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In 2000 The Guenis Book of World Records was the shit. It had a big shiny cover, a picture of Dancing Baby, and a half page spread of Cindy Margolis in a purple bikini. She was holding down the record of "Most Downloaded Woman." Looking back on it I can almost picture the out of touch executive giving the order to cram the book full of that internet thing. At the time it wasn't hard to pick out the new hot thing, but the speed at which culture moves on the internet has been increasing exponentially. It seems impossible to me that anyone holding down a day job would have time to keep up with it, which makes me wonder if the creators of the hit show America's Next Top Model were really aware of what they were doing when they chose Allison Harvard to be on the show.
To a large population, Allison Harvard is known as Creepychan, and has been since around 2005 when her pictures were posted to an online image board. Because of her enormous eyes, and creepy photos she quickly developed a devout and obsessive following. Did someone at the CW know this? Is this why she was chosen? I seriously doubt it.
In the proud tradition of reality show web sites, a popularity poll was posted. Before any of the other contestants had broken triple digits, Creepychan was ahead by several thousand votes. Last I checked she had 96% of the vote, and it was rising. All this thanks to a massive push from people determined to prove their devotion. I would imagine that this has left the webmaster baffled, the producers jubilant, and instilled a deep feeling of insignificance in the other models.
It will be interesting to see how this season unfolds, which is exactly why people should take note of this. I hate the show, but will I be tuning in? Yes. Intentionally or not, this show has just connected with a rather sizable audience who would never have previously considered watching. Let's see if they tune in as well.
Do you really think the producers didn't know? I would have to say they did, and that that is probably why they picked her. I am not a reality TV watcher, but since all of my friends are, I do occasionally catch a glimpse of what is going on.
ReplyDeleteI think it's the same thing going on on American Idol. The weird girl, that laughs all the time. She is not on there to sin, but to get ratings. Just as this nosebleed girl is not only entertaining in her craziness, but also has a large following that would guarantee high ratings.
How could they have not know?
This is a good point, and I don't know. It seems to me though that they would have mentioned her internet celeb status if they had. It's something interesting about her that I would assume would come out in a one of the initial getting to know you interviews. As it is I think she has only been peripherally aware of her following. Either way, it was a brilliant move.
ReplyDeleteHmm rereading this though, and I think it's sort of meandering and pointless. Think I will edit this post. :/
RE: Potofgoldblog's comment--
ReplyDeleteI think it is rather unlikely that the producers or writers of "America's Next Top Model" had any idea that CreepyChan aka Allison Harvard had a following on the internet. It would have been one thing if the producers had cast the "Obama Girl" or another internet "sensation" that had actually gotten some mainstream media attention, but the fact is that CreepyChan has a VERY narrow following.
The website that she was popular on has thousands of posts a day -- and has had over 100 million posts since 2003. Even for regular visitors to that one particular site, there are countless posts, short-lived phenomena, and memes that live and die every day -- too many for any one person to keep track of. As Ryan alludes to in his post, the internet has grown exponentially in recent years.
With all this in mind, I find it hard to believe that the producers of "America's Next Top Model" would have intentionally selected a contestant because they knew she was somewhat popular on a relatively unknown web-based image board over three years ago. What seems much more likely is that it's just a coincidence.
However, I do agree with your assertion that the producers selected Allison because of her unique personality. She does say funny shit, and the producers know that having interesting and conflicting personalities on reality TV is what makes it (somewhat) gripping.
I tried to watch. Couldn't do it. Guess this probably won't help their ratings after all unless they take note of the following, and shift focus a bit. Something they won't do probably.
ReplyDelete"In 2000 The Guenis Book of World Records was the shit." You said it. We are moving incredibly fast and because of our speed, world records don't seem to impress us anymore. I think, and your post on nosebleed girl show us that, nothing has shock-value for Americans. We write everything off as funny.. send each other links, but whens the last time you were impressed with someone's accomplishments? I think everyone figures that someone in the world can top it.
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