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V reality shows just can't get any scarier. We have witnessed everything from the competitive American Idol to courageous Survivor to the contemporary Adam's family daily freak show that is The Osbournes; from Brit and Kfed's chaotic-ally disturbed newlywed shame to the rural American adventures of Miss Hilton and Miss Ritchie, who seem determined to annoy local cows and chickens. Before we realized how the first few productions were our reality TV entertainment took on a more ludicrous trend.

I've tried to make a list of the shows I've watched, but it never seems to come to an end. They cover all fields: music, movies, fashion, modeling, dance, interior design, cooking, adventure, sports, pets, medicine, teenagers, family, love and relationships and even spirituality and ghosts! Most of the shows participants seem to have no problem flaunting their shallowness and selfishness to a wide audience. Has reality TV become a medium to facilitate the promotion of henceforth unknown people and placate their vanity? To launch them to stardom in a period of weeks at the same time teach us how to be vainer?

Trying to pin down who is more superficial, the characters on or viewers of TV reality show, is like questioning what came first the chicken or the egg? On the one hand, these kinds of shows give the chance for nobody to become *somebody' and on the other it gives us the viewer the inspiration to indulge our narcissism and apply our *hidden skills' to our daily life.

Many of the reality shows airing around the world today are based on and emphasize fashion and style. As one of reality TV show's most avid viewers, I learned from America's Next Top Model how to pull fierce poses for photographs and the importance of applying a sense of artistic flare to digital photo retouching - good for my line of work! From Project Runway I learned how to deliver challenging fashion projects in motivating ways to my students. From I've Got Nothing to Wear I was given ideas on how to recycle old clothes into modified new ones. And from Stylista I nodded along as I watched how competitive it is for fashion apprentices to prepare an editorial page.

Me and my boyfriend are reality show fanatics; when we're not watching them, we spent a great deal of time talking about them, snooping at what's behind the scenes and trying to find out what's on next weeks shows. If we can't watch the latest reality show on our TV, we download it from the internet. Those I mentioned above are our favorites so far - sounds like a very resourceful way to give our fashionistas positive inspiration, right? I have also noticed many advertisements here taking inspiration from these shows.

But evolutionally speaking, reality shows that relate to lifestyles have morphed into such unbelievably nonsense lately! It began to get weird with The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, which shows nothing more than the psychotic daily, hysterical outbursts of the self promoted *first supermodel,' Janice Dickinson, shouting at and insulting her model wannabes. Then Vanity Lair, where young contestants compete on *gorgeousness' and get eliminated when it is decided that they are less attractive than the others, came along.

And then there's True Beauty, a show that set out to find *true beauty from the inside,' which totally makes me want to throw a bucket of puke when I watch it. Vanessa Minnillo, a former miss teen USA (1998), who had only been known from dating Jessica Simpson's ex husband and starring in a couple of parody B movies, hosts the show together with judges Cheryl Tiegs -a *has been' model from the 70's that looks like nothing more than a peroxide blonde blow-up stick figured doll with extra lip gloss- and Nole Marin -a celebrity stylist- who just nods to whatever the hosts say. Together they spy on a group of beauty pageant contestants by using hidden camera to find out which one has the most inner beauty - puh-leees.!

It is sad actually, to capture fashion, beauty, and style as such superficial commodities. But amazingly, there is actually market of plenty of people wanting participate in these kind of bizarre shows. As long as it's going to grab viewer's attention, it's totally a win-win situation for both narcissists, who want to appear in public eye, and for the media, who make money off them.

Love it or loathe it, we become addicted to watching other people's dramas, fabulousness and, most importantly, stupidity. It's like gossip in the open air. Even when my circle of friends or colleagues doesn't feel like talking about our overdue credit card bills from impulsive shopping, often discuss what's so awkward and funny, or who was eliminated from last night reality show. It's human nature somehow, to give all ears to other peoples' failures. Are we obsessed or what? Oh wait, does this sort of mania only apply to us fashionistas? Oh my God, are we really that superficial? Or are we the ones that make the world surrounding style so comical, but oddly fascinating?