Fear Factor” host Joe Rogan had hinted at what lay ahead in a December interview with The Daily News.

“I say, in the real world, in a healthy society, you’re not supposed to eat animal d—, but guess what, here you have to eat animal d— if you want to win $50,000,” Rogan said.

[From The NY Daily News]

I had to google to see if it’s true that they actually drink semen in Australia and New Zealand. It’s not some long-standing cultural practice that I could find. All I found was this article from last year about how they served horse semen at a food festival as a “fad energy drink.” It sounded like a “dare” drink and a publicity stunt for the company that made it.

I’ve seen clips from Fear Factor, and they were either bungee jumping from high places or eating whole live bugs like spiders and scorpions. I guess they remove the stingers and ensure they’re “safe.”For $50,000 you could not get me to even smell this donkey stuff. Ok, maybe I would smell it, that’s good money. But I’m such a chicken sh*t I would never go on this show.

Modern humans have only been around for about 200,000 years. In comparison dinosaurs ruled the earth for 135 million years. We’re going to be a blip in history some day. When some future civilization looks at the legacy we’ve left, it’s not all going to be classical music and great literature. There’s so much more of this tasteless, disgusting throwaway reality crap that passes for entertainment. I guess I shouldn’t care about Fear Factor. Most of the programming on VH1 and MTV is much more disgusting and embarrassing to me as a member of the human race.

Here’s another “drink” that they had to consume on Fear Factor. This actually aired. It was “‘crappaccinos” made of pureed stinkbugs, flies and hornworms and topped with live, unblended bugs.” How is donkey sperm more disgusting than this?

This one is possibly the worst. “One partner dives into a tank of cow’s blood to retrieve cow hearts that their partner must then fling into a box with their mouth.” Who watches this?!

The header photo is described as “a meal of live roaches or live grasshoppers, with a side of rat-hair tortilla chips and live maggot and blood salsa.”

I don’t know how much interest there will be in this story, but I’m willing to take a chance as I’ve been watching so much “Storage Wars” on A&E lately. It’s not that I particularly love the show, I enjoy it but it seems repetitive and I often question whether they plant items. My kid just loves “Storage Wars” though and apart from some minor adult humor and swearing that’s beeped out it’s usually appropriate for him and interesting. (I tried to watch “American Pickers” with him but it bugged me how much those antique hunter guys seem to take advantage of old people.)

The National Enquirer scored an exclusive interview with Dave Hester, the “Yuuuup” shouting high-roller storage unit buyer, The “Mogul,” who always seems to be feuding with someone. Sometimes I root for Dave, but he’s too cutthroat lately and seems to be bidding people up and generally being a pain. He probably is playing it up for the cameras. Well The Enquirer revealed just how much all the castmembers are being paid an episode and it doesn’t sound bad at $10k per. The show is wildly popular, though, and A&E must be raking it in. Dave wants a raise in order to come back for the third season. He said that he’s holding out for more money and will basically see if A&E thinks he’s worth it.

“Storage Wars” star Dave Hester says he’s ready to pack it in if he doesn’t get a big raise.

Right now, the fast-talking storage unit treasure hunter on the hit A&E show says his negotiations with the network are “at a standstill and he doesn’t know if or when they’ll start up again. The production is due to start filming the third season in a few weeks.

Although he won’t say what he makes and what he wants, sources said that Hester and his cast mates earn about $10,000 per episode, and he told The Enquirer: “I want as much as I can get out of them so that I can support my family and my employees. It matters what my market value is, what I bring to the show.

“A&E owns the circus and we’re the elephants out here working for peanuts! A&E is making a mountain of money on our backs now and they need to share more of it with the talent!…”

In its first season in 2010, “Storage Wars” was A&E’s top-rated nonfiction show of the year, drawing an average of 2.8 million viewers per week.

Since then, its popularity has increased tremendously. The two-part premiere of season 2 drew a whopping 5.1 million total viewers, making it the most-watched show in A&E history…

Dave, who’s been in business for 25 years, is holding out, and with no modesty, said: “If A&E doesn’t appreciate my skill level and talent – and what I brought to the show – I would hope they say, ‘Thanks, Dave, and here’s an unconditional release.’”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, January 30, 2012]

Dave can be such an arrogant prick, but I have to admit I like watching him. This is what always gets me about reality shows – they talk a lot about money problems but they never admit to the great cash they’re making for doing the show, and they often act like they’re broke when they’re not. This bothered me on “Teen Mom,” it bothered me on “Sister Wives,” and it bothers me on “Storage Wars.” I think that Dave was probably the most successful buyer going into it, but if Brandi and Jarrod have made over half a million from the show so far it seems disingenuous that they’re acting like they’re broke. 50 episodes have aired so far for season one and two combined, so that’s half a million for each of the principal cast. I guess I don’t blame Dave for wanting more money since he probably considers himself the “star.” It seems like a hell of a lot of money for acting like yourself, but that’s the reality show world we live in now.

