Watch the "Your Own Show" Submission Banned by Oprah
CONVERT MY GRILL! from Justin Barker on Vimeo.
Oprah Winfrey, ruler of the free world, is having a contest promising fame and fortune. It's called "Your Own Show: Oprah's Search for the Next TV Star," which will give birth to the greatest TV show ever. Or not. It's simple: Viewers upload their pitches -- falling under the genres of traditional talk show, cooking, interior design or fashion, health & well-being, and wildcard -- and then people vote for their favorites.
Local Oprah star wannabe Justin Barker, however, found his submission banned from the contest. Twice! Why? Well, for starters, he employed the use of booze in his vegetarian cooking show idea. Which, it seems, is a no-no. Also, he uses his friends in his beta show. Which, according to the fine folks at Harpo, is verboten.
In harrowing detail, Barker explains:
I submitted my vegetarian show idea to Oprah's "Your Own Show" contest and they banned it TWICE! My original edit included alcohol and it got rejected.. I edited out, blurred and dubbed the alcoholic parts and they rejected it again--for including my friends in the shoo! WHAT?! REALLY ? There's no way I am going to dub and blur my friends...
Watch the video and judge for yourself.
Currently in first place stands "wheelchair-bound lady magnet" Zach Anner from Austin, Texas. He has cerebral palsy and has an idea for a TV show "designed to inspire people who never thought they could travel." (Watch his submission, which is both endearing and amusing.)
We're sure Oprah and Mark Burnett (uber- producer joining forces with Oprah on this project) are thrilled with this very special turn of events. So much so that Winfrey is being accused of inflating votes for another, er, more camera-ready candidate. According to reports, "Anner was overtaken by another candidate, Dr. Phyllis, who got more than 300,000 votes in less than 20 minutes and 600,000 within an hour."
Oh Oprah, Sophie would not be pleased. Tsk, tsk.