4 Famous and Infamous Showmances
Reality TV's Best, Worst and Weirdest Couplings
Do romances begun on reality TV series ever really work? We follow up on some of the most famous – and infamous – showmances in reality TV history.
Showmance. The term has come to apply to reality TV in quite interesting ways. Reality TV showmances are romances begun on the set of a reality TV series. They don't really apply, in my world, to series that have romance as their ultimate goal. A showmance is something that's not supposed to happen, but just does. Sometimes, it's for strategy, but sometimes, a showmance is genuine, or is it?
In this article, we'll take a look at four reality TV showmances. Some have ended in marriage while others just ended.
Mike Boogie and Erika Landin.
Both Mike and Erika are no strangers to reality TV related romances. Mike dated Krista back in the Big Brother House on Season 2. He even went so far as to propose to her on the season 2 finale. Apparently, by November the relationship was kaput, however. Krista called it off, supposedly due to the fact that Mike didn't want to be on the
>Amazing Race
During
>Erika's
Rumors ran rampant that she and Boogie began a relationship before they entered the Big Brother House. That doesn't seem too likely due to their recent behavior towards each other. However, romancing each other appears to have been part of each of their strategies. During next week's Big Brother All-Stars finale, I doubt we'll see another marriage proposal, but who knows? Stranger things have happened.
Speaking of marriage proposals, who doesn't remember Rob Mariano's emotional plea to Amber Brkich on the finale of Survivor All-Stars? Rob and Amber fell in love during the filming of All Stars. Many of us - myself included - thought that this was just another one of Rob's dastardly deeds. However, it seems that Rob really fell hard for Ms. Brkich. Amber said yes. The two got married with a little help from CBS. Now, they've settled into married life. They're quite happy, but putting off creating a reality TV dynasty by having children - at least for a little while. Their next project has them heading off to Vegas where Rob will try his hand at becoming a poker pro.
What about Nick Warnock and Amy Henry's hook up on The Apprentice's first season? It was kinda cute watching two eggheads in love. Well, sort of. Nick and Amy certainly held each other in high regard. They flirted, and it showed. So much so that The Donald picked up on it in the boardroom.
However, even before filming ended for the season and Bill Rancic heard the words, "You're hired," there was trouble in Nick and Amy land. According to sources each was using the other to get air time. Amy has since moved on. For a while, she was rumored to be seeing Bill Rancic, who used to date Jen Scheftt, Andrew Firestone's winner of the Bachelor and a Bachelorette herself.
Amy also found the time to write a tome called What It Takes: Speak Up, Step Up, Move Up. Nick, for his part, hasn't spent much time crying over the relationship's demise. Rumors abounded that he got hired by the Oakland Raiders. He later denied them. Regardless, both Nick and Amy are available for speaking engagements according to their websites although we doubt they speak to each other anymore.
This last couple is so strange that they even had a series named Strange Love. When Brigitte Nielsen and Public Enemy's Flavor Flav walked into the Surreal Life house, no one thought they'd fall in love. Gitte and Foofie as they called each other sure made a striking - and surprising - couple. They seemed to give the rest of us hope that any two people could find each other.
VH-1 immediately figured out the marketability these two had. That's when Strange Love was born. Strange Love was a look at the relationship of Flavor Flav and Brigitte Nielsen despite some serious complications, such as her engagement to Mattia Dessi. In the end, Gitte broke Flav's heart when she returned to Mattia, whom she married unofficially in March 2005. The union was made legal on July 8, 2006 after her divorce from a previous husband was finalized. She has since said that she and Flav had a 'working relationship' only.
Flav, for his part, moved onto reality TV superstardom and VH-1's highest ratings ever with his
>Flavor of Love
Flav is still looking for love, but ... VH-1 just doesn't seem to be the right place for him to find it!
