If you watch reality tv like I do, you get drunk enough to stand it and then as people walk into frame, you point at them and call them sluts. Well, it turns out our petty name calling may have a kernel of truth.
According to the Post, reality shows like Celebrity Rehab and Jersey Shore are so worried about sexually transmitted diseases that they pass out Valtrex like M&M’s.
In a round-table discussion of reality show execs published yesterday in The Hollywood Reporter, SallyAnn Salsano, creator of “Jersey Shore,” says STDs are a constant concern.
“I do a full medical [for cast members] but I also do a lot of STD stuff,” she says.
“The network [VH1] requires me to do stuff with my patients that has no relevance to anything,” Dr. Drew Pinsky, the host of “Celebrity Rehab,” says.
“Like everyone on the set has to take [herpes medication] Valtrex,” he said.
“We hand it out like M&Ms!” Salsano said. ” ‘Hey kids, it’s time for Valtrex!’ It’s like a herpes nest. They’re all in there mixing it up.”
And she is still sensitive to criticism of the show, she admits.
“I got a lot of heat when ‘Jersey Shore’ came out,” Salsano told the group.
“But you know what? You can be as mad as you want.
“I was raised on Long Island, my dad is a sanitation worker, he drives a triple black Cadillac. Right now he’s sitting in his recliner chair with a Yankees symbol.
“Those are my people!”
I can easily imagine the whole cast of Jersey Shore getting Pez dispensers filled with Valtrex. It’s scary how in a word association game one can say Jersey Shore and the first response would be STD. Producers should give them some other stuff though. Preferably something that rhymes with chemical castration.
[Fame]