So, allegedly Kris Humphries, the about-to-be ex-husband of Kim Kardashian, is now grousing that he’s become the victim of unfair editing on the E! show “Kourtney and Kim Take New York.” Given that Humphries is featured in the season premiere implying his then-wife had eaten too much wedding cake, farting in Kim’s face and having a fit when he sees his wife taking yoga lessons from a mostly naked male instructor, this doesn’t seem like an unreasonable reaction, if it’s true. You have to hope that producers and editors had to tweak the existing footage to make Humphries look this bad.
What’s perhaps most interesting is that in the episode (especially the complaints about the male yoga instructor), many of Humphries’ most boorish comments are off camera — so there’s no way of knowing if they were made then, later, at a different location, in a different context, you name it.
Of course, reality TV is often heavily scripted and much of what we see is manipulated and massaged into being. Plenty of reality stars talk about how a snide comment they made about the food at a restaurant magically appears on television edited into a scene in which they’re arguing with their on-screen “rival” or gossiping about them behind their back. Perhaps Humphries biggest mistake, other than believing his vows to Kardashian really would be “til death do we part,” was thinking that he wouldn’t end up misrepresented on TV, regardless of how his relationship worked out.
Still, there’s something a little unnerving about the idea that Kardashian might be using her television show (or at least begging her producers to go along with the plan) to paint her ex as a villain. While we all (hopefully) know that reality TV is about as authentic as Santa Claus, it’s hard to shake the image of the Kardashians as the evil empire kicking around the clueless new kid.
Of course, for her making her ex out to be a pig is just smart business. If public opinion leans too heavily toward her being a heartless, manipulative user, her fifteen minutes may finally start ticking out. But if she’s just another girl who’s unlucky in love, we can expect to see her around for many, many more seasons. That means more TV money, more plugging products for $25,000 a pop on Twitter, more everything.
And when you think that Humphries is only being dragged through the mud for money, well, that makes everything easier to accept, doesn’t it?
Do you think “Kourtney and Kim Take New York” is being misedited? Have you taken sides in this break-up or do you not care at all? And do you think reality TV needs some standards?