This is the real star of “Storage Wars,” Brandi. I can see Brandi and Jarrod getting a spin off focusing on their home life, and then predictably splitting up. All they ever seem to do is argue.

Update: here are some pap photos of Barry Weiss out in Beverly Hills on January 2 with a friend. He smokes! Credit: Josephine Santos, PacificCoastNews.com

On “Kourtney and Kim take New York” they claim the segment below, in which Kim complains about Kris Humphries, was filmed in Dubai in mid October before Kim filed for divorce. The photos above, from the photo agency Pacific Coast News, show Kim and Kris exiting a television studio carrying and wearing those exact same outfits on December 6.

I feel like this story may have gotten lost and eclipsed by Golden Globe coverage and I wanted to give it some play. Kim Kardashian and her mother, Kris, were very clearly busted filming a segment for “Kourtney and Kim Take New York” in which they claimed to be in Dubai but were stateside in LA. It’s common knowledge that these people fake scenes and entire plotlines for their show, so that may sound like it’s not a big deal. The faked scene was filmed in December, though, as evidenced by the photos above showing Kim and Kris leaving a TV studio wearing and carrying the outfits they were filmed in. They claim that the scene took place in a car Dubai in October, before Kim filed for divorce from Kris Humphries after a whopping 72 days.

In the segment, Kim goes on to her mom about how she has a bad feeling about her marriage and how it’s not working out. She says she doesn’t want to return home from “Dubai,” to her new man and that “there’s something in my relationship that I feel like it’s right.” Then they very obviously use a voice over in which Kim’s nasty nasally voice is softened. She insinuates that there’s something going on behind the scenes that she’s not telling us about Kris H. She says in the voice over “I’m just like learning a lot of things about him that I didn’t really know before and I don’t know married life isn’t just what I thought it would be with him.” Kris counsels her that it’s not normal not to want to go home to your husband. Kim was in Dubai in mid October. She filed for divorce from Kris H. on October 31st. By December the Kardashians were really feeling the PR fallout from Kim’s divorce, so they filmed this crap to make it seem like Kim thought about it for more than two seconds before she filed. Here’s more, from Reality Tea:

The photos you’re seeing above of Kim and pimpmomager Kris Jenner were taken on December 6, 2011. The photo agency which snapped the pics stated Kim and Kris were leaving a studio in Los Angeles.

Does Kim outfit look familiar? It should because Kim is sporting the same exact outfit, same hairstyle and same makeup as she did in a scene that aired on KKTNY last Sunday which according to E! was filmed in Dubai… in October… weeks before Kim pulled the plug on her marriage.

In the scene, Kim tries to garner sympathy [and] appear remorseful as she tells her mom she is having marital issues with hubby Kris. There’s only one problem folks: Kim filed for divorce on October 31 and it appears that “Dubai” scene was actually taped in Los Angeles on Dec. 6. Still having doubts? Well, feel free to check out the outfit Kris’ assistant is carrying behind her. Ding ding ding! It’s the SAME “Dubai” outfit plus Kris is still wearing the same earrings.

Wowzers. So this proves the Kardashians’ shows are as phony as the Kardashians. Furthermore, Kim and Kris actually filmed this scene last month to not only try to fool their audience, but to also try to make Kim a victim. Unfortunately for Kris Humphries, he didn’t get a chance to go back and film phony scenes to help his image.

[From Reality Tea, original story credit: Kardashapointed]

Meanwhile Radar is reporting that Kim dictated to Kris Humphries exactly how to propose to her so that it could be captured for his show. She had it down to the lighting in the room for filming purposes. Kris made some suggestions “because he wanted it to be very intimate and romantic, but all of his ideas were shot down by production officials and Kim.” I’m not team anyone because I think Kris is an idiot too, he would have to be to get with Kim and marry her. On some level he’s probably hugely relieved to no longer have to deal with her family and that reality show.

There are actual fans of the Kardashians who believe the timelines and scenarios they present on their shows. I’m sure the fans are few and far between as of late, but there are real people who are going to be disappointed with this news. The rest of us will just gloat and wait.

