American in Berlin

Reality TV

It is embarrassing to admit, but I watch a decent amount of reality TV. But hey, the first step towards recovery is admitting you have a problem,
right:-)?!

Anyway, I had my first encounter with a reality TV star on my way back to Germany. The guy sitting next to me (in my comfy exit row) was flying to Berlin to be the vocal coach for a boy band series that will be airing on German television. He was fascinating to chat with! We talked almost the whole way to Berlin about the music industry, reality tv and how he got his start. He worked on the first season of the series too, and said that he would instruct the singers in English, then taping would stop and the director would tell him how to say the same thing in German and then taping would begin again. (Because that’s reality, right!?) As a side note, this phenomenon of having a non-native speaker say something in English and then German might explain my favorite German reality TV star, Bruce, from Germany’s Next Top Model. He was the walking/runway coach and spoke some of the best Denglisch (Deutsch and English) I have ever heard. While trying to say that one of the candidates had “come to the end of the road,” he said, “sie ist am Ende der Autobahn gekommen.” Priceless!

All of this might make my plane buddy seem bad, but he was one of the most genuinely friendly people I have ever met. He was excited to learn more about German culture and language and his biggest concern was that he would offend his German hosts if he did not drink beer. He was also all excited to tell me about his work with Seeds for Peace.

I guess reality tv and its “characters” aren't always what they appear to be on a number of different fronts.

posted by Erin @ 2:26 PM