Hall of Shame Moment: Traci Bingham Goes Beyond “Surreal” in Her Diva Behavior

In the opening moments of season two of The Surreal Life, Traci Bingham, while introducing herself, makes it a point to stress that good manners are very important to her. Actually, what she says is she doesn’t like to be around people who have bad manners. Unfortunately, in Traci’s world that apparently doesn’t apply to herself. She exhibited some of the worst manners ever seen on reality TV during her first episode, earning her a rather quick Reality TV Hall Of Shame Moment.

A little background on the offending incidents in case you didn’t see the first episode, Traci wasn’t with the rest of the housemates for the first day as she was shooting another TV show, so she showed up at about 10 pm. She immediately complained that the situation wasn’t what she is accustomed to and said that she deserves a private room, closet, and adjoining bath. I guess she should have had that written into her contract, then. This sets up her diva storyline for what follows.

Incident 1: Settling into the room she is sharing with Trishelle Canatella and Ron Jeremy, she smells something. Or says she does, as she asks Trishelle who was sitting in the room at the time and didn’t seem to notice it. Traci sniffs Ron’s belongings and determines he is responsible for the offending odor. She calls him into the room, enlisting his service in ferreting out the smell. She says it smells like someone died in there and asks him if he has a dead rat in his bag. Reasonable question perhaps, who doesn’t travel with decomposing vermin in their luggage? Ron can’t smell anything but the cologne she sprayed over all of his belongings before calling him into the room. She is in full diva-mode during this scene with a very calculating smile on her face throughout. She seems to really be enjoying humiliating him. Ron interviews that he showers each day and has been in the Jacuzzi… also he has new shoes and doesn’t know what smell she can be talking about. Poor guy, he had to defend his hygiene practices on television due to Traci’s need for drama and attention. Maybe we are being too harsh. Maybe she doesn’t deserve a Hall of Shame Moment for this. Perhaps it was a odor only Traci could smell. She said it smelled like death so maybe it was the stench of her dying career?

Incident 2: Traci discovers the bathtub. She doesn’t like the color. Also, it is too small and probably doesn’t have filtered water. So she does what any imbalanced person with a way over-developed sense of entitlement would do: she loudly makes her unhappiness the problem of the entire cast. She gets more and more upset as she doesn’t feel they are listening to her. She remedies this by over-enunciating every word, because if they will just understand the direness of the situation they can save her from this tragic pain she feels at the sight of a raspberry colored bathtub. She reminded me of a guy with whom I went to France who didn’t speak a word of French so he would assault the locals with questions spoken very loudly, slowly, and snottily thinking that would transcend the language barrier. It didn’t work for him and it doesn’t work for Traci, either. She presents this as if there is something they can do. What would be what? Have the tub reglazed to a color she finds more aesthetically pleasing? Oh wait, that wouldn’t help as the tub was also too small and “probably doesn’t have filtered water.” So the remedy to this situation would be to remodel the entire bathroom with a new larger tub, and redo the plumbing so it’s filtered to her specifications. That isn’t unreasonable, is it? Or they can move the entire show to another house. Or they can, and this would be my choice, rip up her contract and let her out of the show so we don’t have deal with her for the remainder of the series. Keep in mind this show shoots for 12 days. She would have to deal with this bathtub for 12 days. I think many people have endured more hardship in the course of life.

The whole situation is so over the top that Erik Estrada opines that Traci is acting like a “plant” sent in to “bust their nuts.” Traci enjoys the fact that he thinks she may have been sent in to rile them up. She is totally missing the point that, not being a plant, then it is her very personality that is so vile. When Trishelle points out to Traci that there is also a shower she can use Traci get very condescending and insulting to Trishelle. She asks Trishelle, “who do you think you’re talking to?” She asks this twice as if who is Trishelle to dare question Traci’s tirades. Trishelle is talking to a woman whose biggest claim to fame is that she used to be on Baywatch. She’s not addressing the president or the pope here – although you wouldn’t know it by Traci’s attitude.

Traci also tells Trishelle to, “go ahead, get angry” with a very scary smile on her face, like she is immensely enjoying the reaction she is provoking. She interviews that Trishelle is young, immature, and insecure. I think she’s projecting a little. Trishelle just called her on the ridiculousness of her behavior and it was beautiful to see. Who is immature, the person who throws a tantrum because her bath is the wrong color, or the person who points out how ridiculous the first person is? Anybody with children can answer that one.

I have watched a lot of reality TV (I recapped the horrid Married By America, so I know whereof I speak) and her behavior shocked even me. It brought to mind an interview I saw where it was mentioned that Barbra Streisand is so particular about her surroundings that she has a member of her staff make sure that if she is staying in a hotel where the bathroom wastebasket is apricot colored and if not she supplies her own. Okay, that’s a little prissy as well, but Barbra has the money and staff to make it happen and I’m thinking we won’t see her on The Surreal Life anytime soon. Plus, she at least supplies her own wastebasket. Maybe that’s the solution here – Traci could have brought her own bathtub along with her.

Traci, you are no Barbra Streisand. You are also no Trishelle Canatella. Live with that.

Before Jamie discovered the joys of writing about reality TV, she interviewed musicians for the website she co-owns, AceFrehleyOnline.com. She can be reached with comments or job offers at j.goralski@sbcglobal.net.

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