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    Karen Huger, ‘Real Housewives’ Star, Gets 2-Year Sentence for D.U.I.

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    Ms. Huger, a fixture on the Potomac franchise for nine years, will most likely serve one year of the prison sentence.Karen Huger, an original cast member of “The Real Housewives of Potomac,” was sentenced to two years in prison on Wednesday for driving under the influence of alcohol and other driving violations, capping a twisting tale that put her sobriety and recovery at the center of the reality television show.One year of the sentence was suspended, meaning Ms. Huger will most likely serve one year in prison. She was also fined $2,900.Under the terms of her sentencing, Ms. Huger will not be allowed to drive for a year after her release and will receive five years of supervised probation with interlock — a miniature breathalyzer device that prevents a vehicle’s engine from starting unless the person behind the wheel is sober enough to drive.Ms. Huger was found guilty by a jury in December of driving under the influence of alcohol, driving while impaired by alcohol, negligent driving, failure to control speed to avoid a collision, and failure to notify the authorities of an address change. She was acquitted of reckless driving.She was arrested in March 2024 in Potomac, Md., an affluent community more than 10 miles northwest of Washington, after driving onto the center median, striking a pedestrian sign and then crashing into a grassy area on the side of the road.Body camera footage of the arrest showed Ms. Huger refusing to produce her driver’s license and repeatedly asking a police officer, “Do you know who I am?” Ms. Huger, whose speech was slurred, also said she had consumed a couple of beers and was run off the road by another driver.The reality star’s arrest and subsequent court appearances became a central story line in the most recent season of “The Real Housewives of Potomac.” Cameras followed Ms. Huger as she met with lawyers and made her first court appearance, but she did not discuss the details of the case on camera.Alcohol is regularly consumed at social events and small gatherings on the show, but Ms. Huger, who is known informally as the Grande Dame of Potomac, was not filmed drinking this season. However, she entered a treatment facility in January for “taking antidepressants and drinking,” according to a short video message that was played for her castmates.Ms. Huger had three previous alcohol-related offenses. Most recently, she was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol in Maryland in 2011.Ryan Tresdale, Ms. Huger’s manager, said in a statement in January that his client had made the “important decision to enter a private recovery program,” causing her to miss the Season 9 reunion.“She was fully supported in this choice,” he said. “We stand behind Karen as she embarks on this meaningful journey and are proud of her for taking such a significant step forward in her personal growth.” More

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      6 Takeaways From Alec and Hilaria Baldwin’s TLC Reality Show

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      The series begins just before he was scheduled to stand trial in the fatal shooting on the set of “Rust.” The reviews have been somewhat uneasy.Reality television producers had been circling Alec and Hilaria Baldwin for years. His Hollywood fame and history of public combustibility, her social media following and their many children and pets were all classic ingredients for a slice-of-life series.Last year, the couple decided to let the cameras in.They did so at perhaps the most precarious time of Alec Baldwin’s life: the month before he was scheduled to stand trial in New Mexico on an involuntary manslaughter charge, in connection with the fatal shooting of a cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, on the set of the movie “Rust” in 2021. The result is a fly-on-the-wall series called “The Baldwins,” which premieres Sunday on TLC, a network whose marquee titles include “90 Day Fiancé” and “Sister Wives.”The first episode of the show has landed a bit uneasily with critics, who view the show as something of a crisis communications project. Here are six takeaways from the episode.The premiere begins just ahead of Alec Baldwin’s manslaughter trial.Alec and Hilaria Baldwin in court during in the “Rust” accidental shooting case. Alec Baldwin faced a charge of involuntary manslaughter.Pool photo by Ross D Franklin/EPA, via ShutterstockThe filming started in June last year, just before Baldwin was scheduled to stand trial in New Mexico. In the first episode, the couple drives their seven children (and six of their eight dogs and cats) from their home in New York City to their home in the Hamptons, where they often spend the summer.The decision to start filming was a risk. In the event that he had been convicted, Baldwin, who was handling a revolver on set when it discharged a live bullet, would have faced a potential maximum prison sentence of 18 months.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Teddi Mellencamp of ‘Real Housewives’ Says She Has Brain Tumors

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      Mellencamp, the daughter of the rock musician John Mellencamp, said on Instagram that she was receiving treatment after experiencing “severe and debilitating” headaches.Teddi Mellencamp, a podcast host and television personality from the “Real Housewives” franchise, announced on Wednesday that she had multiple brain tumors that would be treated with surgery and radiation.Mellencamp, 43, said on her social media account that she had experienced “severe and debilitating” headaches in recent weeks that had become so painful that she required hospitalization. After a CT scan and an M.R.I., doctors found “multiple tumors on my brain, which they believe have been growing for at least six months,” she wrote in a post.Two of the tumors were being surgically removed, and smaller ones would be treated with radiation at a later date, she wrote.Mellencamp was on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” for 72 episodes, from 2017 to January 2024, according to her IMDB page. She has previously spoken publicly on social media and on podcasts about her personal life, including filing for divorce from Edwin Arroyave, as well as her medical history, which has included melanoma and IVF treatment. She and Arroyave have three children, and Mellencamp has a stepdaughter, Isabella Arroyave.Mellencamp, the daughter of the rock musician John Mellencamp, also hosts the iHeartRadio podcast “Two Ts in a Pod” with Tamra Judge of “The Real Housewives of Orange County.” More

