Ellen Gray: Many reality stars are retreads

HONK IF you'd never heard of VH1's now-canceled "Megan Wants a Millionaire" before one of its contestants became a suspect in the death of his ex-wife.

Really, it's OK.

I hadn't, either.

There's a lot of "reality" programming out there and the reality is that anyone who manages to keep track of it all is probably missing something better.

Like a life.

Still, I wasn't surprised when I read that Ryan Jenkins - who before apparently hanging himself in a Canadian hotel room was charged in the mutilation death of his former wife, Jasmine Fiore - had participated in a second, now-canceled VH1 show, "I Love Money 3."

OK, I was surprised about the "3," having somehow missed two editions of that classic.

But in the nine years since CBS' "Survivor" made an unlikely star of an inappropriately naked guy named Richard Hatch - who's since had his own less serious legal troubles - we've become accustomed to people who refuse to leave fame behind when their 15 minutes are up.

And as the New York Times noted last week, contestants on VH1's shows tend to be recycled.

Even Megan Hauserman, the "Megan" of "Millionaire," "had appeared on three previous programs on the channel, each of them produced by 51 Minds," which also produced "I Love Money 3," for which the Times said Jenkins had picked up an "honorarium" of $5,200 two days before Fiore was found dead.

Jenkins, reportedly wealthy before he ever landed on television, probably didn't need the cash.

But for those for whom the love of money and the love of fame go hand and hand, the loudmouth formerly known as Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth - now just Omarosa - recently offered some life lessons.

In a Pasadena, Calif., press session for TV One, where she'll appear in a show about turning points called "Life After," the two-time "Apprentice" contestant, now reportedly studying for the ministry, was asked about her participation in what she described as "20-plus reality shows."

Before "The Apprentice," "I was working in the White House [for then-Vice President Al Gore], $56,000 a year, 18-hour days, didn't see my family," she said.

"I come out to L.A. and do a reality show for $100,000 and we shoot for 12 days. Why wouldn't I do it?"

Not that her first gig paid that well.

"My first show with ['Apprentice' producer] Mark Burnett, I signed blindly, and you all know what that entails.

"But follow-ups, 'Surreal Life,' $75,000, eight, nine days' taping. Really, I love the government, but seriously, reality TV is so much more economically satisfying.

"So when you ask why, [the answer is] I'll work for six weeks, and then I'll let you all write about it for the rest of the year," she said.

Seminary aside, there are those - including her "Surreal Life" housemate Janice Dickinson - who might describe Omarosa's mouth as a lethal weapon. But what she has in common with Jenkins, whose actions have led to the usual hand-wringing about background checks, isn't likely to get anyone killed.

Which doesn't mean "reality" producers shouldn't be losing a little sleep over the Jenkins case.

Cast for conflict, cast for crazy, cast for lack of impulse control and sooner or later, it's not just feelings that get hurt. *

Send e-mail to graye@phillynews.com.