[Photo: © 2009 NBC Universal, Inc.]

Today I got to do something that I know so many women would love to do…I got to participate in a conference call with Tyson Beckford!!! Yes, that’s right, the super-hot model and host of the reality series Make Me a Supermodel, Tyson Beckford. (Be still, my heart!!) He was so nice on the call and it was just completely cool to be a part of it.

But, hey, I can’t actually say that he was there to talk to me personally. He and fellow supermodel Nicole Trunfio, who will be a part of the second season of the series as the models’ mentor, answered questions in a conference call with members of the press. I am honored that I got to take part in it.

The two talked about the second season of Bravo’s breakout hit reality series, Make Me a Supermodel, that will premiere next Wednesday, March 4 at 10/9c. Lots of people got to ask them questions, but I’ll give you all the questions and answers here:

Q: Hey, I wanted to know how you think the modeling business overall has changed since you started? And would you want to have to break in at this point in the game?

Tyson Beckford: I think basically the kids are outstanding but they don’t really have so much personality. And you know it - I don’t think they are as talented as we were when I first started. You know a lot of these kids are just picked off of the street. And they are just picking them because they are tall. I’ve seem some of them walk and they can’t.

Nicole Trunfio: At the same time as well, there’s also like so many other ways that scouts can get to like the tiniest little countries in the middle of continents and stuff. So they can find people that haven’t got any experience or any knowledge about the industry. I think there is less personality and it’s less glamorized. And there’s no diva anymore.

Q: I noticed looking over all of the contestants this year there’s quite a few that kind of live in smaller towns or smaller states. They are not from the metropolitan areas. Do you think they have an advantage or a disadvantage not being in the metropolitan areas?
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[Photo: ©2009 Fox Broadcasting Co.]

Tonight is the much-anticipated season 5 premiere of Hell’s Kitchen! I just love this show and can’t wait to watch Chef Ramsay terrorize the cheftestants!

And as I told you yesterday, I took part in a conference call interview with Chef Gordon Ramsay where he talked about season 5 of Hell’s Kitchen and a lot more. As promised, here’s the entire interview:

Question: Over the course of the show’s run these sorts of competitive cooking shows have really gotten a foothold in prime time and the media. Have you seen a change in this season or in recent months of the sorts of people who are trying to be on the show? I mean, is there a higher incidence of fame whores, as opposed to real experienced cooks?

G. Ramsay: Yes, that’s a good question. I think for me, more than anything, I run a restaurant, so of course we lock horns. By the end of the day, I have to be honest, season five for me is: a) the most competitive; b) I will stick my neck out on this one and the top four contestants this year could have quite easily won in any of the previous years. So that’s what I’m faced with in terms of talent. [It's] very exciting because it’s just raising the game and the prime time thing, you know, that’s not relevant to me because that’s not what I’m about. But of course it’s of great importance, but more importantly I focus on the talent. And I go through that sh** fight for the first six or seven weeks and then I get rid of the donkeys and I focus on the talent. So I take it on an equal patter, but I have to say you’re absolutely right: it’s just getting more and more pressurized because the talent is becoming far greater, which really puts me in the scrutiny, but more importantly, helps to make my job, truthfully, ten times more exciting.

Question: Why is it do you think that contestants can’t seem to get Beef Wellington right?

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Chef Gordon Ramsay turns up the heat in season 5 of HELL’S KITCHEN premiering Thursday, Jan. 29 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
[Photo: ©2007 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Patrick Ecclesine/FOX]

I just got off a conference call interview with Chef Gordon Ramsay, the star of FOX’s Hell’s Kitchen. Season 5 of Hell’s Kitchen premieres tomorrow night and Chef Ramsay was taking questions about the show so we can be ready.

First of all, I want to preface this by telling you that he’s a very charming man when he’s not whipping neophyte chefs into shape. He very graciously answered each question and was overall, a delight. So please don’t think he’s always so over-the-top with people. He just gets frustrated with incompetence in the kitchen.

I’ll have the full interview for you tomorrow, but I wanted to put a few tidbits of information here for you today so you would be back tomorrow to read the entire interview.

• Chef Ramsay revealed that the talent is so high on this season of the show that any of the final four cheftestants could have won a previous season of the show. So the bar has been raised.
• He made a typically Chef Ramsay statement about the beginning of the season, versus the later episodes. He says that in the beginning of the season, he’s mostly focused on “getting rid of the donkeys,” then he gets on to the talent. LOL!
• When asked why it’s so difficult to properly prepare a Beef Wellington, he said that he has thrown in the towel on the dish. He has taken it off the menu. He’s just been too frustrated with it in the past seasons.
• He did talk a bit in depth about a couple of this season’s chefs as well as the general differences in the attitudes and abilities of the male and female chefs. Some surprising stuff here! You’ll definitely want to come back to read all he has to say about this!
• He reveals which of the cooking stations is the most challenging and for which he has the highest respect. I was surprised at this one.
• And he gives us a bit of a preview on a new series he has coming on FOX. He’ll backpack across India and try to discover the origins of the foods, as well as the techniques,etc. for creating authentic Indian foods. The show will be titled Ramsay’s Great Escape…I can’t wait! I love Indian food and can’t wait to see him learn about it.

