Series synopsis
The Surreal Life is an American reality television series that premiered on The WB on January 9, 2003. It ended on May 14, 2006. It was created by Mark Cronin, Cris Abrego. It stars Gabrielle Carteris, Tawny Kitaen, Adrianne Curry and Marcus Schenkenberg.
The Surreal Life is a reality television series that sets a select group of past-their-prime celebrities and records them as they live together in Glen Campbell's former mansion in the Hollywood Hills for two weeks. The format of the show resembles that of The Real World and Road Rules, in that the cameras not only record the castmates' participation in group activities assigned to them, but also their interpersonal relationships and conflicts. The series is also likened to The Challenge in that ...
Premise
The Surreal Life is a reality television series that sets a select group of past-their-prime celebrities and records them as they live together in Glen Campbell's former mansion in the Hollywood Hills for two weeks. The format of the show resembles that of The Real World and Road Rules, in that the cameras not only record the castmates' participation in group activities assigned to them, but also their interpersonal relationships and conflicts. The series is also likened to The Challenge in that previously known individuals from separate origins of entertainment are brought together into one cast. The show's first two seasons aired on The WB, and subsequent seasons have been shown on VH1.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Gabrielle Carteris as Self
- Tawny Kitaen as Self
- Adrianne Curry as Self
- Marcus Schenkenberg as Self
- C.C. DeVille as Self
- Sandra 'Pepa' Denton as Self
- Omarosa Manigault as Self
- MC Hammer as Self
Supporting cast
- Jane Wiedlin as Self
- Jordan Knight as Self
- Carey Hart as Self
- Ron Jeremy as Self
- Joan Marie Laurer as Self
- Traci Bingham as Self
- Charo as Self
- Verne Troyer as Self
- Erik Estrada as Self
- Trishelle Cannatella as Self
- Brigitte Nielsen as Self
- Jose Canseco as Self
Guest cast
Episodes
This series spans 6 seasons with 58 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 8 | January 9, 2003 | February 20, 2003 |
| Season 2 | 6 | January 11, 2004 | February 22, 2004 |
| Season 3 | 12 | September 5, 2004 | December 5, 2004 |
| Season 4 | 11 | January 9, 2005 | April 24, 2005 |
| Season 5 | 12 | July 10, 2005 | October 9, 2005 |
| Season 6 | 9 | March 19, 2006 | May 14, 2006 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Surreal Beginning | January 9, 2003 |
| 2 | A Surreal Beginning Part 2 | January 9, 2003 |
| 3 |
Stars Under the Stars This one has a 'Survivor' twist to it. With none other than Survivor's favorite "witch", Jerri Manthey doing the "Jeff Probst" role! The Surreal gang is competing for a night in the outdoors in a furnished tent with a cooking chef. |
January 16, 2003 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Can't We All Just Get Along The new Surreal gang meet and personalities clash right away. They settle in and go shopping for groceries and then go to a Moroccan restaurant for dinner. |
January 11, 2004 |
| 2 |
Mel's Diner The gang work at a local diner for charity with none-other than the late great Gary Coleman as their manager! Surprise cameo by Todd Bridges as a customer. Then the gang makes and give away brownies to the neighbors. |
January 18, 2004 |
| 3 |
The Children's Play The gang have a Surreal Seance with Psychic Cheri Mancuso. Then they put on a Surreal play for children with funny and disastrous results. Trishelle has a bit much to drink and confesses her love to Vanilla Ice. |
January 25, 2004 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Six Degrees of Irritation Dave Coulier, Flavor Flav, Jordan Knight, Brigitte Nielsen, Ryan Starr and Charo move into a Hollywood mansion together; Flav cannot remember his roommates. |
September 5, 2004 |
| 2 |
Strange Love Flavor Flav and Brigitte Nielsen get closer and bond. The Surreal gang have dinner one on one to get to know each other better. |
September 12, 2004 |
| 3 |
Battle of the Bands The roommates participate in a battle of the bands with aspiring teen musicians. |
September 19, 2004 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
The Surreal Seven (a.k.a. It's In My Contract!) A checker cab driven by reality TV über-fan Kathy Griffin picks up each of the housemates and drops them off at the house. Chyna runs amok, stealing, moving things, thigh-mastering and generally causing chaos. Da Brat's afraid of being in the house with has-beens. Chris tries to maintain the peace when Verne tells Chyna that her private room is his (""it's in my contract""), and the others wonder what it is they've gotten themselves into. Once the room conflict has been resolved, the cast gathers for ""Dinner on Adrianne,"" which will forever change the way the cast feels about sushi, particularly Verne, who shows a big ""perve"" can be in a small package. Later, Jane and Adrianne go skinny dipping, while Verne drinks too much and passes out. Chris, the new father to this wacky quasi-family, carries Verne to bed, only to get a bizarre ""nose-job"" from the soused dwarf. |
January 9, 2005 |
| 2 |
The Kids are All Wrong The cast is challenged beyond belief to take care of a bunch of kids from ages 5-6 yeard old through day care in order to raise money for charity of $1000. |
January 16, 2005 |
| 3 |
Horses, Dwarves & Bears, Oh My! The cast goes camping; Verne faces difficulty with an activity; a campfire bonds the cast as a family; Joanie confesses about a shocking event from her past. |
January 23, 2005 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
No Way, It's Jose The Surreal Life is back for a fifth season with a new house and a new bunch of celebrities. “Surreal Life Securityâ€, Andy Dick meets each celeb at the door and performs a security check before allowing them to enter the house. The pressure gets to Andy as he snaps and calls it quits before the last cast member arrives. Surprise! It’s baseball bad boy Jose Canseco! Rounding out the rest of this season’s cast are motocross superstar Carey Hart, self-proclaimed first ever supermodel Janice Dickinson, Sandi Denton a.k.a. Pepa from the hit rap trio Salt N’ Pepa, supermodel Carpice, comedic actor Bronson Pinchot from Perfect Strangers, and The Apprentice villainess and beauty queen Omarosa Manigault Stalworth. Will this be one big happy family or turn into a family feud? |
July 10, 2005 |
| 2 |
Sunshine Strikers The seven new castmates compete in a bowling league against a mentally handicapped team. Tensions continue to fly between Janice and Omarosa, when Omarosa sees Janice making fun of the other team. |
July 17, 2005 |
| 3 |
Take It Off The Surreal Life cast has to put together a burlesque show at a Hollywood nightclub. Jose Canseco is thrilled about the challenge, and even uses the opportunity to explore his feminine side. But some of the cast, particularly Janice Dickson is not excited over it. Janice becomes more and more isolated from the rest of her housemates. |
July 24, 2005 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Movin' On In The Surreal Life 6 cast move into the mansion. Smart-mouthed bellhop Jimmy Pardo greets, insults and coerces our cast into carrying their own luggage as they check into a surreal motel. |
March 19, 2006 |
| 2 |
Makin' the Video The housemates help film a video for Smash Mouth's “Story of My Life.” |
March 26, 2006 |
| 3 |
Action News, Part 1 Part 1 of two. The cast must do a TV news report, with Alexis as executive producer, Florence as anchor, Sherman as weatherman, C.C. doing the sports, Steve as field producer and Andrea reporting from a local winery. |
April 2, 2006 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | The WB |
|---|---|
| First aired | January 9, 2003 |
| Last aired | May 14, 2006 |
| Runtime | 60 minutes |
| Status | Ended |