Here’s something I wrote if anyone is interested:

The monetary value of celebrity in American society is without question. The Junie Browning situation is just one example of an individual grasping some level of stardom through unsavory means. He’s not famous for his skill as a fighter, but for being a volatile individual who put the well-being of his counterparts in peril numerous times while simultaneously doing some amount of harm to the sport in which he competes.

It’s my hope that Browning cleans up his act. Mir is correct in noting how absurd it is for a bad actor like Browning to overshadow the accomplishments of those that made it to the TUF 8 finals. The most worrisome aspect of this whole situation is that the UFC and Spike producers allowed Browning to continue on the show after he acted out numerous times. Maybe, 2009 will mark a change in The Ultimate Fighter recipe that encourages responsible behavior over shock value. One can only hope.

I agree with you to a degree.

I’m no big fan of reality television (in general, not just this particular one), and have certainly heard of some shocking (and at times downright disgusting) premises for these shows. But for every 5 shows that find new ways to scrape the barrel, there’s a genuinely good idea that is executed well. A show like the Amazing Race, is engaging, interesting and shows it’s participants in a great light. Big Brother was originally a social experiment, whereas now the producers of the show will go out of their way to make an ‘unrealistic’ environment with less normal, more newsworthy people. And I daresay something like that is at play here with the show – although in a much more limited capacity due to the nature of the shows principal theme).

I personally think that you have a situation where Spike execs are looking at how best to milk a reality show about MMA, rather than an MMA reality show, and as such are not allowing the positive side of the sport to sell itself. But then again, it is still a niche sport. It may not have the power to sell itself.

There is no better training for real life then ingesting someone’s bodily fluids.

Whatever garbage they can create to make the casual fans dish out money to keep the sport alive is fine with me, I don’t have to watch it if I don’t want to.

I do however feel bad that Mir had to go through that ordeal just to get a shot at the belt, when Lesnar just had to beat Herring. Even Nog had to fight Sylvia for the belt, just to fight Mir to fight for the belt again, insanity I say.

If you keep feeding the kids cotton candy, they’ll keep eating cotton candy until they’re sick of it, then you can feed them popsicles. Eventually they’ll fall off.

They could make this show nutritious if they wanted to, but it would require a little more thought and care. It’s way easier to get the kids drunk and then chase them around as they ham it up for the cameras.