Speaker 1: What makes a good reality star? You know what's so funny?
Speaker 2: I think nine Lee should teach a class on how
Speaker 2: to be a great reality star because she created the
Speaker 2: assignment that the rest of these girls try to follow.
Speaker 1: Stay tuned.
Speaker 2: We'll get into my audience Q and A right after
Speaker 2: these quick ads. Welcome to Reality with the King. It's
Speaker 2: me Carlos King, the King of Reality TV and one
Speaker 2: of the most sought after executive producers in reality television.
Speaker 2: With over ten years of production experience, I've executive produced
Speaker 2: top rated programs such as eight seasons of the Real
Speaker 2: House Spots in Atlanta. Additionally, I have created shows such
Speaker 2: as Netflix Is Styling, Hollywood Owns number one rated Love
Speaker 2: and Marriage franchise at TV one, Hollywood Divas, just.
Speaker 1: To name a few.
Speaker 2: Twice a week on Reality with the King, we'll sit
Speaker 2: down with my friends across the entertainment industry, recap our
Speaker 2: favorite reality shows and revisit unforgettable moments that we are
Speaker 2: still talking and tweeting about. Hey, rain drops, Now look,
Speaker 2: I got a very special episode for y'all today. The
Speaker 2: way y'all hit me up on Twitter, on the hotline,
Speaker 2: on the email. Y'all have a lot of questions for me,
Speaker 2: and as promised, I am dedicating today's episode to answering
Speaker 2: all well, not all child because y'all send thousands, but
Speaker 2: I'm going to get to the ones I feel will
Speaker 2: resonate to my large audience. So today's episode, I'm answering
Speaker 2: the tea the most pressing questions. This is Reality with
Speaker 2: the King Q and A. The first question is from
Speaker 2: Twitter handle at all lover Anthony. The question he wants
Speaker 2: to ask is about the casting process and is there
Speaker 2: ever a disagreement with you and the network on who
Speaker 2: deserves a spot or to come back? The answer is yes.
Speaker 2: Let me go back to the first season.
Speaker 1: Of Love and Hip Hop Atlanta.
Speaker 2: So when I was the co executive producer of Love
Speaker 2: and Hip Hop Atlanta Season one, I was involved in
Speaker 2: trying to finalize who the casting candidates would be along
Speaker 2: with Mona Scott Young and the other producer. So you know,
Speaker 2: we met with STEVIEJ and me. Me and I instantly
Speaker 2: fell in love with STEVIEJ and Mimi like love them
Speaker 2: from the word go. Scrappy and Erica love scrappy. Erica
Speaker 2: was okay, Erica was very normal. We had lots of
Speaker 2: concerns about Erica Dixon because not everybody wakes up to
Speaker 2: say I'm gonna be famous or I'm gonna be on television.
Speaker 2: So Erica was like deer in the headlights. So we
Speaker 2: all knew, like, uh, we gotta work hard on Erica.
Speaker 2: Because Scrappy is great, He's a household name, he represents Atlanta.
Speaker 1: But honey, it is Erica Dixon child. We gotta work
Speaker 1: with her. We found life the cast.
Speaker 2: We had Stevie j and Mimi Scrappy and Erica Kirk
Speaker 2: and Rasheeda Kay Michelle, and we felt that somebody was missing.
Speaker 2: So Carly Rid auditioned to be on Love and Hip
Speaker 2: Hop Atlanta and let me just say no, I did
Speaker 2: not forget about Joscelene. I'll get into that later because
Speaker 2: Joscelyn wasn't a part of the original cast. So Carly
Speaker 2: read auditions and I loved Carly Red loved her. Me
Speaker 2: and Mona had disputes about Carlely Mana was like, I
Speaker 2: don't know about this Carli Red, I said, Mona, trust me.
Speaker 2: Carly Ritt is messy. She's going to give you the tea,
Speaker 2: the juice.
Speaker 1: Like everything.
Speaker 2: Like Carlie Rid gives zero fucks, like I promise you.
