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7/30: Preview of “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” Kristen Gates talks about new gig, “Baby Borrowers” ends

By Rodney Ho | Wednesday, July 30, 2008, 12:26 AM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

real housewives cast.jpg

(l-r) Lisa Wu Hartwell, DeShawn Snow, Kim Zolciak, NeNe Leakes, Sheree Whitfield.

The five women from the already-maligned Bravo spinoff reality show “Real Housewives of Atlanta” have done some press, including Entertainment Tonight. I’ll talk to them closer to air date in September.

In the meantime, here’s a little teaser from the women themselves via video.

NeNe Leakes: “I know the viewers are going to love, love, love the real housewives of Atlanta.”

Lisa Wu Hartwell: “We have a lot to offer. We have the music scene. We have the film scene. We have fashionistas. We have athletes. We have everything. It’s hot. It’s hot in Atlanta!”

Leakes: “Being in the South is totally different, just being in the South. The women in New York are wound a little tight. Orange County? They were fun. We’re funner.”

“More fun,” corrected DeShawn Snow.

Snow then added: “We’re five strong dynamic women. We have very strong personalities. We know exactly what we want. You put five people together like that, there will be a couple of disagreements. At the end of the day, we’re like a family, like sisters.”

Show starts Sept. 16, but there’s a 30-minute preview tonight at midnight (or, technically, tomorrow) right after “Project Runway.”

-Kristen Gates, formerly of Star and Kicks 101.5, said she joined 94.9/The Bull earlier this month with part-time/weekend fill-in status in hopes of getting a full-time gig. She didn’t realize how quickly it would happen.

Thanks to Jamie Massey’s move to Phoenix, Gates has taken over as the female sidekick to Cledus T. Judd. Although she started last week without Cledus, he returned Monday. She knew him going back to the days when he would visit her in the studios at South 107 in Rome and they’d see each other at roundtables and awards shows. “He was one of the first people to call me the day the firings happened” at Kicks Feb. 29.

“I’ve known her forever,” Cledus said after the second day they started working together at the Bull. “It’s like having an old friend in there. When I got the job at the Bull, she was supportive, wished me the best. I never thought I’d be able to work with her. She’s the consummate professional— funny, obnoxious, makes my job easier. She is definitely one of the guys.”

Kristen said being at the Clear Channel building “is like a breath of fresh air. It’s such a healthy environment.” (That is perhaps the first time I’ve ever heard someone say that!)

“Slam and I are here to guide the show and deal with the business aspects,” she said. “All Cledus has to do is be entertaining and be himself.” The show’s new producer, Todd Veal, used to work with Rhubarb.

In just two days, she said, “it’s been a very smooth transition. We’ve instantly gelled.”

NBC’s “Baby Borrowers” ends with a snoozer of an episode tonight with the teens learning from some seniors. Here’s the Buzz item I sent over to Richard after talking to the two Dunwoody teens:

The reality show stirred controversy because it featured parents giving up their babies and toddlers to teenagers they had never met.

Some critics said it would damage the kids psychologically. The two Dunwoody teens who took part in the show, which ends its six-episode run tonight at 9 p.m.(7/30), pooh-poohed this line of argument.

“It was literally safer than day care,” said Austin Trizzino, 19, a rising sophomore at Auburn University. “Any given time, you had 10 people watching a single kid. There was an EMT there.” In the end, nobody needed the EMT, he added.

Neither he nor his girlfriend during the show, Kelly Young, now 20 and a rising junior at Auburn, regretted taking part, even though Kelly went into an emotional tizzy a couple of times. She doesn’t even recall why she got mad the second time and started screaming at Austin in a tirade so over the top, E! comedy show “The Soup” mocked it last week.

“We were extremely stressed out,” Kelly said. “We had been questioning our relationship before we went on the show. During the interviews [with producers,] we were kind of egged on.”

The show was taped a year ago. Austin and Kelly broke up, got back together, then broke up again three weeks ago. Such is life with young couples. Both remain friends and agree: No kids anytime soon for either of them.

“I learned I was a lot more patient than I expected,” Austin said. “But I also learned I like being young and having the freedom to sleep eight straight hours.”

Permalink | Comments (58) | Post your comment | Categories: atlanta housewives

Comments

By Tommy

July 30, 2008 7:44 AM | Link to this

…though none actually live in ATL, right?…

By Michelle

July 30, 2008 8:11 AM | Link to this

So excited for Kristin.

And SO embarrassed to say that those “ladies/Housewives” are from Atlanta!

By Do what?

July 30, 2008 8:22 AM | Link to this

5 women from Atlanta and only one is white? Are we trying to make up for the fact that all the other Housewives shows have been all white? This doesn’t seem to represent the real Atlanta…except that everything in the real Atlanta revolves around the Rap and athlete scene, so maybe it is realistic. Just what we need…another reason to make Atlanta look like that the trashy city it is.

By Meat

July 30, 2008 8:36 AM | Link to this

Another pathetic attempt by this poser sewer city to compete with the genuine articles. It’s wonderful that we have BET, black music channels, black congress clubs, black beauty contests, black black black…and now an 80% black housewives show demonstrating to the world how lame we are.