MTV brings you an intriguing show called Faking It, in which two fame hungry friends get a final shot at the big time after several trials.
The pair – Karma Ashcroft (Katie Stevens) and Amy Raudenfeld (Rita Volk) – have for years been trying to make a break at being popular, to no avail. In Austin, Texas, only the different are popular and so when the pair of friends are mistaken for lesbians, they become heroines over night.
But the truth is always lurking and soon Karma starts to fall for the charms of the popular guy, Liam Book (Gregg Sulkin). Does she hold on to the fame and let the hot boy go or does she come out with the truth in the hope that he still loves her, sans the popularity?
It is going to be hilarious to watch these high school girls navigate their way through this sticky situation.
While this is just a TV show, there are several people who will not stop at anything to become famous and remain popular.
Look at Sweet Brown, the American woman who made the news after escaping a house fire in 2012. In an interview she repeatedly said, “Ain’t nobody got time for that,” and that video went viral, making the phrase part of urban street lingo.
Now any other person would have just left it there, but not Brown. After making other TV appearances she released a music video and there are several T-shirts out there with her face on them. Brown appeared in Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas and is rumoured to be working on a film with Louis Gossett Jr.
Then there is Kris Jenner. I get the part where her daughter literally “slept her way” to the top, but couldn’t the mother just reap the fruits in the background? (Jenner makes 10 percent of her kids’ earnings as their manager. ) Did she also have to be part of the action? Jenner tried to have her own talk show, on which Kanye West came out and showed off the first pictures of his kid, North.
But back to Kim: Remember how her biggest claim to fame came courtesy of that video with Ray J? Before that, Ray J was just Brandy’s brother, but he went on to make a name of his own through the tape going public. Although Kim started making more money than he did, Ray J clung on to the fame by making a reality series that did not go far. He went on to date Whitney Houston and, desperate to stay relevant, pitched the idea of a reality series shortly before she died. After Kanye West and Kim officially got together, Ray J released a track called I Hit It First, which includes numerous allusions to the singer’s stint with Kim. Embarrassing but effective.
Back home, when Khanyi Mbau’s nude pictures were “leaked” on to the internet, some felt she had done so herself just to be topical. It was never proven, but if it’s true, it’s another example of what some celebrities are willing to do to stay “relevant”.
• Faking It airs on MTV (DStv Channel 130) at 8.30pm on Wednesdays.