Speaker 2: So the network at the time, the executives, they weren't
Speaker 2: too keen on Carlie Red and I really fought for
Speaker 2: Carly and she knew it because I said it to her.
Speaker 1: I said, look, girl, they ain't feeling you.
Speaker 2: We gotta like I want you to happen because I
Speaker 2: feel it in my soul that you are going to
Speaker 2: be fantastic on the show. So when Carli Rid episode one,
Speaker 2: season one, do y'all remember when Carli Rid had a
Speaker 2: birthday party and me me was there, Ringan was there
Speaker 2: and before.
Speaker 1: Stevie J walked then with Joss Lene.
Speaker 2: Carly Rid told me me, I invited such and such
Speaker 2: and you know Stevie J blah blah blah, and me
Speaker 2: me goes, oh, that's my man, and Carly goes, no,
Speaker 2: he's not. I met him with his girl Joscelene. And
Speaker 2: Mimi's like, no, that's his artist. And carl Ridd is like, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: that's that's her man. Honey, like that's her man. I
Speaker 2: saw him kiss, I saw him do all that. We
Speaker 2: the producers were gagging because Carli Ridd was arguing with
Speaker 2: MEMI like no bitch.
Speaker 1: Stevie J is josce Lene's man.
Speaker 2: I just shot with them two days ago and they
Speaker 2: were all over each other. And because of that, STEVIEJ
Speaker 2: walks in with Joscelene and me ME tells Stevie J.
Speaker 2: She's telling me that Jocelene is your woman. And Stevie
Speaker 2: J confronts carl Ridd and it's like you messy, and
Speaker 2: Carlie Redd like, no, I'm not.
Speaker 1: I saw with my own eyeballs.
Speaker 2: Jos Len tells Calie Rid she's messy, and the rest
Speaker 2: is history. Carlie Ridd was the messy mainstay that the
Speaker 2: show needed. So that was one of the first times
Speaker 2: that I felt like, look, I know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2: And fast forward to what ten years later, Carlie Ridd
Speaker 2: is still on the show. So yes, I know a
Speaker 2: thing or two about casting. My next question is from
Speaker 2: at Jukebox ares yes for the name, what makes a
Speaker 2: good reality star?
Speaker 1: You know what's so funny?
Speaker 2: I think Nini Leek should teach a class on how
Speaker 2: to be a great reality star because she created the
Speaker 2: assignment that the rest of these girls try to follow
Speaker 2: when it comes to being a great reality star. The
Speaker 2: examples I would give are Ninni Leeks, Tiffany New York, Collard,
Speaker 2: Peter Thomas, Stevie J, and I would.
Speaker 1: Say Ray J.
Speaker 2: So those are people who I think should write a
Speaker 2: class on how to be a great reality TV star
Speaker 2: because they're the first of their kind, right, Like, that's
Speaker 2: what you guys should aspire to be when you want
Speaker 2: to be a reality TV star. So I'm gonna tell
Speaker 2: you the dudes now, and then I'm gonna.
Speaker 1: Get into the don't.
Speaker 2: So to be a great reality TV star, you have
Speaker 2: to have a big personality, not like big and boisious
Speaker 2: like Nini Leaks, because some people don't have to be
Speaker 2: that way. I think a good example of a good
Speaker 2: reality star who isn't big and boisterous and whatever is
Speaker 2: Melody Hoped from Love and Marriage Huntsville. So Melody isn't
Speaker 2: like this big personality or this big character. But Melody
Speaker 2: has a star quality in the sense of she owns
Speaker 2: the room, she has a presence, she's authentic, she's genuine,
Speaker 2: she speaks her mind, and she gives you a bur
Speaker 2: re ounce of what's happening in her life. In order
Speaker 2: to be a great reality star, you have to be
Speaker 2: transparent and you have to be vulnerable. And those are
Speaker 2: two things that Melody Holt is, Nini Leeks tipped The
Speaker 2: New York Collard, Peter.
Speaker 1: Thomas, and Ray j. So that's what you have to be.
Speaker 2: You have to be that level of authenticity and transparent.
