The lines have blurred for me. I don't know whether the News or Reality shows are freaking me out more lately. It used to be the News with endless stories of death, destruction, suffering and scary politicians. Though I've got to admit recent stories about Iran's nuclear program, Israel's 'get-em-first' tough talk and the GOP candidates trying to drag the U-S back into the 1950's has me chewing my nails again.
Then along comes this Reality show "My Strange Addiction". I realize its already in its third season, but I think the promo for "Drinks Gasoline" finally cut through to my TV-numbed cerebral cortex. It featured this girl chugging what appeared to be gasoline straight from one of those red plastic gas containers. After that I started looking into past programs and found titles like "Drinks Nail Polish", "Eats Dirt", "Roadkill Addict" and the creme de la creme.."Urine Drinker". It's as if the 'freaks' that once populated the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow in the 1990's escaped and are now doing their bizarre acts for this show..and that's what Jim's people did.. "acts." Jim once sat next to me in the old CITI-FM studio at Polo Park and ate a light bulb, after warming up by pushing a teaspoon up his nose. Jim was showman. We were all aware that the things he and his colleagues did in the "Sideshow" were acts; carefully orchestrated routines that Jim himself said they had practiced over and over again. Seriously, the guy who could lift weights with his scrotum had practiced first..and practiced very, very carefully.
So, is the gasoline chick on "Strange Addiction" putting on a show for the cameras? Maybe. Is her addiction for real? Maybe. Am I totally freaked out by her licking her fingers after gassing up her car? Oh yeah! I guess that's mission accomplished for "Strange Addiction"..the latest in the crop of Reality TV circus sideshows.
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