I was thrown into the morass of Vh1’s Megan Wants a Millionaire when the show premiered a few weeks ago. Few things pander to me more than a dolled-up girl seeking out a millionaire match.
But then one of the contestants’ wives was found in a suitcase in a dumpster with her teeth pulled out and her fingers cut off (police identified her body using the serial number marked on her breast implants). And yesterday the former contestant himself, having fled to his native Canada, was found dead in a British Columbia hotel.
According to the Washington Post, Vh1 pulled Megan Wants a Millionaire once contestant Ryan Jenkin’s wife’s body was found, proving that even reality TV has some semblance of morality to it. Then again, there is no word on whether Vh1 will pull the plug on I Love Money 3, on which Jenkins is a contestant. Why a self-proclaimed millionaire would go on a game show designed to win money remains a mystery.
The real tragedy in this for viewers is that no one knows who won Megan Wants a Millionaire. Jenkins apparently didn’t because he married Fiore in March, the month the show finished filming, so it’d be possible to skip over Jenkins and start with the episode following his elimination. Edit in a re-cap and viola, we get our entertainment.
I don’t mean to demean the life of either Jenkins or Fiore, but one does not watch Vh1 to celebrate the pinnacle of humanness and morality. We watch it for the same reason people watch Cops: to see stupid people do stupid things.
Vh1 knows this. It’s the entire premise of their reality-TV marketing: people will do outrageous things for money and fame. Besides, it’s not like Jenkins behavior was an all-out shock: Ryan Jenkins served 15 months for assault before going on air.
So come on, Vh1. Megan may want a Millionaire, but we want cheap classless entertainment.
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