What a tangled web we have. Click here to get up to speed on San Francisco’s recent, unintentionally hilarious spin through Fox’s Secret Millionaire Show. Now consider the case of poor, misunderstood Tenderloin Secret Millionaire Gurbaksh Chahal (or Gurbaksh “G” Chahal, or just “G” straight up, if you prefer). It seems he’s a little displeased with some of the feedback he’s been getting after his book-promoting appearance on Fox-TV a few days back:
“After watching my episode of Secret Millionaire, I learned that reality-TV is all about post production. Even though the emotions and stories are all real – editing makes everything come to life.”
G is suggesting here that it’s possible to live a quarter-century on this Earth before realizing that “reality-TV is all about post production.”
At the Adam Carolla / Danny Bonaduce bachelor party, Key Club L.A. Photo via Anthony Citrano - Click to expand.
But leaving that aside, we’re left with two big issues.
1. G says:
“I never actually said BAM four times in a row or said “grocery shopping – it’s not that easy.”
In fact, G said “bam” three times in a row and then said “boom,” but those were obviously scenes that were cut together and nobody could be misled by that. But check the Hulu video at 11:20 to see the trick that was played on G and all the millions of earnest SM fans. G goes:
“Grocery shopping, you know it’s not that easy.”
We see him say the second part of the sentence, but not the first. Did somebody splice together that sentence? How real is that? If that’s acceptable as “reality” then how about this:
“I like puppies” spliced together with
“I don’t think it’s appropriate to name your kids ‘Adolf Hitler’ or ’Aryan Nation!’“ yielding us
“I like, Adolf Hitler!”
Is that kind of thing fair game? G is alleging that’s what the makers of Secret Millionaire did. If that sentence isn’t real, how much else isn’t real?
2. Did G’s pad look the way it did in order to please the TV people? Is this what one of those responsible really said?
“I am very proud of this project as it was a challenging one. I had to “dress up” (in addition to furniture, art accessories, a new lighting plan and flooring as well as stage it) almost 4,000 sqf in one month in order to fulfill my client’s as well as Fox’s network criteria as the penthouse used to film part of the Secret Millionaire show airing in fall. Fox was thrilled with the way it turned out (as they described it- it looked like a “movie set“)”
So it looked like a movie set so it could be used for a TV show? Really? That explains a lot, actually. But that’s not a problem with postproduction, but with preproduction, right? Did G spend more money on meeting somebody’s “criteria” for his penthouse than he spent actually giving away checks on the show?
(You know what would be more interesting than Secret Millionaire? The whole process of G trying to get onto and then taping a Secret Millionaire – I’d watch that. We’d get to see G dealing with the set dressers and the bug wranglers…).
Anyway, those are the two issues.
G, the reason why you’re mocked so much in town has a lot to do with envy but you’re giving people a big, fat slow-moving target. For example, instead of going:
“I ended up gifting well over $100,000….”
…you could say “giving” and then you might not sound so much like your new-found vanga vanga friends from Hollywood. And instead of you and your PR people worrying so much about your suspicious Wiki entry, just let it run wild and see what happens. You might be surprised.
Let’s hope you can keep your next reality production a little more real.
Ya gots to keep it real, G!
[PS: All those earnest fans in flyover country might be disappointed to learn you're actually a "down-to-earth type who flies economy class," so keep it a secret from them. Shhh...]