Here’s Kim wearing some super high waisted jeans and looking very orange on 1-12-12. She’s outside Barney’s here. Credit: Revolutionpix/FameFlynet Pictures

Back when Bristol Palin debuted her new face earlier this year we heard that she was working on some kind of reality show with her fellow Dancing With The Stars competitor, Kyle Massey, and his brother. The plot was supposed to be Bristol moving to L.A. with the Massey brothers. The Bio channel even made an announcement that they were on board with the show and that it would air in the fall of 2011. Only nothing happened whatsoever with that show, and it never got off the ground. Well Bristol hasn’t given up her dream of becoming a reality star. She’s gunning for a Kardashian-type show centered around her life with her family and boyfriend. Bristol’s mom, the abrasive Sarah Palin, isn’t happy with putting her younger 17 year-old daughter, Willow, on television, but she can’t really object since she’s already shown her family on their own docu-reality show for TLC, Sarah Palin’s Alaska. Meanwhile Sarah’s husband Todd wants his own reality show about snowmobile racing. And of course Sarah is still gunning for more episodes of Sarah Palin’s Alaska, the first season of which concluded in January.

The Palin family is embroiled in a war over reality shows, with husband Todd and daughter Bristol blasting “Mama Grizzly” Sarah for promoting her program while failing to fully support their bids, sources tell The Enquirer.

“Sarah is getting flak from both Todd and from Bristol,” said an insider.

Todd’s proposed show about his snowmobile racing was shot down by both Discovery Communications and the A&E Network. And Bristol is struggling to reinvent her scrapped Bio channel reality show, this time under a Kardashian-style format featuring her boyfriend Gino Paoletti and her 17 year-old sister Willow.

“To Sarah’s credit, she helped pitch Todd’s show,” noted the insider. “But he’s still furious. He thinks she didn’t work hard enough because it wasn’t centered around her.

“And Bristol’s upset because Sarah wants to stay out of negotiations for her show. Sarah isn’t thrilled with Willow being involved. But Bristol believes the show will be more marketable with Willow – that they can be the next Kardashian sisters.”

Meanwhile, after Sarah announced in October that she wasn’t going to run for president, on Dec. 19 she hinted that she might. But sources charge it’s just a plot to raise her exposure as she seeks to bring back her own TLC reality show “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, January 9, 2011]

I love how all of Sarah Palin’s family now feels entitled to their own reality shows. There are enough other fascinating reality shows about non-famous people with weird jobs. I truly enjoy Storage Wars on A&E, for instance, and that show is incredibly popular. A quick glance at A&E’s website shows they have a show called Parking Wars, which is about meter maids. I’m not sh*tting you. They also have Shipping Wars, about people who ship stuff, and American Hoggers, about people who catch wild hogs. On Discovery there’s American Chopper, American Guns, Moonshiners and Deadliest Catch. So some Palins are not going to compete, even with snowmobiles, fake hunting and lots of plastic surgery. The days of the Kardashians and the family reality show are hopefully grinding to a halt.

Bristol Palin is shown on 8-18-11 filming scenes for the reality show that never was. Credit: Pacific Coast News

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There was a cheapskate special on Oprah years ago where a man reused paper towels. He would actually hang them up to dry in his kitchen, which begs the question: Why didn’t he just use cloth towels? On another show I saw eons ago, I think it was on Donahue, a woman with a large family gave advice on how to use up the dregs of the jam jar by putting some milk in the near-empty jar, swirling it around, and then pouring the mixture into an ice cube tray to make freezie pops. The audience actually groaned at that one.

I wash and reuse plastic bags sometimes, but usually when I’m in Germany and they’re harder to find. It’s more of a recycling issue for me. (I also bring my own bags to the store.) To save I’ll clip coupons to shop and I use coupons when I go out to eat, but I don’t go crazy with it. (If you ever go to Ruby Tuesday’s in the US you should sign up for their e-mail newsletter as you can save nearly half on your meals there.)

All of that is preface for this story about a dude with a 70s pr0n stache on the new TLC special “Extreme Cheapskates.” In a preview clip, the guy cooks up two goat heads that he bargained with the butcher to buy for around $7. It looks really disgusting, but the environmentalist in me tries to reason that it’s good that he’s using the entire animal. Here’s more:

When times get tough, it’s not unusual for people to start cutting back a bit.

But for one penny-pinching man featured on TLC’s upcoming special “Extreme Cheapskates,” reducing his spending a bit isn’t good enough. No, Jeff Yeager does much more than that. He goes on an all-out weekly fiscal fast several times a year and doesn’t spend a cent of his own hard-earned money.

Instead, during his fasts, Jeff spends only the loose change that he finds around town. And when he does use that money, it’s to buy the cheapest things he needs — including food. This leads to some … umm … uncommon dishes at the dinner table.

“I create my menus around what is least expensive,” Jeff explained in an exclusive clip TLC shared with us. “Not only does that save you a lot of money, but you tend to eat healthier. Like organ meats!”
Mmmm! OK, maybe not. Even Jeff’s wife, Denise, admits that she’s not always a fan of his meals. “Some of the food he eats, I just can’t get myself to … to fathom eating,” she said in the clip.

Like the goat heads Jeff bargained with his local butcher for.

[From Today Show's The Clicker]

If this dude wants to save money he should eat vegetarian. In college we used to eat ramen or pasta for just about every meal. A nice batch of potatoes or some rice and beans (add salsa for taste) are both cheaper and much more palatable than trying to scoop meat out of a head that’s staring at you. Then again, if this guy was just cooking up some farfalle it wouldn’t be newsworthy. This is a stunt for a reality show, and it worked. Also, it seems callous to showcase people who are just cheap when so many people are truly struggling, but that’s TLC for you. Maybe these people are struggling and TLC is just choosing to go with the “cheapskate” angle.

Oh I have to give a shout out to this 96 year-old lady on YouTube that shares simple inexpensive recipes she learned from her mother during the Great Depression. Her Youtube channel is called Great Depression Cooking and she has a book called Clara’s kitchen. Here’s a recipe for pasta with peas. At about 4:00 she tells an awesome story about people renting their garages to bootleggers in the 20s during prohibition.

As you may be aware Linda Hogan, 52, has been dating a kid from her son’s peer group, who actually resembles her son and went to school with him. Linda and her boy toy, Charlie Hill, have been together for at least three and half years, and we heard last year that they were engaged. (This of course thrilled Linda’s ex, Hulk Hogan, as it meant that his alimony payments might eventually cease.) Linda and Charlie haven’t made it official yet, perhaps due to those sweet alimony payments, and are of course having relationship problems. Unlike similar January-December famewhores Courtney Stodden and Doug Hutchison, Linda and Charlie know their place and have accepted roles on a VH1 ensemble reality show. They’ve filmed a bunch of episodes for a show called “Couples Therapy,” (not with Dr. Drew) which will air in March. The best part of this story is the anecdote about how Linda’s boyfriend went out clubbing with her despicable 21 year-old son, Nick. Charlie ended up going home with another old broad and Nick ran home crying to his mommy about it.

Linda, 52 – the ex-wife of wrestler Hulk Hogan – and unlikely lover Charlie Hill, 23, will hash out their issues with psychotherapist Dr. Jenn Berman on the VH1 reality series “Couples Therapy,” which is scheduled to debut in mid-March.

“Linda and Charlie’s relationship is littered with dysfunction and they’ve split up and gotten back together numerous times,” a family friend told The Enquirer.

“Not long ago, Linda got so fed up with Charlie that she actually paid him to get out of her life. But she had a change of heart as soon as she learned Charlie hooked up with someone else.”

As the Enquirer reported in November, Linda grew weary of her freeloading young fiance and sent him packing from her hilltop house outside of Los Angeles.

But Charlie got cozy with another cougar at an L.A. club soon after getting the boot, and the Hogans’ 21-year-old son, Nick, who was also at the club that night, went back to Linda and “blabbed about everything,” said the friend.

“As soon as Linda heard that her shoes had been filled so quickly – and with another older woman – she went ballistic!”

But the anger quickly turned to jealousy and she pushed him to get back together.

When the VH1 producers of “Couples Therapy” got wind of Linda and Charlies ongoing relationship struggles, they convinced them to do the show.

“Linda and Charlie are more than halfway through taping the series,” the friend added. “While they appear to be working things out, it’s unclear whether their romance will last.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, January 2, 2012]

Trash to the E. So maybe Nick and Charlie weren’t partying together and Nick just happened to be at the same club. Either way, it’s gross. TMZ confirmed last week that Linda and Nick would be on this show, which they claim is titled “Relationship Rehab.” I might actually watch a couple episodes of this, if only to gawk at how absurd these people are. At least Charlie was technically legal when they first hooked up.

Look at how matchy matchy these two are. I guess when you buy all your boyfriend’s outfits it’s easy to make sure you coordinate. A lot of moms do that with their kids.

These photos are from 10/9/10 (black outfits) and 9/12/09 (short skirt) credit: Josephine Santos/Pacific Coast News. Matchy fur and fringe photos from 1/17/09. Credit: Fame