The suburban moms are killing me. That's what I think as I rush across the set of The Crush House , the reality TV show that I (Jae) am a producer on. The show follows four singles as they live together, fighting and hopefully falling in love over the course of a week in a pink pastel three story home.
My job is to be a kind of fairy godmother that keeps the cast happy while giving the fans what they want to see, too, down to granular details. Today I'm balancing the wishes of three audiences: film students, superfans, and the suburban moms. Which would be fine, except all the moms want to see— all they want to see—are the abs of the male contestants while they're lounging poolside and ripening in the sun.
To make matters worse, one of the contestants cornered me last night while I was wrapping up. Priscilla explained that her mom, a star in Argentina, didn't believe she was beautiful enough to be on TV. So could I film her making out with two people and prove her mom wrong? Rule number one on The Crush House is don't talk to the cast.
But Priscilla is beautiful and young and sad, and surely the cameras aren't on now, right? The Crush House (the game) asks you to make a dating show in five days with nothing but your camera and the ambient drama of the cast, as a variety of audiences watch live. In that time, the production assistants shepherd you around the massive set, then you spend your day walking around it and filming the four contestants. Their goal is to make it to.