Murtz’s Blog: Attending The Survivor, Real World Las Vegas, Celebrity Apprentice, Dancing With The Stars & American Idol Finales Live

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In the course of my life, and career I have attended over 1011 reality show premiere parties, charity events and show finales across the country, cementing my position as the world’s foremost reality television expert. There was Ethan Zohn’s charity soccer game in Pennsylvania, Reality 4 Diabetes in Ohio and TARcon in New York. There were the Apprentice and So You Think You Can Dance finales in Los Angeles and the Cocoa Beach Survivor event in Florida with hundreds in-between.

When I dedicated my life to the reporting of reality television, I pretty much have accomplished most of what I set out to do when I started in the industry. There was one glaring omission though and that was to attend every major reality television finale in the same calendar year.

While I have been to most reality finales at least once, I had never tried to attend them all in the same year and I hadn’t heard of anyone else who had either. I thought that this year would be the perfect year to attempt it. The decision was primarily prompted by Boston Rob getting another chance to compete on Survivor and then, in January when I began making preparations to make travel plans and to embark on the experience, the dates started to fall into place.

I knew that most of the finales would be in May and that they would be in the sweeps period when networks offer up their best material to draw in advertising money. Because Survivor and The Celebrity Apprentice were both produced by Mark Burnett Productions, I knew that they would be running on different Sundays in May which was both good and bad. The good news was that they would not be on the same day (May 15 and May 22 respectively). The bad news was that they would both be in New York which would require two separate trips to the city.

The next finales on the agenda were the American Idol and Dancing With The Stars closing episodes. These would both be in Los Angeles and when the seasons for both began, I was relieved because ABC was airing Dancing With The Stars on Mondays and Tuesdays, while FOX put Seacrest and company in their schedules on Wednesdays and Thursdays meaning there wouldn’t be a conflict… or so I thought. A few weeks before the winners were named on both shows, I learned that Idol had moved their performance finale episode to Tuesday May 24 which would mean that it would be taping at the same time as the Dancing With The Stars finale would be naming its winner in two completely separate areas. The Idol finale would be emanating from the Nokia Theater in downtown LA while DWTS would be taping in CBS’ Television City. It would be impossible to make it to both and a choice would have to be made.

May 13-16, 2011

When the time came for the first finales which was the Real World Vegas reunion taping followed by Survivor in New York City on May 15, I was relaxed. I had attended it before so I knew what was going on.

The best part was that even before I officially got started on the trip, I met up with former Amazing Race contestant and current Playboy Playmate Jaime Edmondson at the airport!


Murtz With Amazing Racer & Playboy Playmate Jaime Edmondson

She was leaving the city and I was just getting to it. From an organizational standpoint, I had taken care of the arrangements for the pre-parties prior the finale and it was a relatively smooth trip. Really, the only anxiety that I had was whether Rob Mariano would be able to finally redeem himself and win the $1 million prize. He did and in so doing, the first finale of 2011 was off my list.

The festivities started on Friday with a small get-together where some of the Survivor Redemption Island castaways showed up. Most arrived on Saturday, so Friday was just a little bit more low-key.

On Saturday, practically everyone at the pre-finale party. Here’s a group pic thanks to Survivor Vanuatu/Micronesia castmember Eliza Orlins since mine conked out.


Old Survivors meet new ones


Murtz With Survivor Finalists Ashley Underwood & Natalie Tenerelli

The finale itself was fun, and I preceded it by attending the Real World Las Vegas reunion which was taping in New York on the same day as the Survivor finale. Luckily, RW was in the afternoon, so I was able to see both.

May 21-23, 2011


Murtz At The Celebrity Apprentice Finale

I returned to New York five days later for The Celebrity Apprentice. After a great dinner with Ashley Spivey from last season’s Bachelor, it was time to get set for Trump and company.

This finale was going to take place at the Skirball Center in New York City with the red carpet and after-party being situated at the luxurious Trump Soho. The Trump shows and finales are synonymous with being the most well-organized and efficiently-run (I have been to almost all of them) and this one was no different. One of the best parts about the Apprentice finales is how interactive it is with the sound of the live audience being streamed into the playing of the final episode. The opening was particularly strong with Donald Trump walking outside of the Skirball Center with a red carpet being rolled out directly in front of him but then stopping short before he arrived at the door, forcing him to comically fire the two who had done the rolling. It was hilarious and set the perfect tone for what I professionally believe was the best reality show of all-time. In an ironic note, sitting beside me on my left was Heidi and Spencer’s therapist from The Hills, who is married to The Celebrity Apprentice‘s voiceover guy. And sitting to my right? More on that in a sec.