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      Labor Board Classifies ‘Love Is Blind’ Contestants as Employees

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      The National Labor Relations Board’s case against the Netflix hit could have ripple effects across the reality TV industry.The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against the hit reality show “Love Is Blind” on Wednesday in which it classified the show’s contestants as employees, opening a case that could have ripple effects across the reality television industry.The complaint by the labor board’s regional office in Minnesota says that the show committed several labor violations, including unlawful contractual terms related to confidentiality and noncompete provisions.By classifying the cast members — who date and sometimes marry other singles on the show — as employees with certain federal legal protections, the complaint opens the door to possible unionization. It is one of the labor board’s first forays into reality television and a major development in the effort by some onscreen personalities to change the industry through the legal system.Several contestants on “Love Is Blind,” which streams on Netflix and has been one of the buzziest dating shows since its debut in 2020, have come forward in lawsuits, in interviews and on social media with objections to the restrictions outlined in their contracts.One contestant, Renee Poche, became involved in a legal dispute with the show after she publicly accused the production of allowing her to become engaged, in front of TV cameras, to a man “who was unemployed with a negative balance in his bank account.” She said in court papers that after she had made “limited public remarks about her distressing time on the program,” one of the companies behind the production initiated arbitration proceedings against her, accusing her of violating her nondisclosure agreement and seeking $4 million. (Poche, a veterinarian who lives in Texas, said she had earned a stipend of $1,000 per week, adding up to a total of $8,000.)Two “Love Is Blind” participants — Poche and Nick Thompson — submitted complaints to the labor board, resulting in an investigation into the policies and practices of the production companies behind the show, which include Kinetic Content and Delirium TV.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie Revisit ‘The Simple Life’

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      The celebutantes-turned-businesswomen are rebooting the show that provided a blueprint for the past 20 years of reality TV.How would two troubled Los Angeles heiresses manage as members of the Bible Belt working class?The answer helped revolutionize reality TV and legitimized the careers of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. In 2003, the pair of 22-year-olds debuted in Fox’s “The Simple Life,” which documented their move to Altus, Ark., to live with a family on their farm and try out blue collar jobs.Hilton and Richie brought rich-girl haughtiness and high jinks to mundane tasks like cleaning hotel rooms and, in one memorable episode, serving burgers at a Sonic Drive-In. The result was a quotable megahit — with heart. “Their fish-out-of-water ineptitude serves as a social leveler that gives them their comeuppance and preserves the dignity of their rural hosts,” Alessandra Stanley wrote in a review for The New York Times. Unlike the other popular reality programs of the time, like “Big Brother” and “Survivor,” the allure of “The Simple Life” didn’t come from a wild premise or shocking competition: The personalities of and friendship between Hilton and Richie were the drawing card. That recipe has been built upon in subsequent reality franchises like “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” “Jersey Shore” and “The Real Housewives.”More than two decades later, the two are appearing in “Paris & Nicole: Encore,” a three-part reboot which is primarily set in L.A. and involves activities and outings a bit closer to home. It will air on Peacock beginning Thursday. Though the show centers on the pair’s staging of an opera based on “sanasa,” a made-up word which fans might remember as a mainstay joke on the original, Hilton and Richie also revisit Altus, Sonic and the friendship that made their show riveting TV.“There was nothing really to compare it to,” Hilton said of “The Simple Life.” “So we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.”Jerod Harris/Getty Images for VultureAhead of the “Encore” premiere, we talked to Hilton and Richie about how reality TV has changed since “The Simple Life,” the impact of social media on the genre and the shows they’re enjoying now.Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.You were some of the first reality TV stars, and now it is an oversaturated industry. How do you think the landscape has changed since “The Simple Life” first aired?We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Bronwyn Newport’s Style Stands Out on ‘Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’

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      The addition of Bronwyn Newport to the cast of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” has added a maximalist approach to a series known for its understated aesthetic.When Bronwyn Newport, a fashion blogger, joined the cast of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” for its fifth season, she immediately caused a stir among a cast of compelling reality TV veterans, and not just because she was quickly drawn into the drama.The typical Salt Lake City fashion aesthetic is relatively casual — one popular uniform is jeans, a neutral-colored sweater and a designer bag — replete with “Utah curls” in which waist-length hair is styled into beach waves. With her dark, blunt-cut bob and her loud, whimsical outfit choices, Ms. Newport couldn’t have blended in among her Salt Lake peers even if she wanted to (she didn’t, of course).“I just think that — almost to a fault — my goal is to look different,” Ms. Newport, 39, said in a recent phone interview. “When people don’t get it or don’t like it or look at it weird or misunderstand where I’m coming from, from a style perspective, it almost spurs me on in a really immature way.”Ms. Newport’s maximalist approach to style has its roots in the Netherlands, where she lived as a child, as well as in the rest of Europe, where she says fashion leans architectural, edgy and is less directed at the male gaze. She considers every day an occasion for dressing up — ordering Chinese food calls for pajamas printed with Chinese takeout containers, for example — and would not be caught dead in jeans.Ms. Newport, left, is easy to spot among her “Real Housewives” co-stars like Meredith Marks.Joshua Applegate/Bravo“If you see me in jeans, you should be concerned,” she said jokingly. “We’re at the beginning of a spiral of some kind where I am unwell, mentally or physically or emotionally somehow.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Love Is Blind’ Resets, ‘Survivor’ Stalls: A Reality TV Check-in