Speaker 1: And speak your mind.
Speaker 2: The don't is you don't have to fight a bitch
Speaker 2: to be a good reality star. I cannot tell you
Speaker 2: how many dms I get. Oh, Carlos, I'll throw a
Speaker 2: drink in somebody's face. Oh Carlos, I'll fight somebody. Girl,
Speaker 2: you better hop on that streaming app what that's allowed
Speaker 2: like on a Carlos King show. We don't do that.
Speaker 2: We fight with our words, honey, not our fist. I
Speaker 2: like to work with sophisticated individuals who know how to
Speaker 2: read the room and read people inside that room. That's
Speaker 2: what you call understanding the assignment. The other thing you
Speaker 2: don't do that When I say to you, guys, this
Speaker 2: annoys me is when you sign up on a reality
Speaker 2: show and the moment the episode starts to air, all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, you don't like how you're quote unquote
Speaker 2: portrayed and the show's ratchet. Okay, let's start with this
Speaker 2: portrayal stuff. No one can add to words in your mouth, okay,
Speaker 2: no one can make you do things on camera that
Speaker 2: you didn't do in real life.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: I think the problem is a lot of people try
Speaker 2: to be on reality TV because they think it's easy
Speaker 2: and they want the fame, which I'm ad at.
Speaker 1: If you want to be on a reality show.
Speaker 2: Then you should do everything you need to do in
Speaker 2: order to be great on it, right, and that is
Speaker 2: being authentic And if you want to be famous, I'm
Speaker 2: mad at you, says do it.
Speaker 1: But the problem is when you're so.
Speaker 2: Unlikable because you're trying to trick the audience into being
Speaker 2: something you're not. Nothing annoys me more is when a
Speaker 2: ratchet person gets on reality TV and tries to act
Speaker 2: all sophisticated, and then when the ratchet comes out, they
Speaker 2: blame the producers, they blame the editors, they blame the network. Okay,
Speaker 2: they blame everybody but the mirror. Like Michael Jackson said.
Speaker 1: I'm looking for the man and the mirror. That's what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Look in the mirror and.
Speaker 2: See who you are, because all television is doing is
Speaker 2: putting a mirror into who you really are. And because
Speaker 2: you can't stand yourself, imagine what the other cast members
Speaker 2: are going through because they can't stand you either, because
Speaker 2: you're not being real.
Speaker 1: You're not being authentic.
Speaker 2: You thought you was gonna get on the show, increase
Speaker 2: your followers, promote your brand, and then leave and say like, girl,
Speaker 2: I'm hot. No, ma'am, you're not okay because your intention
Speaker 2: wasn't right. So those are the don't in terms of
Speaker 2: what doesn't make a great reality TV star. And what's
Speaker 2: funny is I'm so real when it comes to the
Speaker 2: people I work with. I will tell you if I
Speaker 2: think you're whack. I tell Latitia Scott after the first
Speaker 2: week of shooting, Hey girl, I don't know about you, don't.
Speaker 2: I don't think you have what it takes to be
Speaker 2: on reality TV. You're boring, you don't say anything, and
Speaker 2: seeing your voice quivers like I don't know this's gonna
Speaker 2: work out, And she's like, what do you mean? And
Speaker 2: I was like, I want you to be a confident
Speaker 2: version of yourself, like your husband Marcella is great. And
Speaker 2: I said, look t show, I think you're you're great,
Speaker 2: but you have to believe that you're great, and look
Speaker 2: at Tsha now she reads the girls, she addresses how
Speaker 2: she feels, and because of my critique, she now has
Speaker 2: been on the show for four years. So to recap
Speaker 2: for all your girls trying to be on a Carlos
Speaker 2: King produce reality show, this is what your boy needs
Speaker 2: in order for me to cast you. Okay, big personality,
Speaker 2: You gotta have an interesting life. Okay, you gotta be authentic.
Speaker 2: You can't be fake. This ain't Bad Girls Club or
Speaker 2: sixty Days in So I don't need no fights, no
Speaker 2: punch is blown, none of that.
