Strangers Spotted By Many, Identified by Few
Strangers Spotted By Many, Identified by Few by Roxanne McDonald
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On “Identity” pedestals they stand, all twelve of them, like dolls or figurines. They do not give away too much by facial expression and they maybe only hint at their true identities by way of certain clothing pieces. But when they are an Olympic medalist or an American TV icon, and are not i.d.’d, whooo boy. |
When the old-enough-to-know-better contestant missed Jerry Mathers, then another missed Bruce Jenner, we at home resigned to the possibility that the easiest “Identity” matching was going to be overlooked.
It’s not like the contestants of “Identity” are given really hard to identify strangers like Howard K. Stern or Condoleeza Rice. And in the television age, when celebrated sports figures cross over into reality TV shows (besides having been all over the news or all around the stations in interviews or all around the bookstores in their own tell-all biographies, we might expect that celebrities would be the first to be identified.
Then again, I have to be fair: one, most of those contestants likely do not watch as much TV or read as many TV blogs or participate on as many reality boards as you and I do. Too, there is supposedly this weird phenomenon that game show contestants experience: when they are at home, they can answer all kinds of questions even Ken Jennings might miss. But as soon as they get in front of the cameras, around the host, on the stage and in the spotlight, they go numbnuts and forget or lose whatever discernment skills they had just a few minutes prior.
Anyway, I love the show, Identity, and I love anticipating whether the contestants will in fact get help or get smart and i.d. strangers and celebrities alike.
The strangers to have appeared who are not famous include the following:
Born in Haiti
Hula dancer
Horse rancher
Tears phone book in half
Polygraph expert
Astronomer
Hooters girl
Prison guard
Scrabble champ
The much better-known and therefore not all that strange to appear have included the following (in alphabetical order):
Kareem Abdul Jabbar Jr.
Jason Alexander [not named], Britney Spears’ 55-hour husband
Jonathan Antin, “Blow Out” celebrity stylist
Tara Conner, Miss USA, 2006
Ray Crockett, of the Denver Broncos
Phire Dawson, “Price is Right” stage model
Brittny Gastineau, “Gastineau Girls” co-star
Brian Gorman, veteran MLB umpire at World Series, 2004
Maurice Greene, world’s fastest man
Bruce Jenner, Olympic Decathlon Gold medalist
Jordan Knight, of New Kids on the Block
Tami Lane, Best Makeup for Chronicles of Narnia Academy Award winner
Jerry Mathers, “The Beaver”
Brent Mendenhall, George Bush impersonator
Kara Monaco, Playboy Playmate-of-the-Year, 2006
Mr. Moviephone
Erin Murphy, “Bewitched” actress who played Tabitha
Stan Lee, DC Comics creator (of, for example, Spider Man)
Aaron Tippin, Country/Western singer
Of course, some celebrities have appeared on “Identity” who have come with a different i.d. than the one they are so well known for. For example, Jan Brady, Eve Plumb, came on with the identity of a “painter”. Now how the hell would we figure that out? That’s just cruel.
So what would be really cruel? To get a contestant on there who claims to not watch TV, etc., and get celebrities on those pedestals who are ripe for “Identity,” having been on “Surreal Life Fame Games,” say….
Have at it egos!
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