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      Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicLong-running reality-television franchises — with their familiar rhythms, tensions and resolutions — can provide a wonderful way to pass the time while, say, waiting for votes to be counted.The seventh season of “Love Is Blind” recently concluded with a pair of storybook weddings and a handful of collapsed connections. Following a stretch of public scrutiny that included lawsuits about labor conditions, it felt like an effort to underscore the show’s potential as a generator of true love.“Survivor,” now on its 47th season, has become a show about people who have previously been obsessed with “Survivor,” creating an echo chamber regarding the strategies deployed, and narrowing the casting to a certain kind of obsessive fan-turned-player.On this week’s Popcast, a palate-cleanse conversation about some of the year’s biggest reality-television shows, how legacy franchises develop a kind of self-awareness that can lead to change, and whether shows can ever benefit from full reboots that erase their history.Guests:Joe Coscarelli, The New York Times’s pop music reporterCaryn Ganz, The New York Times’s pop music editorConnect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. More

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      Part-Time Farmers, Part-Time Rock Stars: A Chinese Band’s Unlikely Rise

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      The band, Varihnaz, has gained fans by offering an alternative to China’s hyper-polished, fast-paced modern life, with songs about pesticides and poultry raising.Before setting out on his band’s first national tour, before recording another album and before appearing on a major television network, Ba Nong had one task: finishing the summer harvest.Standing in a field edged by rolling hills, two days before the first tour date in late September, Ba Nong, the frontman of the Chinese band Varihnaz, looked over the yellowed remnants of the rice stalks he had spent the past few months tending.“The land gets to rest, and I get to go play,” he said.Planning around the harvest may be an unconventional way to manage an ascendant music career, but Varihnaz is an unconventional band.For its members — two farmers and a former bricklayer from rural Guangxi in southwestern China — the land and their music are inseparable. Rather than the usual staples of love and longing, their lyrics dwell on pesticides and poultry rearing.Varihnaz means “fields filled with fragrant rice flowers,” in the language of Guangxi’s Zhuang ethnic minority. To fans, the group offers a refreshing break from China’s hyper-commercialized popular entertainers, with music about a simpler, slower way of life, an alternative to the intense competition of modern Chinese life.Ba Nong hopes his music helps people consider shrugging off mainstream expectations themselves. “The more tolerant and developed a society is, the more diverse its lifestyles should be, too,” said the musician, who is 44.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘The Bachelor’ Is Shattering Its Own Fairy Tale

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      Recent revelations about contestants’ troubling backgrounds have punctured the franchise’s fantasy — that reality TV is a secure place to look for love.Just three years ago, the “Bachelor” franchise was in serious need of a revival. The longtime host, Chris Harrison, had left the show and ratings sagged. Instead of 10 million viewers, premieres now brought in closer to 2 or 3 million.In 2023, ABC pumped new life into the franchise with “The Golden Bachelor,” a version of the dating contest that followed Gerry Turner, a 72-year-old widower who proudly wore a hearing aid and spoke of finding love after the death of his wife. The premiere brought in over 4 million live viewers (and totaled over 7 million including streaming), making it the franchise’s most-watched debut since 2020.But the show’s honeymoon has not lasted. “The Bachelor” and its various iterations have long promised viewers some semblance of a fairy-tale romance, providing charmed but closed environments where the leads can suss out the suitors’ intentions through extravagant dates, like hot air balloon rides and castle visits. Recent revelations about the show have punctured this fantasy.Just before Turner handed out his final rose, The Hollywood Reporter published details about his past (a spotty work résumé, a trail of scorned lovers) that challenged his image as a sympathetic figure, as put forth on the show. (Turner declined to comment for the article.) His subsequent marriage to Theresa Nist, the season’s “winner,” ended after three months.The most recent season of “The Bachelorette,” which debuted in summer 2024, cast Jenn Tran as the series’s first Asian American lead, a role she hoped would bring positive visibility. “Anytime Asians were in the media, it was to fill a supporting character role, to fulfill some sort of stereotype,” Tran said in an interview with The New York Times before the show’s premiere. “I always felt boxed in by that, because I was like, I don’t see myself onscreen. I don’t see myself as a main character.”But her quest for love ended in public humiliation. On the live special “After the Final Rose,” she revealed through tears that Devin Strader — the contestant she proposed to in the series finale — had broken off their engagement over the phone. Seeing him for the first time since the breakup, Tran sobbed uncontrollably on the show as producers made her watch the proposal in front of a national audience.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More