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Every time Joe Mangold went into his local shop or local café or walked down his street, he looked at other people carefully. He wanted to see if people were looking at him. He wanted to see if anyone recognised him.
Nowadays, Joe was always sad that the woman in the shop never looked at him, and the waiter in the café only nodded hello to him. It was the same everywhere Joe went Some people said hello to him, but in a way that was entirely normal. Sometimes, when Joe went into a supermarket or was walking along the main street of the city where he lived, people did look at him twice, or they looked at him as if they recognised him. But then they always looked away. Nobody stopped him on the street anymore, nobody offered to buy him a drink, and nobody now ever asked for his autograph, and nobody ever stopped and asked if they could take a photograph with him.
Joe was in a strange situation. Two years ago, everybody stopped Joe on the street. Two years ago, it had been impossible for him to go more than a few steps before somebody stopped him and asked if it was really him, and then they wanted an autograph or a photo. When he went into his shop, the woman was always very friendly. When he went into a supermarket, he saw people stopping to point at him.
“Is it really him?” they asked, and Joe always stopped and said,
“Yes, it’s really me.”
Not anymore. Now, Joe Mangold was ex-famous, a former celebrity, somebody who used to be well-known, but no longer was.
A lot had changed in two years. Two years ago his picture was in lots of newspapers and magazines. He wrote a book telling his life story. He apeared on chat shows and quiz shows and radio phone-ins. Even though Joe was not particularly thin or healthy, he made a DVD showing people how to follow his diet and fitness programme. It didn’t matter – Joe was famous, so anything with his name on it was successful. Two years ago, Joe Mangold wasn’t just Joe Mangold, the regular, normal person he was today.
Two years ago, Joe Mangold was “Joe from HouseMates”.
“HouseMates” was one of the most successful reality tv shows of all time. Millions and millions of people watched “HouseMates”. Joe had been in the famous house, with all the other people. Millions and millions of people watched Joe every morning when he woke up, every day when he ate and chatted with the other people in the house, and even every night when he was asleep. It was true that Joe was the first person to leave the house on HouseMates. He was voted out when lots of people telephoned in to say that he should leave the house. It didn’t matter; Joe wasn’t disappointed. To tell the truth, he didn’t like being in the HouseMates house much anyway. He didn’t like being watched all the time. He didn’t like the other people who were in the house very much. But because he was the first person out of the HouseMates house, he had more time to enjoy being famous. He made appearances at night clubs, he opened new supermarkets and other celebrities invited him to their parties.
To tell the truth, Joe didn’t like all this much either. He liked being famous, but he didn’t like being stopped every five minutes, he didn’t like not being able to walk down the street without people pointing at him and shouting at him. He liked to be called “Joe Mangold” and not “Joe from HouseMates”, which seemed to be his new name.
However, being famous was much better than being ex-famous. Now he was no-one. He thought about doing something else with his life, but the truth was Joe had never been very good at anything. He had had a few jobs, but was never successful at anything. “HouseMates” had been the only success in his life.
He wondered what was worse: being famous or not being famous. Both, he thought, were better than being ex-famous. Now he was nobody.
Being ex-famous was a strange life. Nobody wanted Joe anymore to visit their nightclubs or open their supermarkets Sometimes he saw his DVD in the bargain bins and his book in second-hand shops. In the café that morning he sat down as usual with a cup of coffee. Nobody said hello to him. Then he noticed that someone was looking at him. It had been such a long time since anyone had looked at him in that way.
The woman came up to him.
“Excuse me...I hope you don’t mind me asking...”
“Not at all...”
“Did you used to be Joe from HouseMates?”
“Erm...yes..actually, I still am Joe...but now I’m usually just called Joe Mangold...”
“Wow! What a surprise! Joe from HouseMates! Incredible!” The woman smiled and looked around her as if she couldn’t believe that she was the only person to recognise Joe from HouseMates. “What are you doing now?”
“Well, erm, nothing much really...”
“What a shame!” she said. “I thought you were so talented...”
“Thanks” Joe felt embarrassed. He thought this woman might be mad.
“Listen,” she continued. “This really is a coincidence meeting you here.”
“Why?” asked Joe.
“I work for a tv production company, and we’ve just had a brilliant idea.”
“Oh yeah. What’s that?”
“We’re going to do a reality tv show...”
“There’s nothing amazing about that...” said Joe.
“No, but this one will be different.”
“Why?”
“This reality show uses people who have all been on reality shows in the past...and puts them all together in a big house!!!”
“Oh...” said Joe. “What an interesting idea. I’m not sure that really I’m...”
“You’ll be great in it!” said the woman. “It’s called Ex-Famous!”
“Thanks,” said Joe. “But, to tell the truth, I’d prefer just not to be famous at all, thanks...”
THE END
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What do you think of this story? Why do people appear on reality shows? Would you like to be famous? Send us your texts.