When the live show ended, I bolted out of the place like a *insert obligatory Meat Loaf reference here* Bat Out Of Hell and flagged down a cab to get to the Trump Soho before the red carpet started.

I met my videographer on-site and then it was time to begin. I managed to catch up with Hope Dworaczyk, Lil Jon, LaToya Jackson, and Niki Taylor on the carpet. My old friend Donald Trump Jr. also stopped by to chat and I also got to fire off a question to his dad. The runner-up from Season 1, Trace Adkins, was my favorite interview of the night as he talked about me being a “chick-magnet” with my hat. I thought that NeNe Leakes and Marlee Matlin were the most open but my favorite interview was definitely the night’s big winner John Rich. Turns out that I was sitting next to his publicist for the entire show and didn’t know it and what makes the story even better is that I couldn’t figure out why she left in such a hurry after Trump said that John Rich had won. All made sense now. What I especially appreciated about John Rich was how well-spoken he was and how he genuinely cared about St. Jude Children’s Hospital which clearly meant more to him than the victory.

After making a brief cameo at the post-finale party, it was time for things to get crazy. It was 2 am as I headed back to pack up and my ride to the airport was arriving at 5:30 AM to take me from New York City to LAX. Just as I got back into the apartment that I was staying at, I received a text from a friend of mine at Dancing With The Stars. After months of trying to get in touch with the show to help me achieve my goal of attending every reality show finale in one calendar year, one of my friends had come through and had procured me a chance to check out the Dancing With The Stars performance finale show. The thing is, my attendance was contingent on my flight from New York arriving on time.

I boarded the flight on Monday May 22nd and arrived in LA at 12:25 PM. I rushed over to my hotel (the lovely Renaissance Hollywood), and quickly changed into my purple suit. I was at CBS Television City by 2:30 PM as a couple of the performances were being pre-taped for the night’s big finale the next day.

The show itself was something to see. While I had been to Dancing With The Stars performance episodes before, the finale is one of the toughest events to secure access to, not only because the venue is so intimate but also because there were so many of Hines Ward’s Steeler teammates in attendance! In addition, while most live shows don’t really have a dress code, there is a strict one in place at DWTS which restricts wearing jeans and t-shirts. This definitely translates on television and makes it a classier show. Gotta keep the riff-raff out!

For the show itself, I personally thought that Kirstie Alley deserved to win. I thought she was the most charismatic and shown dramatic marked improvement from when she started. In her final competitive dance, she even managed to pull off lifts with her partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy! It was surreal. Seeing the freestyle performance live was also something that I will never forget. While the ballroom dances exhibit a lot of technique on television, the freestyle is where you can finally see how much natural talent the finalists have both in their footwork and in how much they believe in the professional partner’s choreography. I loved Mark and Chelsea Kane’s free-spirited and illuminating routine and while I didn’t think Hines and Kym’s Drumline dance should have received the high-praise that it did, it was definitely decent. It was truly a spectacle to see. The other point to note was how jetlagged I was. I was in New York just a few hours early and this leg of the ultimate reality roadtrip was definitely the most taxing.

May 24, 2011

There’s no rest for the wicked.

After an early morning interview with Actors E, it was now time to head downtown to the Nokia Theater for the American Idol finale. Upon arriving at LA Live, the first thing I noticed was the enormous media set-up. About 30-40 FOX affiliate stations were busy setting up on the red carpet in preparation for the post-show interviews. The atmosphere around the venue could be best be described as an electric euphoria and despite the fact that Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina were puppies and ice cream country singers, most of the connected audience seemed geared up for a rock concert.

Because phones and cameras had to be checked-in prior to the show starting, I wasn’t aware of the news that Lauren had strained her voice during rehearsal so when Ryan Seacrest opened the show by asking if she was alright, I thought it might be curtains for Steven Tyler’s poster child. Any doubts that I had, however, were erased almost as soon as she started singing as I could notice no real change in her voice. When I heard Seacrest say that Scotty had won the coin toss but allowed Lauren to go last, I thought it was an irrevocable error in judgment as I remember reading an article once about how often the singer in the last position has gone on to win.

In any event, it certainly was a low-key Idol performance finale without the David Cook’s and Adam Lambert’s of yesteryear. The songs chosen were all pretty safe and when Lauren started serenading her mother, I thought it was a done deal and that we would finally have our first female Idol since Jordin Sparks.