Like I said, it takes a while to type up an entire inbterview, so check back here tomorrow for the complete interview with Chef Gordon Ramsay. And be sure to watch the season 5 premiere of Hell’s Kitching tomorrow night on FOX at 10/9c.

[Photos: Monty Brinton/CBS, ©2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.]

After the Survivor finale aired, the castaways talked to the press on the red carpet. Just like always, they each bring their own perspective to the events and the motivations of the others. I always enjoy hearing what they have to say after the fact because sometimes it’s not just like we saw on the show. The edit has a lot to do with things.

Here are the final five cast members giving their red carpet interviews. First, Bob shares his reaction to winning:

And Susie came so close to winning. See what she has to say about it:

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One of the most loved former Survivors is Yau-Man from the Survivor: Fiji and Fans & Favorites seasons. He’s a very likeable man and even though he admits to being a bit shy at first, he is very friendly and gracious once he gets acquainted.

This weekend when we were in the buffet line beside each other, he told me that in China people will cook and eat anything that flies, swims walks or crawls because meat is so scarce there. And since they cook so many vegetables at home, they expect to see almost exclusively meat at a buffet. It was one of those interesting cultural things I enjoy learning.

He was unable to make it to last year’s Dodgeball event since he was still filming the China season at the time. But now that I had the chance to find out, I was interested in what he’s been doing since the show. So here he is, filling us in on his latest activities:

UPDATE: You can read Yau-Man’s blog entries here. (And I’m adding the link to my sidebar too.)

I have a bit of reality TV trivia for you. It’s a very little known fact that Survivor: Fiji star Anthony Robinson and Beauty & the Geek 4 winner David Olsen have been friends for about 10 years and share an unusual hobby: LARPing. While David was very open about his love of LARPing on his series, I don’t remember ever seeing Anthony discuss the subject before this weekend’s Survivor Charity Dodgeball event.

And one more bit of trivia: the foam weapons used by David to demonstrate LARPing for the B&tG series actually belonged to Anthony. Now how’s that for some reality TV trivia?

The two of them were very animated and enthusiastic when they were hanging out at the after party Saturday night. They talked a lot about LARPing and I asked them to pose for a photo together. This is what they came up with:

[Photo: Lynn DeVries - DO NOT repost without permission]

They then explained to me that in two different LARPing games, the gestures they were making made them invisible. (Yes, they still did show up on the camera…LOL) Anthony is invisible in the Vampires game and David is invisible in the Quest game. Who knew?

Still have no idea what LARPing is? It seems that even reality shows are a form of LARPing. Here’s David to explain:

One of my favorite former Survivors is Bruce Kanegai. He and I have talked on several occasions and have both attended the Dodgeball event twice. He’s sent me a number of exclusive items to post on Reality Exploits and has always been terrific to share things of interest to Survivor fans. He’s a wonderful guy!

Since retiring from being an art teacher, he says that he takes about two vacations each month. One of his most recent was to run with the bulls in Spain. Now, here’s the amazing part…he did it two days in a row! I got him to tell us what it was like to run with the bulls:

He has also promised me a couple of photos he took while he was there. I’ll post them as soon as I get them. He always comes through.

Chet Welch of Survivor: Fans & Favorites has recovered from his injuries from the show and is doing great. He told me that he is still doing the beauty pageant work and is happier than ever.

[Photo: Lynn DeVries - DO NOT repost without permission]

But he showed me a necklace he wears to commemorate his beloved dog Savannah who passed away while he was filming Survivor. My heart goes out to anyone who loves a beloved pet. They are really family members.

[Photo: Lynn DeVries - DO NOT repost without permission]

Chet is a very warm and friendly person and is really looking wonderful these days. In this clip, he told me which of his fellow Survivors he keeps in touch with since the show.

UPDATE: Chet told me that his special family member who was to join him was to be his dog. He would have been the first person to have a dog as a special family member on Survivor. (See, I like him even more after finding that out, don’t you?)

I know you must remember hottie Nate Gonzales from Survivor: Cook Islands. And the great news is that he’s a truly warm, friendly, wonderful person to talk to in person as well as being good-looking. I’ve had the pleasure of talking with him at a couple of reality star charity events now and can honestly say he’s great guy.

[Photo: Lynn DeVries - Do not repost without permission]

This weekend, he and I were both at the Survivor Charity Dodgeball event in Long Island, NY and I asked Nate to tell us what charitable things he’s up to these days. He’s involved in a lot, as you will see, but here’s his explanation of his recent work:

I’ll be adding an entire page with information about Nate’s charity, Stoked.

[Photos: © 2008 ® CBS Broadcasting Inc.]

One of my favorite three players (besides Renny & Keesha) is Jerry, aka The Colonel, and sadly he was the last to be evicted from the Big Brother 10 house. Here he is sitting with Gretchin Massey on CBS’ House Calls to talk about the game and his eviction. As always, House Calls is about a half hour long, so refill your beverage and watch it now: