Reality check for S.J. reality stars
The story of seven or eight "strangers picked to live in a house and have their lives taped to find out what happens when people stop being polite" has been told 30 times.
So has the one about 16 islanders who compete and scheme their way to being the last one marooned.
What's lesser known is what happens when the stars of "The Real World," "Survivor" and other reality TV shows are no longer televised.
Delran native Heather Marter is among a small but growing number of reality stars with the answer. She is the only South Jersey cast member to appear on MTV's "The Real World."
When cast for "Real World: Las Vegas" in 2010, Marter lived with six strangers and without much responsibility, "waking up in a penthouse suite at one of the most famous hotels in Las Vegas."
But perhaps her biggest confessional came two years after the show aired: The Monmouth University alum started a blog about student debt, including the $126,379.93 she owed her alma mater.
Her loans weren't the only things that appreciated while the show taped in Vegas.
"The less glamorous thing I took away is how much I now value privacy," says Marter, 26, who returned to her home state last year and works in Philadelphia in marketing. "... To have to be in an atmosphere where you were forced to broadcast each issue, big or small, seemed foreign to me and it wasn't something I wanted to continue."
But, as we know today, not every reality star agrees.
Fifteen years after eating beetles and rats on a remote Malaysian island for national television, Cinnaminson resident Gervase Peterson looks back fondly on the original "Survivor" in 2000.
"Honestly, it changed (my life) totally," says Peterson, who co-owns Burnz Cigar Vault & Lounge in Lawnside and does some acting. "You go from Joe Nobody to being somebody overnight. My season was the biggest season of reality TV."
Though finishing seventh overall, Peterson served on the jury during a finale that attracted a reality TV record 51.7 million viewers, second only to the Super Bowl that year and more than double the viewership of the first "American Idol" finale.
The success of "Survivor," "Real World" and "Big Brother" created a new paradigm, followed by countless reality series and an even larger number of Joe Nobodies looking to star in them.
It's hard not to not let the attention go to your head; Peterson recalls being invited to Beverly Hills parties with the VIP likes of Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt and Hugh Hefner.
"And Gervase," he recalls. "You're on that list now.
"It's really surreal. And you got fans. I got fans from Finland and Sweden because it was shown all over the world. I got kids from Finland saying I'm their hero. I'm just a knucklehead from South Jersey."
Finding your voice
But South Jersey has talent.
By uploading covers of songs in her Marlton bedroom, Christina Grimmie amassed more than 2 million YouTube subscribers.
But Grimmie is riding another level of fame after finishing in the top three of last fall's NBC singing competition "The Voice."
"The amount of exposure I got from a show like 'The Voice' is unreal," Grimmie says by email. "So many people, even if they don't know me entirely, have heard my name before and know I've been on that show. Lots of new opportunities are coming my way because of it."
Being on TV, and coached by Maroon 5 singer and "Voice" judge Adam Levine, has opened up more opportunities than her bedroom webcam ever could, she says.
"People have reached out to me after watching me on 'The Voice' that I don't think would have taken me seriously when I was just solely making YouTube covers," says Grimmie, 21, who has a large presence on social media to promote new music and contests. "Being on 'The Voice' stage week after week showed people that I can withstand pressure, keep myself in shape vocally, and constantly reinvent myself."
It's not as life changing for others.
A couple years after appearing on "Real World: Las Vegas," Marter started the aforementioned DebtPuppet.com.
Still, she is comfortable with the afterglow fading.
"I feel like I got the best of both worlds," Marter says by email. "I got to live the life of a celebrity but didn't have to stay one. From being on the inside of that lifestyle, I can assure you it is not all it is cracked up to be. It is exciting and fast-paced, but also superficial and lonely. There is a constant need to exploit yourself while also defending yourself and your image.
"To be frank, it's exhausting and unappealing to me. I'm much more attracted to enjoying a 'regular' life and having my privacy."
Where they are now
Other local reality stars have managed to cash in on their celebrity.
Willingboro native Kevin Sbraga, winner of Bravo's seventh season of "Top Chef" in 2010, now owns three restaurants in Philadelphia — The Fat Ham, Juniper Commons and Sbraga.
Chef Aaron McCargo Jr., a past "Next Food Network Star" winner and host of "Big Daddy's House" on the Food Network, has made foodies fall in love with new dishes through the show "Best Thing I've Ever Ate," spotlighting the panzarotti at Panzarotti Pizza King in Camden, the fried buffalo wing at the Jug Handle Inn in Cinnaminson, and the cheesesteaks at Carmen's Deli in Bellmawr and Yellow Submarine in Maple Shade.
After being a finalist on Season 11 of FOX's "Hell's Kitchen," Williamstown resident Cyndi Stanimirov works as the sous chef at Firebirds Wood-Fired Grill in Moorestown.
