Best Reality Television Host

Someone in our household, and it isn’t Carter or me, watches a lot of reality television.

American Idol, Big Brother, Survivor, American’s Next Top Model, Project Runway, Step It Up and Dance, Top Chef and The Amazing Race are pretty much givens in our house.

Inevitably it means I watch a portion of these shows whether I like it or not.

With the exception of The Amazing Race I really don’t like reality television. I am not a big fan of the people cast in the show generally, nor the actual ‘game play’ involved.

So when I have to sit through an hour of something I don’t like, I look for something interesting and usually it is the host.

I don’t like Ryan Seacrest and the terrible production that takes place on American Idol. You kick someone off the show, crush their dreams, but you want them to sing one more song before they go OR “And the person American voted to keep ….. is ….. going … to be revealed after the commercial break”.

I don’t like Julie Chen and her bad pant suits either, acting all cool as she pushes the little button so the ‘house guests’ can hear her. She does nothing but a 2 minute interview, a minute taken up by ‘good-bye messages” and invites the person to her morning show. Lame.

I don’t watch Survivor so I can’t really comment. I do know however that the phrase “The tribe has spoken” is still used and has to be getting old.

America’s Next Top Model? Just another bad gig for Tyra. Sorry.

Project Runway? I like Heidi and her outfits, and she is usually really nice when saying goodbye in another language. But Nina Garcia and that other guy on the panel over shadow Heidi and lose it all for me. Easily my favorite part of the show is when Tim Gunn walks in the room and says “Hello designers”. Haha it’s always funny for some reason.

Step It Up and Dance = Elizabeth Berkley = Showgirls. Enough said.

Top Chef is a cool show, and I don’t mind Tom or the guy from Queer Eye. I love it when they bring Anthony Bourdain on as a guest, I like Gail Simmons … but it is all ruined with Padma. Why does Padma get to host? What makes her an expert? You marry the guy that wrote The Satanic Verses and that gets you a cooking show host gig?

I like the Amazing Race, always have and Phil is always cool when delivering the news.

But the best reality television host for me, hands down, is my girl Cat Deeley on So You Think You Can Dance. First of all she is always really nice to the contests, especially when they are going around the country and auditioning. She is attractive, funny and generally seems really cool. But the best part for me is the beginning when she shouts out the names of the dancers/contestants with her accent. “Danny!” …. “Hawk!” … “Danielle!” … “Ricky!” … “Stacey!” … The best! She doesn’t use dramatic pauses when kicking people off and is generally really personable. I think Cat would do a good job at the Olympics too. You know during the opening ceremonies when the countries walk in and the person over the loud speaker announces with enthusiasm where they are from? Yeah, that’s Cat’s gig for sure. In her kick ass English accent yelling out “Zimbabwe!” … “Turkey!” … “Equitorial Guinea!”.

Not that I pay much attention to the reality tv being viewed in our house.