I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here: Heidi In The Hospital, Spencer Suing NBC Commentary by RTVC Editor Ron Lemon
June 7, 2009
The drama that is Spiedi just does not stop. Here's the latest from the jungle that is I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here.
On Saturday Heidi's sister Stephanie posted on Twitter that "[Heidi was ] rushed to the hospital and had an IV in her arm after being locked in a dark room for 3 days w no food or water. Pls pray she will be ok...Her family is flying out to see her in the hospital,"
Three days?
No food or water?
Locked in?
If you are going to be melodramatic you have to at least make it believable.
And just as a reminder we were told on Wednesday's episode that Heidi and Spencer would be in overnight with water, beans and rice.
TMZ is reporting that people on the set have told them that Heidi was “convulsively throwing up.”
Reports says that she was hospitalized with a “gastric ulcer” or "an intestinal virus". Choose your poison.
TMZ also claims that one unnamed cast member tells them the NBC execs tried to talk Heidi into not going to the hospital and that she is now out of the hospital and taking medication. TMZ does not report how they are in contact with the cast.
Another cast member, or maybe the same one, TMZ names no names, reportedly said "It's the same as Guantanamo Bay."
At Gitmo they have three meals a day, a bed and satelite TV and so far nobody is reporting that Heidi or Spencer has been waterboarded although there may be those that would recommmend it.
Oh, the drama.
Meanwhile Spencer has reportedly fired his lawyer who pointed out that Spencer and Heidi signed a contract to do the show, which you would assume means not walking out in the middle of it. Spencer is now lawyer shopping and plans to sue NBC.
How much of all this will we see on Monday's episode?
Not much.
How much of this is true?
Not much.
Who is telling all the lies?
Everybody.
For NBC it is all about the ratings. For Speidi it is all about the attention. Sadly, what could have been a mindless piece of entertaining escapism is mired down by the childish actions of spoiled children and the total lack of understanding by network execs of what the audience wants to watch. There is a reason NBC is number 4.
This is exactly why we love the 24/7 live feeds from Big Brother. NBC's “Big Brother in the Jungle” would benefit from from the transparency and truth of the live feeds.
Monday Morning Update
This morning MSNBC reports “The Pratts were on a plane back to Los Angeles at press time, and could not be reached for comment.” So far there is no further comment from them about claims that they were tortured. It turns out that the TMZ unnamed cast member source was Spencer.
ITV Studios, which produces the series has issued a statement saying “The health of the celebrity participants are of the utmost importance” and that “allegations of the celebrities being deprived of food and water are completely untrue.”
It appears that Heidi was not so sick that she could not return to the show because they did. Even though the other celebs had voted to not let them back in.
Angela Shelton, who was voted out of the game last week, told AOL "We had a vote, and we voted no. They’re still getting the opportunity to come back. So that shows you how useful the voting is. We voted no and it’s still an issue. It’s a good group of people who will give them a second chance. But they don’t really have a choice.”
So to review they were tortured, deprived of food and water and held captive. The cast voted that they could not return. But they did return. And now they are gone again.
Speidi is playing NBC for all the attention they can get. That's what spoiled children do. NBC is playing Speidi in an attempt to boost ratings. That's what networks do.
And though the show remains fourth in its time slot the numbers are growing. I guess its all working.
Ron Lemon is the very opinionated, but not-always-right, editor of Reality TV Calendar. He is a United States Air Force veteran, a Pennsylvania Army National Guard veteran and retired from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. He lives in Orlando with his wife and business partner Christine. He does this because he enjoys it, he hates alarm clocks, and it is better than getting up and going to work everyday. Until such time as he wins the lottery he can be reached at: Editor@RealityTVCalendar.com.
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