Speaker 1: This in what we do over here. Boo, don't try
Speaker 1: to be Nini Leaks.
Speaker 2: There's only one her baby and you other girls he
Speaker 2: tried to be her, y'all have failed miserably. Okay, don't
Speaker 2: try to be New York. Don't try to be Peter Thomas,
Speaker 2: don't try to be Stevie j Be yourself and the
Speaker 2: most important thing, Baby, don't blame the edit, because baby,
Speaker 2: we can only show what you give. Stay tuned as
Speaker 2: I answer more questions from you.
Speaker 1: This is just getting good, y'all.
Speaker 2: We'll be right back after this quick break. This is
Speaker 2: reality with the King, and I'm Carlos King. Let's get
Speaker 2: back into my listener Q and A. My next question
Speaker 2: is from at Garrett b DP Underscore. Dear Carlos, do
Speaker 2: you think some shows franchises can become too invested or
Speaker 2: on a particular rivalry between certain cast members that it
Speaker 2: begins belaboring the point That is a very very good question. Okay,
Speaker 2: let's go there. I think rivalries can start off being
Speaker 2: really good and interesting and iconic, and then after a
Speaker 2: season or two or three, or four or five, it
Speaker 2: becomes a little bit overbearing. So let me give you
Speaker 2: some examples to explore. One of the most iconic robberies
Speaker 2: to me in reality TV would be me Me versus Jocelyn.
Speaker 2: It was the first time that reality lovers saw this
Speaker 2: sort of like polyamhers' relationship. You know, you never saw
Speaker 2: like the boyfriend the girlfriend and the alleged side check.
Speaker 2: You just never saw that in terms of all together
Speaker 2: on the show where they're all the main cast members, right,
Speaker 2: you've never seen that. We were talking about some sister
Speaker 2: wives type shit on the first season of Love and
Speaker 2: Hip Hop Atlanta. So to see that beef fun fold
Speaker 2: quite naturally. Because Jocelyne was a stripper, Stevie J met
Speaker 2: her at the Strip club.
Speaker 1: He then wanted to manage her.
Speaker 2: Joscelyne was then his artist, became his whatever you wanna
Speaker 2: call him, mistress, sidekick, I don't listen.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to label people.
Speaker 2: And then mem Me was his girlfriend at the time,
Speaker 2: and it was just very messy, and their beef spawned
Speaker 2: four years and was started off as something very interesting
Speaker 2: because again we all heard the story of how the
Speaker 2: music industry is where managers sometimes leaps with the artists
Speaker 2: while their wife is at home. So we all knew that,
Speaker 2: but hanti to watch it was a whole different thing.
Speaker 1: So the mem Jocelyn beef became very interesting.
Speaker 2: And then I think at some point it became played
Speaker 2: out because you kind of saw everything, and at that
Speaker 2: point it was like, why are you two still beefing?
Speaker 1: Because Mimi, you moved on to another guy.
Speaker 2: And at this point, Stevie J is like Jocelyne's man,
Speaker 2: so why are you two still beefing? And that's why
Speaker 2: I appreciate it that I think it was season but
Speaker 2: five or six they became cordial. I even think at
Speaker 2: the reunion Jocelene performed, Stevie J was giving Ike Turner
Speaker 2: with the guitar in the background. Child Joscelene was giving
Speaker 2: her best Tina Turner Hernandez boo at this reunion performance,
Speaker 2: and then Mimi came and says something to the fact
Speaker 2: of like you're now part of my family, and they hugged,
Speaker 2: and at that time, I think we were all sort
Speaker 2: of relieved, like, Okay, this is now the in of
Speaker 2: the Memi versus Joscelyn saga.
Speaker 1: But girls, it continued.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I do think some beefs should expire sooner
Speaker 2: than later. I mean, look, I follow the reality, so
Speaker 2: you can't put an expiration day on someone's beef.
Speaker 1: But I think it's the point of trying to like
Speaker 1: move past it.
