LVRJ: Summerlin serves as backdrop, home for reality shows and stars

Here's an article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal finally making it to online. Notice the huge bottle of that Skinney OpDetox stuff that Kody is carrying. Gee, I wonder what business meeting that was...at the public library no less?


By Jan Hogan
VIEW STAFF WRITER
Posted: Apr. 17, 2012 | 12:20 a.m.

Fess up. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a reality TV star? Some of them live in Summerlin....

YOU MIGHT SEE THE 'SISTER WIVES' AROUND TOWN

Meri Brown is on the TLC reality show "Sister Wives," which details her life as one of Kody Brown's four wives. The Browns relocated from Utah to the Summerlin area, and she said her life has gotten incredibly busy due to the demands of the show and fans who will whip out cellphones and ask to have their photo taken with her.

"It happens quite often," she said. "But it's really funny to me because I still look at myself as just a normal person. I don't think of myself as a celebrity. So it's, I don't know, I'm just a person, so it's funny that people are so starstruck."

She said people stare at her wherever she goes, whispering to friends behind their hands. It's a reaction she and a girlfriend found funny when they took their kids to Disneyland earlier this year.

Does she feel she always has to be on her best behavior?

"I should be on my best behavior all the time, anyway," she said and laughed. "I still blow my nose if I need to blow my nose in public."

She said she was never one to leave the house, let alone her bedroom, without her hair and makeup already done, even as a teenager. So, that hasn't changed. What has changed since she was in high school is that she has more friends.

"I was kind of a nerd as a teenager," Brown said. "I had the big '80s glasses and the braces, and I had a friend who (told) me that her baby sister was afraid of me because I looked like an alien."

She amended the "nerd" comment and said, "In reality, it's more that I have always been really shy. It has always been hard for me to be open to people I didn't know. In the past eight or 10 years, I've been working on coming out of my shell. But it hasn't been until our show came out and our family went public that I have really had to overcome that. It has definitely been an opportunity for my personal growth and development."

Brown credited the show with aiding other people's personal growth, as well, and said it has "opened people's minds" about the polygamist lifestyle.

SUMMERLIN-AREA BUSINESSES CAN ALSO BE SEEN ON TV

Just as people appear on reality TV, places in Summerlin have been highlighted, as well.

Chad Sumida is the manager of Menchie's Frozen Yogurt, 7500 W. Lake Mead Blvd., Suite 2. The children of "Sister Wives" were filmed there before going ice skating in the SoBe Ice Arena at the Fiesta Rancho.

"I know a lot of people are really into the show, so I was very excited when they called ... I don't know how many businesses he could have gone to, but he chose mine," Sumida said.

The producer outlined how shooting would work. He asked that no one stare at them, just act the way they normally would and not pay attention to the youngsters. The production did not restrict how many people came in during filming or disrupt normal operations much. Sumida opted not to be on TV. To celebrate, he did not charge any patrons who came in that day.

The show aired last November, and he made sure he caught the episode on TV.

"I was, like, super excited," he said. " 'Oh, man, that's my store.' It was our little 15 minutes of fame. They cut a lot, though. They were shooting for a couple hours, but it was just a five-minute clip when it aired."..................


Here's the url for the entire article if you want to read about the other 'celebrities' of Summerlin.
http://www.lvrj.com/view/summerlin-serves-as-backdrop-home-for-reality-shows-and-stars-147704665.html?ref=665