Hall of Shame Moment: Paris & Nicole Don’t Understand Why Stealing Is Wrong

There has been a great deal of debate in the smoke-filled rooms where decisions are made for what gets into the Reality TV Hall of Shame and what doesn’t. For several weeks now, there have been arguments, debates, and wrestling matches to decide whether or not Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, from The Simple Life, deserved mention in these hallowed halls. Finally, their actions in the fifth episode (last Wednesday) sealed the deal.

Up until this point, Paris and Nicole have been teetering on the edge. They would often have fun and do funny things – indeed, often hysterical – but they also had their other moments when they thought they were being hysterical but they were actually being hurtful or nasty or showing just how spoiled they truly are. Paris and Nicole seem to have absolutely no consideration for anybody else. This has been shown numerous times, from when they contaminated milk jugs that people were supposed to drink to when they gave passing drivers the finger while dressed in Sonic outfits. They just don’t give a damn about anybody but themselves and have no respect for anybody. When they were “working” on the dairy farm, they decided to simply take a break in the hot tub and then take a nap. When they were “working” at the Sonic, they decided to go across the street to the local store for a break.

These were the issues we debated. Was this behavior enough for a Hall of Shame Moment, or would their overall behavior eventually add up to a full induction? Well, the second is still up in the air, but the first was answered when they decided to break the law and steal from the man they were supposed to be working for. And even worse, they then gave their stolen property to Janet Leding as a Mother’s Day present. She was so impressed – she thought they had saved up all the money they’d been “earning” just for her. Of course, they hadn’t. They’d blown their money at bars and stole the birdhouse that they presented to her as a gift.

For those who might not have seen the show or missed the specific circumstances, Paris and Nicole were sent by their boss to get cow feed. They went to the store and the clerk asked if they were going to put in on their boss’ charge account. Since the girls had gone over two whole weeks without charging something, they felt they needed to charge other items, despite the fact that it wasn’t their money. They knew what they were doing – this was not one of their actions that they took without understanding, one those funny fish-out-of-water moments. No, they knew they were stealing and they were positively pleased with themselves when they bought the birdhouse and a full-length mirror for themselves – and apparently got away with it. Conscience? What’s a conscience?

Then, as mentioned above, they gave the birdhouse to Mrs. Leding as a Mother’s Day gift. She was so impressed and proud of the girls. She thought they were doing something nice for her – instead, they did something illegal.

Later, of course, their stolen items were discovered by their now-ex-boss, Kent. After all, he doesn’t often buy mirrors and birdhouses for his cows. He called to find the girls and who should pick up the phone but Mrs. Leding herself. Yes, she had to find out that the gift she’d received was actually stolen property – how humiliating!

Kent decided to take it up with the girls directly. But there is nothing direct about them. When he came knocking, Nicole took the opportunity to make up an excuse. She said that her pet died, that the truck had crashed and the birdhouse was destroyed, that they can’t pay for the birdhouse because she spent all her money on vet bills and has to plan a funeral, etc. Kent didn’t look like he was buying the routine – and frankly, it wouldn’t have mattered if it were all true anyway. They stole the items and then started giving fake excuses.

To further make things worse, when Kent left, Nicole immediately went into extra-bitchy mode and actually said that she couldn’t believe Kent came to get the money back. It was only $100, after all, so he’s a penny-pincher for refusing to just let them steal from him (okay, she didn’t say that last part about letting them steal from him, but that’s what they did).

There are so many problems with that statement that I hardly know where to begin, but I’ll just address the two main ones here. First, as Betsy Wasser pointed out in her recap of the show, who is stingier: “the guy who won’t just let you steal from him, or the girls who wouldn’t pay for a Mother’s Day gift with their own money?”

Second, we all know these girls have very little concept of what something is worth, but do they also have so little concept of the law? You’d think Nicole, at least, would have an idea since she was out on bail for drug possession and driving without a license during the filming of this show. Did she tell the judge that he was stingy because it was only a little heroin, or that she was only driving a little bit without her license?

Perhaps it would surprise Paris and Nicole to find out that stores routinely prosecute people for shoplifting items that cost less than $100. Perhaps it would surprise them to find out that to many people, $100 is a fair amount of money. Perhaps it would surprise them to know that business owners can’t simply allow their “employees” to steal from them or else they don’t stay business owners much longer.

Any of these things might surprise the girls, but what shouldn’t have surprised them was that there might be repercussions for stealing from somebody.

But the girls didn’t actually learn anything. Later in the show, they and the Leding family were reading questions from a book and one came up that asked, “When was the last time you stole something.” Paris and Nicole laughed hysterically. Yes, theft is a hilarious topic, I’m sure. To the cameras, Paris asserted that they didn’t steal it, they charged it, and that there’s a big difference. No, Paris, there isn’t – not when you are using somebody else’s charge account.

Ironically, the official website says of this episode that, “The lesson for the day is ‘consequences.’ Seems when you're a rich kid in Beverly Hills, you don't need to worry about such trivialities because someone will always come and clean up your mess. But in Altus, they do things a bit differently (or normal, depending on how you were raised).” Really? The lesson was consequences? Where? They stole and they got away with it. Sure, we were told that they had to stick their hands into cows to determine if they were pregnant, but we only saw Nicole do it, and only once – before she ran after Paris with the glove she’d used, laughing it up. Where, exactly, were the consequences? They weren’t thrown in jail, they didn’t have to pay up, nothing. In other words, their mess was cleaned up, just like it would have been in Beverly Hills.

If they really wanted to show reality TV, Kent would have filed charges against them and they would have been taken to the police station. Let’s see how Paris and Nicole do then. Let’s see if they’re laughing it up then.

But no, that would be too real. Can’t have that. So the girls get away with theft, Mrs. Leding is left with a gift that was stolen and hurt feelings, and Kent was probably paid back the money by producers.

I keep hoping that the show has a sort of redemption cycle, where Paris and Nicole will realize by the end of it how horrible they've been acting. But they don’t have much time left, so maybe I'm kidding myself. They may indeed end up with a full induction to the Reality TV Hall of Shame. But until then, their actions in the fifth episode are at least being recognized as being a Hall of Shame Moment.

David Bloomberg is the Editor of the Reality TV Hall of Shame, and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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