Speaker 2: A good example would be Kenya versus Phedra. Like again,
Speaker 2: started off very interesting, it was very funny. And that's
Speaker 2: why season seven, when the Girls went to the Philippines,
Speaker 2: I was very adamant that I no longer am interested
Speaker 2: and the audience is no longer interested in Kenya Versus Paedra.
Speaker 1: We've seen it.
Speaker 2: It was great on bored We got to show something different,
Speaker 2: and that's the reason.
Speaker 1: Why I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: On that cast trip, Phadrank Kenya having this reconciliation where
Speaker 2: there were tears involved and they hugged it out. And
Speaker 2: that's why season nine it was nice to see them
Speaker 2: be friends until all things went to when Kenya threw
Speaker 2: a divorce party and Fedra exited stage left to get
Speaker 2: some ginger ale.
Speaker 1: That damn Faed's funny at shit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so listen, that's a point in me stepping in, like, girl,
Speaker 2: I'm tired of this Kenya versus Phaedra.
Speaker 1: I'm bored.
Speaker 2: I was tired. You're Nani versus Kim for a long time.
Speaker 2: At some point it gets boring. The other example would
Speaker 2: be male versus Martel on Love and Marriage Hunts Bill.
Speaker 2: The difference with that is this, they started off on
Speaker 2: the show as a couple, a married couple.
Speaker 1: That's the difference.
Speaker 2: So the other beefs that I felt like lasted way
Speaker 2: too long.
Speaker 1: It was people who truly met on the show.
Speaker 2: So that's why it's kind of like, girlk it over
Speaker 2: it like this, ain't your real friends, ain't your sister y'all?
Speaker 2: At this point, coworkers get past the beefy because we're bored.
Speaker 2: That's hard to do when it's a married couple. So
Speaker 2: the mel of Martel saga obviously was the big story
Speaker 2: on Love and Marriage Huntsville, and we followed the reality
Speaker 2: because that's my formula.
Speaker 1: I don't script anything. I follow the reality.
Speaker 2: And the reality is they had tons of arguments about
Speaker 2: Martel stepping out and then Martell accusing Melo stepping out,
Speaker 2: so we followed it, and then the moment that got
Speaker 2: divorced is when the arguments escalated, and that's when I
Speaker 2: think the audience this past season was over Mela Martel
Speaker 2: constantly arguing. But the reality is, if you're going through divorce,
Speaker 2: that's really what happens in real life. And because they're
Speaker 2: on the show together, they're around each other more than.
Speaker 1: They probably would like to be. So that was the difference.
Speaker 2: But that's why on this season of Love and Marriage
Speaker 2: Huntsville we decided to step away from that. Melody in
Speaker 2: her real life was like me and Martell don't see
Speaker 2: each other.
Speaker 1: We email each other, we text each other.
Speaker 2: So that's the reality that we followed, and I was like, Okay,
Speaker 2: this is good because I think the audience is over
Speaker 2: Melody Martel constantly arguing, and because you get a break
Speaker 2: from that this season, I think you'll appreciate the dynamic
Speaker 2: more of, not just their relationship or lack thereof, but
Speaker 2: you appreciate the other dynamics you get to see, so
Speaker 2: to recap, Yes, there is sometimes and I'm guilty of
Speaker 2: this too, we do belabor the pettiness of a big
Speaker 2: beef and we sort of tell the same story every season.
Speaker 1: But that's why.
Speaker 2: One of the good things about Twitter is you get
Speaker 2: to listen to the audience who tells you, Carlos girl,
Speaker 2: I'm tired of this shit, I'm bored, I'm over it.
Speaker 1: Can we move on?
Speaker 2: And for my final question from at Camberly Liz, the
Speaker 2: question is the future of reality TV?
Speaker 1: What areas need to be better and completely removed from.
Speaker 2: The reality TV space. That's a very good question. I
Speaker 2: love that, Okay, I strongly believe people are over the
Speaker 2: violence that takes place in reality television. I'm saying that
Speaker 2: knowing that there's other shows out there that are hits,
Speaker 2: whether it's constant fighting. I do think that's a very
Speaker 2: marginalized audience who just liked it, you know, And it's
Speaker 2: no shade.
