Carmen Electra's Model Manhunt
A while back, Tyra Banks said she'd never do an all-guy version of America's Next Top Model, citing a lack of public interest in male mannequins. Ever since then, we've wondered when someone else would fill this obvious (and, frankly, egregious) void in the reality-TV landscape. Well, wonder no more, beefcake fans. Tonight at 10 pm/ET, NBC gives you Manhunt: The Search for America's Most Gorgeous Male Model, hosted by Baywatch bombshell-turned-MTV-staple Carmen Electra herself. Now doesn't that sound classy?
Openly gay exec producer Stuart Krasnow thinks Miss Tyra's trippin' when she says nobody cares about the dudes. "That's a really unfair statement," he gripes. "I think there's a tremendous female following for handsome men." And Electra chimes in: "All my friends are excited about it — gay or straight!"
That includes Carm herself, whose official role differs from Tyra's in that she's only hosting. "Thank god I wasn't a judge," she sighs dramatically. "That's all I can say. I don't know how I could do it."
Indeed, she was too busy appreciating the Manhunt men to take an objective critical stance. "My husband, Dave Navarro, is so supportive and understanding that I couldn't make him jealous if I tried," Electra chuckles. "At moments, I did catch myself staring at my favorites — but it didn't go any further than that."
A key element in Top Model's success is our voyeuristic enjoyment of the contestants' cattiness and vanity. Can men possibly match women in the meow department? "There was drama, not just guys sitting around. In some ways, a few of the guys were just as vain [as women are]," Electra assures us. "They were putting Preparation H on their abs to make them [look] cut and obsessing about their looks. So there is drama. A $100,000 contract with IMG Models is a big opportunity they don't want to pass up."
