Hollywood reality bites for Average Joe celebrities

By Donna Freydkin
USA Today

Reality stars may be average Janes and Joes, but they're also Hollywood's newest celebrities. Consider:

• Adam Mesh of "Average Joe," Trista and Ryan Sutter of "The Bachelorette," and the corporate raiders of "The Apprentice" show up at major celeb events and parties.
• They're taking up magazine space formerly occupied by actors and singers, and knocking A-listers off weekly celebrity mag covers.
• Their reality shows, cheaper and faster to produce than pricey and often dicey sitcoms, are dominating prime-time airwaves and taking work away from trained actors.
• And many reality stars, who are famous for being famous, are trying to transition into legitimate actors, singers (think Paris Hilton) or talk-show-host hopefuls.

Their inroads into Hollywood aren't always being met with open arms. Because while fame might mean recognition and star treatment, insiders say, it doesn't gain average Joes entry into Tinseltown's A-list echelon.

"Their celebrity is not based on achievement in the arts. It's based on (fan) acceptance. It doesn't have the same cachet," says L.A.-based publicist Stan Rosenfield, who handles such heavy hitters as Will Smith and George Clooney. "They don't fit in."

Translation: For an Oscar nominee and box office behemoth such as Smith, celebrity is an at-times-unwanted byproduct of his career choice. For Trista Sutter, it's the other way around: She might end up having a showbiz future only because she's already famous. And as celeb-watchers point out, the two aren't created equal.

Reality glitterati might rub elbows with A-listers on the red carpet, but they aren't pals, says "Survivor" celeb Colby Donaldson, who essentially played himself on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and is shooting the Kelsey Grammer-produced UPN pilot "Soluna." He'd love to meet, say, a Will Smith. But chances are he won't.

"I'm not in that crowd. I'm certainly not invited to those parties," he admits.

Janice Min, editor of Us Weekly, says reality stars and A-listers don't connect as equals on the Hollywood circuit.

"It's Hollywood high school," she says. "There's definitely a class divide. Readers don't make that class division, but there's a reason you've never seen a reality star date a major star."

But we do see them date, get dumped or fired, and deal with humiliation. And that's why reality vets land on countless weekly celeb magazine covers (the fashion mags still generally stick to actors and singers) and are interviewed by Oprah Winfrey. And the cover subjects are, for the most part, attractive and, in a word, "relatable," and have "a certain level of humanness" that's often missing in coiffed, canned major celebrities, says Min.

Adds Star's Bonnie Fuller: "Readers relate to them because they're so-called real people. They are accessible. And they're less scripted."

Like Trista Sutter, who's looking for opportunities in Hollywood, and Donaldson, many reality stars are pursuing entertainment careers in front of the camera. But the road from Tribal Council to movie set is paved with letdowns.

"For the most part, it is tough," says Donaldson. "You're not taken seriously by fellow actors. On the plus side, walking into a casting office when the casting director does know you're from reality can be a good thing, because their expectations are so low you can't help but impress them."

It doesn't help that the onslaught of reality shows has whittled away at the scripted programming that actors — and wannabe actors — crave.