Reality TV Convention 2007: Night 1

We rolled into Nashville last night, and for any of you who were driving between Memphis and Nashville, TN, last night, you'll know what I mean when I say that I hope your scuba gear finally dried off. It was raining cats, dogs, and any number of other domesticated animals.

In any case, it was great to finally get into town and hook up with everyone at the convention center. Priscilla and I are having a blast so far. We had dinner last night with quite a group. Tennessee Edwards, who is quite the prolific producer, was at our table. (He produces, among other things, the Ultimate Fighting Championship.) We also ate with The Apprentice's Tana Goertz, Joe Millionaire's Mojo, Marc and Joe who coordinate the convention, two Canadian documentary filmmakers and several other lovely folks. It was a wonderful time and great conversation. Idol's Heather Cox came up and introduced herself to us. She's still as nice as ever. Big Brother 6's Howie Gordon noticed her too, and in his own inimitable style came up and told her what a bangin' bod she has. Howie's never been known for tact, and he had a few beers in him, so his tongue was even looser.

After that, it was on to a private house party in one of the swankier sections of town hosted by the guys and gals at Joker's Updates. By the time we got there, most of the party-goers had already been there for a couple of hours (except for Howie, who had already gotten started on the alcohol at the first site, so it didn't matter) and most of them were already fairly lubricated. Big Brother's Krista Stegall made friends with Priscilla fairly quickly, and she and Rachel Plencner posed for quite a few pictures. Like I said, they were fairly well lubricated, so things got a little interesting, but not terribly out of hand. American Inventor's Mark "the Sackmaster" Martinez introduced himself to us, and he's quite a nice guy. Apparently he's made quite a bit of money from the show.

Also there were Gooner Grosbeck from The Real Gilligan's Island and Jonny Fairplay from Survivor. Jonny was surprisingly sedate, at least as compared to last year, so hopefully he won't have to get thrown out of anything this time around.

It's about an hour till set-up time, so day one of the convention is about to begin. Hopefully I'll be able to tell you more about the events tomorrow, but until then, viva la reality! Pictures to come soon!