Chic and Untroubled

“Supermodel on deck” was how the contestants were supposed to greet host/producer Gemase Simmons when the cameras were rolling on his model reality show — except he never had Tyson Beckford’s career. And his little show? Well, that wasn’t real either.

This weekend, I caught a cold, so I had the pleasure of staying in on Friday night to watch Chris Hansen’s special on Dateline called Reality Bites, which was about the 28-year-old con man known as Gemase Simmons and his years of deceit.

In short, the San Antonio resident lured young people via Myspace looking for a promising modeling career a la America’s Next Top Model by telling them they could win $50,000 and a possible modeling contract on his “show.”

And once the group of 10 made it to their modeling quarters, that’s when things really start going awry. Some of the major offenses committed by Gemase include:

1. Watching the girls and boys get bikini waxed.

2. Dishing out offensive remarks to the contestants when the cameras weren’t rolling.

3. He made one woman strip down to her under wear for a “cosmetic exam,” which included him touching her inappropriately.

4. He asked the male models if they were circumsized and attempted the have sex with them by telling the guys that they had to be “Protege” models i.e., sleeping with casting directors if they wanted to be male supermodels.

Yeah, it was pretty bad. And just how did he finally get caught? Well, Simmons didn’t pay for anything related to the show (food, housing, etc.) and the camera man kept the tapes for collateral and sent them to the good people of Dateline when he didn’t receive his payment.

And then Chris Hansen did what he does best: Exposed the pervert to the free world.

But what’s even more sad, though, is the fact that none of the contestants left after each one of the atrocities were perpetuated aganist them. When the one female contestant was sexually assaulted, the other girls consoled her and helped the victim call her boyfriend so he could pick her up, but they went right back to filming with Simmons.

And after the men were sent to Simmons bedroom and asked to have sex with him, they didn’t flee the premise either.

As a result, the contestants told Hansen that they’re self-esteems had been severely damaged because of this event and that they had given up on ever wanting to do modeling again.

I’m not sure if this had to do with their blinding naivity or the fact that they are used to seeing people doing crazy shit on reality TV and probably thought this was just the “norm,” but when did sexual assault ever make its way onto MTV, VH1, or Oxygen. How could no one have called 911 when that woman was assaulted?

Click here, to check out some highlights from the one-hour special.