At only 12, West Deptford resident Andrew Zappley outcooked all but one 8- to 13-year-old competitor on the third season of FOX's "MasterChef Junior" to just miss the $100,000 prize this February.
Alicia DiMichele, former star of VH1's "Mob Wives," opened up her eponymous fashion boutique at the Promenade at Sagemore in Marlton.
After finishing as the top female tattoo artist in the most recent season of Spike's "Ink Masters," Browns Mill native Julia Clarkson finishes tattoos at Blue Velvet Tattoos in Langhorne, Pennsylvania.
The pre-show
Before a reality TV competition begins, there's often another competition.
More than 800 people from the Delaware Valley auditioned for the original season of "Survivor," but only Peterson advanced to the final round held in Los Angeles, competing against 47 other Americans for 16 spots on the island of Pulau Tiga.
Sequestered and forbidden to talk to each other in the Los Angeles hotel, they still got to size each other up from separate tables in the cafeteria, Peterson says.
"I was looking at every black guy because that was my competition," says the self-described "working stiff," who had acted in local commercials prior to "Survivor." "I know I got to beat those guys to be on the show."
One such opponent looked to be a cinch for a spot, however, the showrunning tribe had spoken.
"They called him Captain America. He could swim, hunt, fish, went to Harvard and was good looking," Peterson says, "but he had the personality of wood. I've never been hiking, swimming ... but they (the producers) knew by putting me on the show they were going to get more mileage out of me entertainment wise."
Deena Nicole Cortese, the only true South Jerseyan to appear on MTV's "Jersey Shore," and her partner Chris Buckner received relationship counseling — and publicity — on the latest season of VH1's "Couples Therapy With Dr. Jenn" last fall.
Describing herself as "class in a glass and party in a body" prior to her "Jersey Shore" debut in 2011, New Egypt native Cortese was excited about entering a household already full of divas, debauchery and, of course, drama.
"If someone steps on my toes, I'm going to stand up for myself," Cortese told the Courier-Post then.
Cortese never returned to her waitress position at an area Longhorn Steakhouse.
"Everybody keeps telling me not to change," Cortese said then.
Keeping it real
Whether he likes it or not, Peterson knows he will be remembered for his depiction on "Survivor." He is fine with that.
"I have nothing bad to say about Survivor at all," he says. "It's changed my life for the better absolutely. I got to entertain millions of people all over the world. That's a good thing. I don't come across as a jerk."
Conscientious of his image during filming, Peterson was worried about disparaging more than just himself when he refused to participate in one challenge involving a spear, despite a prize of food and his starving state.
"Understand this — I dropped some weight, I'm skinny. ... If I pick up a spear on national TV and throw it, it's a lose-lose situation," says Peterson, an African-American. "If I hit it dead center, America's going to say, 'There's a spearchucker from Africa.' And if I miss it, 'How did he miss it? He's a spearchucker from Africa.'
"I was very conscious of things. I'm not only representing myself Gervase, but my family Petersons, my city of Philadelphia and the whole black race at the same time, and by doing something like that I would be perpetuating a stereotype that shouldn't be perpetuated."
Real empathy
These sensitive matters and more are left off many editing floors, which is why graduates from the college of reality TV often view such entertainment differently.
"I obviously notice more than the average watcher and am always aware of how much editing plays a part in each character, so I'm less judgmental," says Marter, who admits to "hate-watching" ABC's "The Bachelor" but loving MTV's "Catfish."
Grimmie can't watch "The Voice" or E!'s "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" the same way.
"It's actually kind of ruined it for me in a funny way," Grimmie says by email, "because now I can't watch any reality TV show without thinking 'OK so the producers are probably right next to the camera there, and that girl's hair and makeup probably took a few hours.'"
Peterson watched "Fear Factor" — a show seemingly inspired by the wild critters often eaten on "Survivor" — before it was canceled. Now his reality show du jour is Lifetime's "Little Women: L.A."
"Everybody has their guilty pleasure," Peterson notes. "We were the original guilty pleasure."
Beside being guilty pleasures, shows like "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" and "Little Women: L.A." compel because they serve as a reality check.
"They live a different lifestyle," Peterson says. "It's cool to see that stuff because that could be you, that could be one of your family members, to see how you can deal with certain things and relate to certain things."
Reach Steve Wood at (856) 486-2474 or at stewood@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @CP_SteveWood
FOR MORE INFO
Alicia DiMichele, 500 Route 73, South D3, Marlton. (856) 489-4494. aliciadimichele.com
Burnz Cigar Vault & Lounge, 239 N. White Horse Pike. Lawnside. (856) 617-0161. burnzcigars.com
ChristinaGrimmie.com
DebtPuppet.com
Firebirds Wood-Fired Grill, 400 Rt 38, Spc 1000, Moorestown. (856) 380-0604. firebirdsrestaurants.com