Brit Big Brother Contestant Slashes Wrists

Shows can be detrimental to mental health: experts

(NEWSER) - It's a very good thing Susan Boyle went straight to the hospital post-reality TV loss, reports the Wrap: Reality shows have taken a fatal toll on at least 11 participants, ranging from a deputy district attorney to a boxer to a former child actor; two more have attempted to end their lives. Mental health experts say that reality shows can have a long-lasting detrimental effect on their cast members—winners and losers alike. More»

And one member beat up fiancée, too!

(NEWSER) - Two former Big Brother contestants parlayed their reality show alliance into a real-life drug ring, and now they’re paying the price. Adam Jasinski, who won season nine, allegedly used his $500,000 prize to get into the oxycodone game, and was arrested in October. Yesterday, his former housemate and ally Matthew McDonald was also indicted for allegedly participating in the ring, TMZ reports. More»

Jasinski says he used $500K prize to buy, sell painkillers

(NEWSER) - Big Brother 9 winner Adam Jasinski made his first court appearance today in Massachusetts after being charged with trying to sell 2,000 prescription painkiller pills. After a brief struggle with agents, the DEA says Jasinski waived his Miranda rights and confessed to using his $500,000 winnings from the reality show last year to set up an oxycodone ring, the Boston Globe reports. More»

Police rescue 9 after calls from worried relatives

(NEWSER) - Police rescued nine young women who had been lured to a Turkish villa where they were duped into believing they were part of a Big Brother-style reality show and photographed naked, reports the BBC and local media. The women stayed in the villa for 2 months, initially believing they were part of a reality series called Somebody's Watching You, according to Sky News. They quickly became suspicious because they were instructed to do little more than fight each other, wear bikinis and dance by the pool. More»

(NEWSER) - Reality shows throw anyone who signs a waiver onto TV. Some have higher aspirations, but most rest solidly in "How low can they go?" territory. Annie Barrett of Entertainment Weekly looks at 35 of the most appalling reality TV shows.

• Jail: A new low from the guys behind Cops. At least OJ had a cameo.
• Kid Nation: Puberty gone south—literally and figuratively.
• The Anna Nicole Smith Show: Like Paula Abdul's show, "but with less talent and more poodle-on-furniture humping."