Dating to find 15 minutes of fame

Really, VH1?

Why would you think another celebrity dating show was a good idea?

I wonder why because, to date, not a single match made on one of these shows has lasted more than a few months as these "stars" readied themselves for the next season.

I will admit that Chad "my last name used to be Johnson but I changed it to my number" Ochocinco is by far and away the most relevant star that has had a dating show on VH1, but thanks to "Brandy and Ray J: A Family Business," we saw what most of us suspected: these shows are shams.

While backstage at the "For the Love of Ray J" reunion show, Ray J all but admitted to the cameras for "Brandy and Ray J: A Family Business" that he never had any intention of starting a relationship with the second season winner of his love. The first season winner confronted him and let that secret out of the bag on the reunion show, as well.

Other notable stars such as Flavor Flav and Bret Michaels showed similar interest in the women that won each season of their shows.

Once "Flavor of Love's" third season reunion came, Flavor Flav proposed to his longtime girlfriend, ending the relationship with the third season winner as well as his reality television career.

Michaels has started a new show to win back his ex-girlfriend and mother of his two daughters.

The plausibility and credibility of these shows has gone out the window.
Why "Ochocinco: The Ultimate Catch," in which the Cincinnati Bengals' wide receiver uses tournament brackets, forcing girls to face off for his affection? His form is a better fit. Ochocinco, like his predecessors on VH1, is playing a game with women VH1 churns through its exploitation machine.

We're onto you, VH1.

You find a celebrity like Ochocinco and dangle him in front of a group of women crazy enough to go on a television series to win him, his money, and his celebrity. While some of these women actually are nice, normal women, they are rarely the ones that stick around.

Once these women, including the winners, are cast off, VH1 puts them on other shows such as their own dating shows ("I Love New York, Daisy of Love," or "Megan Wants a Millionaire"), or these women might end up in "Charm School," or they may be joined by men cast off from the spin off dating shows as well as women those men cast off on "For the Love of Money."

VH1 isn't looking to make love matches because they're looking for inexpensive labor to exploit time and again on other shows.

Ochocinco's game format becomes the perfect metaphor.

These women—some knowingly and others not—are getting played by Ochocinco and VH1. After enduring ten episodes worth of romance and humiliation, these women will walk away without dignity, but may debase themselves into another series or more.

Thanks VH1 for putting the exploitation of women front and center yet again. At least somewhere along the line men also get exploited, making VH1 an equal opportunity employer.