Tiziana writes “So, about Joe’s story, I think there are a lot of people who aren’t satisfied or happy with their everyday life. So they try to show themselves on TV, thinking it could be a good way to be happier than before. So, on TV, we can watch men or women who show their lives, their thoughts, to become famous! But, Joe’s story teaches us that this celebrity has a short life. And it is all very sad! I wouldn’t like be on a show, I look for the satisfaction in everyday life, with my family, my dear friends, and my pets!”
Marilú writes “I would like to be famous but really famous. Be a person that had gained the fame for doing something valuable and important. Not the fame of reality shows nor TV programs but the fame gained with effort and talent.”
Pilar writes “I think this story is real. People appear on reality shows to win money, to be famous and after this TV program they can continue earning money without any effort. I think is very easy to go on a TV show and become a little famous but the difficulty is to keep being famous and be able to live from it. Here in Spain there are many types of program like the one that appears in this text and there are many people that go on this kind of programs but this is a very ephemeral fame because the most part of these contestants went back to their normal lives in a few months.”
Kamiseta writes “People appear on reality shows because it make him/her more famous and people who are already famous appear because the audience likes seeing his/her daily activity. I would like to be famous so that everybody would look at me and my picture would be displayed everywhere.”
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Fiza writes “Being famous would be a great opportunity for me. People prefer the famous ones to the not well known. would like to be famous because so many people would know me. And I ‘d get photographed and my face would be exposed on the front page of magazines or newspapers. We would also be adored by most people out there.”
Amna writes “I think it’s a really nice story but I don’t think fame is the important thing -the more important thing is being successful in life. Not every successful person is famous - fame comes for a reason and behind that reason is being successful.”
Uchenna writes “The story is indeed a very interesting one. It brings to light what happens to quiet a number of celebrities at the end of a reality show. For me, I think most people go for prizes or big awards. In fact, to some, no cash no appearance. I would not like to appear in such a program for fame.”
Mohamed writes “It's a very wonderful story .It says that being famous isn't everything in life and if we are famous we shouldn't rely on that and we should work hard to save our name. Most of the people who appear on reality shows want to be famous and to be rich so they go for the money and not basically for the purpose of the show. I would like to be famous but I could take the responsibility.”
Valérie writes “I think this story might be the story of several people having participated in reality shows. However, I am not sure that most of then would react like Joe in the story if you proposed to them another participation on that kind of show. I think for most people who have known celebrity they want to know it again, as long as they can. Furthermore, I suppose that it is an easy way to earn money so it would be difficult to say no to such a proposition.”
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Mehran writes “By reading this story you can find out how bad is the world we're living in! Where people like to use each other to accumulate more money either through advertising themselves on TV or by other means. The ability of people to forget everything is really amazing! In fact most of us are attracted by appearances. Nearly everyone likes to be praised. No-one like to be criticized! In this story Joe eventually understands that the true meaning of life is something else. He dislikes being more famous since it brings him plenty of headaches. Some people like to exhibit themselves on reality shows just to tell others that the true meaning of life is something else. Most of us don’t like to confront reality. This is a good choice to proudly show others that we're different! Nobody can pretend to be the best. I wouldn’t like to be famous. I’d prefer to have a life of good fortune for my family members. Being famous means less when you 're suffering from a bad disease or when you're watching others’ difficulties.”
A Issa writes “Well, it is interesting to be famous in your career, I mean to be a famous doctor, a famous engineer and such things, but to some extent it is annoying to be a Famous Star because it will cost you your privacy!”
Carlos writes “The last job I had was with my cousin and because of his ego, because of his obsession to be famous more than anything else we lost our opportunity to increase our company. This problem some times is so bad that the people lose their way.”
Silvio writes “I would like to be famous maybe for a time, one year of my life, because meanwhile I could get to know many people, places and earn a lot of money. After this I would go back to my normal life.”
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Marco writes “This is a simple, but emblematic story on the effects of having been a celebrity. It's difficult to answer the second question. Why do people appear on reality shows? Everyone has probably his own reasons: the pursuit of celebrity, search of wealth, vanity... No, it's better to be nobody than to be famous.”
Giang writes “This story is about John, who used to be a famous character on a reality show. But now, everything has changed and no-one can recognise him on the street or even in the local shop. That's really a shock to him. Being famous for a long time and now being nothing. Just imagine one day you become a famous star: everybody is around you, ask for your autograph, yelling out your name, and praise you to the skies. That's truly a happy life you dreamt of. How about stepping down from the celebrity world? It's so terrible. No-one knows who you are anymore (even a name). They don't want to watch your movie, hang your pix on the wall or follow your life on the news as before. And you feel so lonely and are depressed. Britney Spears is a good example, past her Golden age, she is now just a normal mom with two lovely children. But she is still lonely with no best friend to share her thoughts, sadness. Then, her choice is going back to the celebrity world with fans, over-night parties, scandals and not being a good mom. How sad. I'm a normal girl in a normal world. I hold my future in my hands to catch the coming opportunities. I feel pleased with my life. I never want to be famous.”
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