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....
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."
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
hmmm... interesting..... so I see Meri, Janelle and Christine ......... whatever happened to Robyn???
ReplyDeletethe unpaid babysitter??? see Christine is putting her thru the ropes. LOL!
Lol...heck, Robyn is just like a child & too damn needy herself & I would honestly be hesitant to leave my lil ones w/ her. I say she gets stuck w/ her own kids & aAspyn & the other older kids gets the responsibility of Tru & the other younger kids when the other adults are out & about. From all the pics & public appearances the Browns make, it's very clear & evident that Kody is not @ home very much, bc he's in all of the pics :/ ...so I'm thinking, early morning he drops his bag off(after kids are gone off to school, so he doesn't have to help) @whoever turn it is in his rotation, says quick hello to the "lucky" wife, then heads out the door to spend all day for "biz meetings, public appearances, & free lunch or dinner" all around Vegas.
DeleteHe gets home(after the kids have all gone to bed), then spends a lil time w/ the wife, then wakes up & does it all over. I just wonder if he @least helps w/ any of the kids getting them ready & out the door, or does the wife just allow him to sleep in??...smh
The store owner basically laying it all out there, explaining how the producers wanted it to play out, says it all & confirms for us, what we have always been speculating!! It's definitely scripted!!
ReplyDeleteAs for the water bottle, I betcha that's a full time prop wherever they go...it looks like a full bottle, & I don't think they drink it!!
Obviously, if they're having biz meetings @the library, then theyre still on the D-list , IMO!! Because, Vegas is a big area, & that's the best they can do, is the library??...lol
I have come to believe that many if not all reality shows are completely scripted and bogus.
DeleteMy daughter recently took part in a reality show, The Cup Cake Girls. It was for a supposed "Sweet Sixteen" birthday party. Well the birthday girl was 6 months past 16 and most of the 'guests' at her party were volunteers like my daughter who enjoyed the show (and the dozens of cupcakes she brought home).
Nothing about that segment was real. Reality TV for you.
D-List CB??? I think z-list is more like it! And about that water bottle...Kody needs to learn to show the bottle so the logo can clearly be seen!
DeleteLmao...ur so right about the Z list CJ...I was just tryna be a lil generous....lol :) & yes, Kody doesn't even want a product stealing his lil thunder (eyes rolling)...
Deleteyes, where's Robyn? let me guess. she's pregnant. gag.
ReplyDeleteShe probably couldn't coerce one of the teens to babysit for her, so she was stuck at home with Sol - AND PREGNANT BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
DeleteIn the pic above, Christine has very sad eyes....
ReplyDeleteHmm, last post it looked like Meri had lost some weight but in this pic she looks almost as big as Christine who is almost as big as Janelle. These people are planning on making $ on a weight loss pyramid? Show the world the WEIGHT LOSS Brownsters!
ReplyDeleteThey should sell mary kay. Enough with questionable supplements and laxatives. Women with curves would make great direct sales people for cosmetics
ReplyDeleteMary Kay is too much work for them! MLM pyramids are more their style. The Brown's like to play managers while the people at the bottom work their rear ends off.
DeleteExactly!! They didn't stick w/ the Pampered Chef too long either!!
DeleteI wish reality shows were really more real! I would completely forgo all the fake charity events, birthday parties and other boring time fillers for some genuiness on the show...even if it was mundane and boring. I think that's waht attracted me to watching the Browns initially. There didn't seem to be hype. The show felt cozy, personal and nice. Last season felt completely off and set-up. They had such a great opportunity to really lay out what was happening with Christine and the teens and all they did was sweep it under the carpet and said everything is fine. Everytime I see a picture of Christine she looks really unhappy. If you're putting your family out there don't you think the viewers deserve something actually worth watching that is genuine and I don't just mean for over the top fights but to show us that you're human and that your family is going through something and how together you all struggle for betterment.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I think this was stated somewhere on this blg, but the Browns wasted a great opportunity to show the other side of polygamy that had nothing to do with Warren Jeffs and was supposedly normal. Big Love on HBO was simply a telenovela. I don't care how much the Darger's claim that they were the family Big Love was based on, the truth was Big Love was nothing more than a fictional tv drama.Sister Wives could have made a difference, but the Browns chose to make their show a parody. I still shudder when I think about how simply goofy and unreal Kody acts, his expensive sports car that seats only 2, and his wastefulness. The show is called Sister Wives so why is Kody in every frigging scene? Because this show is feeding his enormous ego and that's why it has gone downhill so fast.The Browns just proved that polygamy is bad, no matter how you try to dress it up.
DeleteI'm w/ y'all on that one :) ...To me the old tv shows like Roseanne, Alice, Growing Pains, etc... Were more relatable than the ficticious reality tv these days!!
DeleteIt's really gonna be interesting to see, "Where Are They Now" ..,a few yrs down the road! :)
Summerlin sure has a lot of cheap houses for sale. No wonder they could afford 4...well TLC could afford 4.
ReplyDeleteLast I heard the Browns are renting. I don't envy the landlords. Can you imagine the damage Christine's Janelle's and Robyn's kids have done to the interior/exterior?
ReplyDeleteAfter the delivery, Robyn told Meri that she and Kody had discussed Robyn carrying a child made by Kody and Meri for Meri. Maybe Meri took her up on the offer and Robyn is pregnant.
ReplyDeleteI think the love that they depict on screen is for real and that none of the wives will walk out on the family.
Love that show and miss Big Love ...although the ending to a great show like Big Love was a joke and a disappointment....
I hated the ending, ghost Bill sitting at the table was just cheesy, although I did get a bit misty-eyed when "God Only Knows" (the original theme song) started playing.
DeleteHBO cancelling Big Love was a mercy killing. Big Love's creators/exec producers (Olson and Scheffer) lost sight of what the show was about and assumed the fans would put up with anything. HBO stepped in and cancelled the show before it became too much of a parody of itself.Looks like the Browns are following the same path as Big Love's Olson and Scheffer. The only difference is that instead of the ending being cheesy, the entire seasons of Sister Wives have included sickenly cheesy performances by Kody Brown!
DeleteCute article. Love going through the oldies - glad to see Christine and Meri together. I think Janelle is her nemisis, she took the checkbook and booking powers away!
ReplyDelete