Temptation Island #2: Reality Hair Meets Reality TV

Introduction

Everything you may have heard about me is true. I am a major fun-o-workaholic (a person who has fun working) that wanders barefoot through the darkened halls of my 13,000 square foot office complex at the wee hours of the morning thinking up wild and crazy articles (like this one) to take the boring edge off the everyday hair news. I must be on to something because HairBoutique.com is "the most copied hair site" on the web, according to the press.

You can bet that if a new column or article about reality TV hair, food stuffs you put on your hair, purple haired celebrities or hair and Saturn pops out of my brain onto these pages, an imitation will soon show up on a neighboring hair site. What is it that they say that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". But I digress.

My Reality TV Shame

Don't ask me how it happened. I still don't know. Somehow in a moment of insanity I got hooked on the reality TV show, Temptation Island #1 (Ti1) set on Belize and aired in the Spring of 2001.

Maybe it was Mandy's bright orange waist length hair, her bizarre braided head sculptures or Billy's total lack of locks that grabbed my attention. It could also have been the chronically sweaty limp locks of beautiful Shannon, or the brittle strands of the single temptresses. Or maybe I felt bad that all those beauties were probably damaging their hair in the sun and surf.

I know that I cringed when I saw all the reality TV inspired "bad hair appearances" that went on through seven excruciating "tearjerker" episodes based on trying to entice four committed couples to break up and flee with eligible singles.

I admit it, I am a sucker for hair in odd situations. I ask you though, what could be more bizarre than voluntarily being isolated on a island and appearing on television with chronic lazy hair?

Sans Hairstylists

The press actually did a brief exposure of the Ti1 hair and the official word from the producers was that "only the host Mark Walberg" had access to a professional hairstylist. Well duh! No shocker there.

What was more compelling was trying to figure out whether the couples on the show even cared about their bad hair woes delivered by endless hours of surf, sand and lock tugging hotties.

Other hair happening questions flooded my brain. Did Mandy really braid and twist her hair all by her lonesome? The show swore that Mandy went sans stylist the entire time. But did one of the other girls take pity on her and help her achieve the "best hair" on the show, other than the well coiffed Walberg? Will we ever know?

Hair Life After The Island

The follow-up show to Ti1 was aired just this week and "never before seen footage" of the three primary couples was aired. Part of the show included interviews with the six Ti2 men and women to hear how their lives had been impacted.

WOW. What a difference civilization makes! All three of the original Ti1 women had dramatically different dos from their beachcombing reality days. The muddy haired, unhappy Valerie, was gorgeous in a new shade of soft butterscotch blonde. The sweaty blonde locks of the pretty blonde Shannon were transformed into a shiny blonde newly razored bob that set off her pretty face. Only the orange babe's hair didn't fare well. The bright and shiny Mandy has morphed into a dull black Vampira look that drains the color from her face. I was disappointed to note that not only did the new color detract from her beauty, it seemed to leave her hair damaged and frizzy.

The Ti1 men's coifs didn't change much except for Billy who went from no hair to a full head of hair. Like his former love Mandy, Billy's hair looked much better on the show with a super shaved look. His full head of newly grown hair detracted from his hot masculine appeal from the show. Note to Billy, bald is beautiful on you.

Meanwhile, back at the production booth, host Mark Walberg continued to have every hair in place. One of the bennies of a stylist at your beck and call.

Temptation Island 2

Well you know what happens on TV or in the movies when an unexpected hit happens. There is always a sequel. So as you may have guessed, Temptation Island is baaaaacccckkk with four new couples, a longer stay on the island and a bunch of new singles.

The new couples include Thomas and Nikkole, Catherine and Edmundo, John and beautiful blonde Shannon and the aggressive Genevieve and her mild mannered super cutie, Tony.

Nikkole seems to have the right bad hair survival style. She wears here long, thick, dark super curly hair in thick pigtail braids. What a great way to get through the long days of flirting and partying on the beach. Only the future will tell how her hair holds up to the challenges. At the present Nikkole wins my pick as "best hair" for the couples on Ti2.

Even though Shannon is prettier overall, her hair is already starting to fray into just the second episode. Sparkly blonde Shannon has already reverted to messy ponytails that seem to be a fair compromise for her thick blonde hair.

Catherine appears to have baby fine hair that probably will survive well pulled back into little ponytails. She has a classic elegance that seems to transcend the potential for awful beach hair.

Genevieve also appears to have less hair to tangle with than Shannon or Nikkole and she may or may not survive with her medium length do coiled behind her ears. Maybe one of the ladies has a miracle blow-drying/curling iron stashed in her bungalow. Only time will tell. Believe me, I will be watching each hair event on every episode to appear. I know it is a tough job, but hey, someone has to monitor for bad hair appearances.

Two of the eligible single men with great hair have already been booted off the island. Day one saw the studly Brian with thick shiny locks headed back to civilization. Well coifed hunky Oscar was kicked off second.

As far as the rest of the men go, I will force myself to suffer through the agonies of studying their styles on an episode by episode basis.

My hope for the rest of the cast and crew is that they packed lots of PhytoPlage sun screen in their luggage, snuck some mini-blowdryers and after-sun conditioning gems into their rooms and can survive the hair horrors of hot steamy days on a tropical paradise.

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