Media Credit: www.pure-heaven.com/ Lauren Conrad star of "The Hills" [Click to enlarge]

Now-a-days, the term celebrity seems to be a lot harder to define as reality TV is taking the world by storm. Once a place for Hollywood elite, the red carpet is now welcoming the average Joe reality star. This blurs the line between what constitutes an A-list or even B-list celebrity, giving these people a sense of false idolatry when they have done nothing to deserve praise. Despite their lack of contribution to the talent pool, we can all recognize these "stars". So where do these people come from, and what shows have launched them into this undeserved superstardom?

Right now the "stars" of MTV's "The Hills" are sweeping the nation with their beauty and pure dumb luck. Lauren Conrad, the show's "leading lady", emerged from the Orange County reality show "Laguna Beach" and has since been climbing the ladder to stardom. Kristen Cavallari, another "Laguna Beach" babe, has even appeared in a music video as Gavin DeGraw's love interest.

However, it's not just these "reality dramas" that are creating new Hollywood icons, but reality dating shows and reality competitions are turning nobodies into some bodies. Anyone familiar with "Flavor of Love" knows New York and her larger than life personality,. After being eliminated in the last round twice, she landed three of her own shows - two seasons of "I Love New York" and her current show "New York Goes to Hollywood".

The contestants of "Rock of Love," "Flavor of Love," and "I Love New York" have been so successful in contributing to VH1's sky high ratings that they gave many of them a chance to win a quarter of a million dollars by participating in competitions based on the shows they originated from on the newest reality competition, "I Love Money." All these shows have given these people so much success that they are being treated as A-list celebrities, meaning, these people are being rewarded for fighting, spitting, and using their bodies to manipulate people.

The one reality star that I believe may be most unworthy of her fame is Tila Tequila, however having said that, you must give credit where credit is due. Tila Tequila made her fame by collecting an obscene number of friends on the popular website myspace.com, and therefore won her own dating show, "A Shot at Love" as TV's first bisexual bachelorette. This illustrates the insanely distorted view of how we as a society view fame and what makes someone worthy of obtaining superstardom. This woman manipulated the system into thinking she is someone special by taking pretty pictures and luring men with her seemingly sweet smile. In turn, that gave her the opportunity to branch out into music and making cameos in movies.

So has our generation thrown talent out of the window to embrace these ordinary, sometimes trashy, men and women as our idols and icons? This reality TV trend may be on the brink of spiraling out of control as producers are able to pay an ordinary person less money than a professional actor to do something where little or no talent is required. I admit I am guilty of watching reality TV; I love the drama and anticipating who will be eliminated week to week. However that doesn't mean I think any of these "stars" are deserving of celebrity status. They extended their fifteen minutes of fame into a reality TV career which doesn't make them idol worthy. It just makes them lucky.

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