Speaker 1: If you like you like it, you love you love it?
Speaker 1: Who cares? Right?
Speaker 2: But I do think people are looking for more authentic storytelling,
Speaker 2: and when I say authentic, they care less about punches
Speaker 2: being thrown and more about conversations that are relatable that
Speaker 2: you could sink your teeth into.
Speaker 1: So the example would be love and marriage.
Speaker 2: Huntsville became a huge hit due to the fact that
Speaker 2: none of those cast members ever had a physical altercation, right,
Speaker 2: but you were able to see what real couples were
Speaker 2: going through Martella and melodies and fidelity storyline. You saw
Speaker 2: Titia Marceau navigating through his wife wanting to have a
Speaker 2: voice in her marriage. You saw Kimmy and Maurice dealing
Speaker 2: with the fact that you know, at a particular age,
Speaker 2: kim is getting married for the first time to a
Speaker 2: guy who's younger than she is, and from there they
Speaker 2: had to deal with the blending of their families.
Speaker 1: Real life stuff that people go through.
Speaker 2: And that was a conscious effort for me as I
Speaker 2: left Atlanta Housewives and wanted to explore more ways of
Speaker 2: telling stories dealing with people who look like me, but
Speaker 2: also just people who I felt wanted to see something different.
Speaker 2: And that's why when it comes to me, I have
Speaker 2: my own lane when it comes to the reality shows
Speaker 2: that I produce because I make it a point to
Speaker 2: really tell a different side of what black people may
Speaker 2: be going through, or women of color may be going through,
Speaker 2: or just people in general, because I strongly believe where
Speaker 2: the world is turning right now, people are demanding more
Speaker 2: authenticity and they're demanding more realness, and that's my place
Speaker 2: in the realities guys that I hold near and dear
Speaker 2: to me, And I appreciate that people are watching the
Speaker 2: shows that I'm producing because they get to see that
Speaker 2: because that's what they want to see, and that's honestly
Speaker 2: what's working. So when you look at these other shows,
Speaker 2: you know, there's shows right now that.
Speaker 1: People are petitioning.
Speaker 2: To get canceled, or you know, there's these big altercations
Speaker 2: that happens, and you get people are in hospital, bits
Speaker 2: child and people are like fistfighting and throwing punches. You know,
Speaker 2: I think that's going on to get very old, very soon,
Speaker 2: because it's such a one trick pony in terms of
Speaker 2: constantly seeing that if it happened once, okay, that's life, right.
Speaker 2: Every once in a while you may have a knock
Speaker 2: someone upside, the hit child, that's just life once in
Speaker 2: a while. But to have that be a staple every episode.
Speaker 2: I think people are not into that anymore, and I'm
Speaker 2: hopeful that my community a reality lovers and reality producers
Speaker 2: are just showing more diversity in the stories that we're telling,
Speaker 2: and that's what I think is the future of reality TV.
Speaker 2: I have some fun answering y'all shady questions. So look,
Speaker 2: if you want your question asked, do not forget to
Speaker 2: leave me a voicemail because on a future Q and
Speaker 2: A episode, I just my play it. Yeah, let's do
Speaker 2: it me boks opinions read Email me at Reality with
Speaker 2: the King at stitcher dot com or leave me a
Speaker 2: voicemail at three one oh five nine three eight one
Speaker 2: eight eight. Thank you for listening to Reality with the King.
Speaker 2: New episodes drop every Wednesday and Friday. Share, comment, follow,
Speaker 2: and subscribe to Reality with the King wherever you get
Speaker 2: your podcast, visit Realitywitheking dot com and be sure to
Speaker 2: follow me at the Carlos King Underscore on Instagram and Twitter.
Speaker 2: Reality with the King is a production of More Sauce
Speaker 2: by Stitcher. It is executive produced by Me, Carlos King,
Speaker 2: and Jasmine Henley Brown. We are also produced by Sierra Spradley,
Speaker 2: Rix engineering and music by Marcus Ham Moissauce