Reality Check
by Marcellas Reynolds, July 7, 2006

A column written from the front lines of Big Brother's All-Stars.

Scene One: Location; a sorta posh duplex in Beverly Hills. MARCELLAS is trying to condense his life into two suitcases. He's at turns elated, apprehensive, freaked, anxious and a bit miffed. Slowly he turns to camera and...

Okay so my life is not a play or a movie. Though it is about to be a TV show. A freaky reality show where they film your every word, move, nuance.  A reality show where after three months if you are lucky--very lucky--you walk away with $500,000. Yep, a half million dollars!

When I did Big Brother 3 in the summer of 2002, I'd never seen the show before. A friend contacted me who worked for the producers and told me they wanted to meet me at her suggestion. I turned it down. Why? My agents warned against reality TV.

They said it would ruin my career. Back then, I was a model and starting my career as a fashion stylist. Then in a crazy gay twist, the cosmos flipped and I ended up the "African-American gay guy" on national TV!

You see, I was dating--no, in love with--a guy who I found out was cheating on me with a guy from the Real World.  My response to having my first heartbreak?  "If he wants a reality star, I'll be the biggest reality star ever!"

Yeah, I did Big Brother 3 to get an ex back! Could there be a gayer reason?

Four years later, I haven't aged a day (!), am hopefully wiser and crazy as hell to go back in. The lure of TV is like the mafia; you think you're out but they always pull you back in!

I'm back to compete for money, screen time and a bit of retribution. You see Danielle and Jason (two houseguests from Big Brother 3) were part of my alliance. The person I was closest to in the house was Danielle. I cried to her, laughed with her and trusted her.  She was a Black woman who reminded me of my sisters, my mom, my friends from home.

In one of the greatest moments in reality TV history (or the stupidest blunder in its history), I didn't use the Golden Power of Veto. Danielle who had promised we'd go to the end together, who said she'd never vote against me, who I trusted completely, voted to evict me. Causing Jason to utter words I'll never forget, "Marcellas you should have used the veto. I vote to evict you."

Ouch! It's only now that I can laugh about it. Some people think I'm a saint for trusting those people, others an idiot. Now I want the chance to prove that I can play and win this game. That's why I'm here. And if I get the chance to send one very manipulative, deceitful, cunning, deadly, wicked, mean, evil, wonderful child of God (as my mom would say because she doesn't swear) packing with her cheap suitcases...Well, I'll be kinda happy. But I'm over it. Really.

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