Before I called it a night, I helped Survivor Samoa‘s Monica Padilla with a grocery shopping excursion (although I am not sure how much help I actually was considering most of my grocery shopping consists of calling for delivery) and then I dragged her to Hooters of Hollywood with me to see some old friends.

May 25, 2011


Murtz At American Idol Finale

The big day.

It was finally time for American Idol‘s 10th winner to be named. While I was certainly curious to see who would be the latest teen sensation, I would be lying if I didn’t say that I was more excited to witness the guest performers on the final episode.

With or without Simon Cowell, I knew that the #1 show in America would not deviate from what had brought it to the dance for its finale. Big names with bigger performances.

The show didn’t disappoint and was even more than I thought it would be.

Scotty performed with Tim McGraw. Lauren sang with Carrie Underwood. James Durbin rocking out with Judas Priest. Steven Tyler Beyonce performed twice. Lady Gaga stole the show with her over-the-edge rendition of “On The Edge Of Glory.” Jack Black made Casey Abrams seem normal. And then after warning the audience to ‘stay out of the aisles because of the flying Spider-Man’ (which I initially thought was a joke), Bono and the Edge from U2 came out to perform a track called “Rise Above 1″ from their Broadway play about the webbed comic book hero.

For all the reality premieres and finales that I have seen, for all the concerts that I have both attended and covered, this was quite simply the best show and final episode that I have ever witnessed. When Ryan Seacrest had announced that 122 million votes had declared Scotty McCreery the winner of American Idol, it was an undoubtedly momentous occasion for him. At the same time, being there to witness it was the most defining moment of my career.

May 26, 2011

On what was supposed to be the first of my two free days in Hollywood, I got a last minute phone call from my pal Lauren Gottlieb from So You Think You Can Dance. While we were initially going to go and check out The Hangover 2, Lauren informed me that there was a last-minute change in plans and there was going to be a viewing party for the So You Think You Can Dance premiere. Ironically enough, I knew the bar where the party was taking place quite well as my friend from Big Brother, Keesha Smith was a manager there although she wasn’t there on this night as she is getting married in Hawaii.

The premiere party itself was awesome. In addition to Lauren, there were a few So You Think You Can Dance alumni in attendance including Neil Haskell, Chelsie Hightower and amazingly, Mary Murphy herself was there.

I couldn’t believe it, I was watching the first episode with the Hot Tamale Train conductor herself!

It was also refreshing to see the first episode of a show as I had been exposed to so many finales over the last couple of weeks.


Murtz & Rachel and Nancee At Saddle Ranch

After the show, I headed over to Saddle Ranch (home of VH1’s newest reality show) to hang out with some of the cast including Rachel Lay and Nancee Bingenheimer. I met them a couple of months ago at their premiere party.

May 27, 2011


Murtz & Daisy De La Hoya

Before my flight home, it was time for a quick stop at the Grove to meet up with Daisy De La Hoya (from Daisy of Love) for lunch. When she asked what I was doing, I told her that I was in the process of setting a world record for attending the most reality show finales in one calendar year. She didn’t seem surprised and by this point, neither was I.

So there it is. Eight days. Two Cities. 5 Finales. 1 Premiere Party.

I am not sure where else there is to go for the world’s foremost reality television expert. What I do know is that this was undoubtedly the most memorable, exhausting, informative, exhilarating, and yes, greatest trip that I have ever taken. While the shows are all so different, it really is something to see the amount of people that work on each and how easy the experienced crews make producing live television look. It is almost effortless.

Reality television has allowed me to see many things and learn many lessons. This time it gave me the greatest gift that I have ever received. The ability to be at the Real World Las Vegas, Survivor, Celebrity Apprentice, Dancing With The Stars and American Idol finales.

This could not have been possible without help from many of my friends, associates and colleagues. I’d like to thank Amanda, Tamika, Shadow, Jay, Sarah, Lauren, Jeanette, Sharon, Anna, Sean, Chloe, Stephanie, Jennifer, Diana, and the Renaissance Hollywood.

Don’t forget to check out The Real World on MTV, The Celebrity Apprentice on NBC, American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance on CTV and FOX.

Murtz Jaffer is the world's foremost reality television expert and was the host of Reality Obsessed which aired on the TVTropolis and Global Reality Channels in Canada. He has professional writing experience at the Toronto Sun, National Post, TV Guide Canada, TOROMagazine.com and was a former producer at Entertainment Tonight Canada. He was also the editor at Weekendtrips.com.