Reality TV News:

• Bachelor, Chris Harrison humiliate Casey to squeeze some life out of Ben's season
  The Bachelor can be consistently entertaining, despite its failure as a show to live up to its promise, and even despite the obviously contrived set-ups and contexts ("we're deserted on an island with producers and cameras!"). But sometimes its producers' and network's desperation--for ratings or attention or just to use their power to humiliate and destroy--leads it to cross a line. That happened last night as the show paused on permanently paused Ben Flajnik's getting-what's-coming-to-him
• Intervention camera operator, who naked woman spit chicken on, answers questions
  An Emmy-nominated Intervention camera operator for A&E's is answering questions on Reddit, offering insight into filming a show about addicts who are often using on camera. Chris Baron, who has also worked on Hoarders and other shows (such as the awesome and sadly short-lived Showdog Moms & Dads), said he's the one who a naked addict spit chicken on before fighting with another person (watch that scene). Answering questions on Reddit, he's discussed being affected
• The Voice gets insanely high post-Super Bowl ratings
  With 111.3 million viewers, the Super Bowl was the most-watched television show ever, and NBC's post-game debut of The Voice benefitted significantly from that: it had 37.6 million viewers and an insane 16.3 rating among adults 18 to 49, which made it the highest-rated non-sports show on any network in six years. NBC also announced that it was "NBC's highest-rated entertainment telecast overall in both adults 18-49 and total viewers since the series finale of
• Too many ads drag out a strong start to The Voice's second season
  After the Super Bowl ended with some hard-to-top drama and suspense, The Voice's second season began somewhat abruptly, about 10 minutes before its scheduled start. Its blind auditions were as entertaining as ever, except that they came in-between a barrage of ads that seemed excessive even after having just watched the Super Bowl. After nearly every audition, the show went to a commercial break, and although some speculated that was going to pad the episode
• Beyonce judging X Factor rumor: more evidence that Simon Cowell and his ego still don't understand
  Fox's X Factor fired three of the five cast members, Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger, and Steve Jones, signaling that Fox and executive producer Simon Cowell are serious about changing the show. But blaming the show's faults on them--especially by replacing one of them with Beyonce, as a report suggests could happen--may just be another example of Simon Cowell's out-of-control ego. The reasons for the firings were obvious: The show was pretty much a disaster, alternately
• NBC's Voice promo during the Super Bowl: easily one of the best ads of the night
  The ads that aired during the Super Bowl tonight were mostly misses, I think, from the Teleflora ad that insisted giving flowers results in receiving oral sex to the Fiat ad with faux semen, aired on the network that wouldn't air a reality show with real semen. But I digress. Some of the ads were good, but NBC's promo department really hit a home run--er, got a touchdown--with this spot for The Voice. It's perfection
• Contender boxer Jeff Fraza killed by train
  The Contender season one and two cast member and boxer Jeff "Hell Raza" Fraza was killed early Saturday morning when he was hit by a commuter train in Haverhill, Mass. He was 34. His former girlfriend and mother of his son, Sylvia Pastrana, told the Boston Herald, "I was just told that he was walking the tracks, heading back home, and he's done that many times before." She said "he was fine and he was
• The Voice debuts post-Super Bowl as American Idol continues to fall
  NBC's The Voice returns for its second season after the Super Bowl this Sunday, and the big test for the show is whether it can sustain both the interest that sweet timeslot will provide and overcome the general fatigue from music talent competitions that both X Factor and American Idol have contributed to by, well, sucking. American Idol continues to lose viewers, dropping significantly compared to both last year and last week on Wednesday night,
• Trump endorses Romney, convinced we'll follow him blindly, when the opposite is true
  Donald Trump endorsed Mitt Romney yesterday, a brave, unexpected choice, considering how Romney just easily won Florida. The endorsement has already inspired an ad comparing Trump and Romney's firings. Upon his endorsement, Trump said that people love to follow him, including viewers of The Apprentice, but in fact, the opposite is true. "I bring a lot of people with me. If you look at my Twitter, if you look at my anything, if you look
• Top Chef gets a 10th season to hopefully find its way out of its formulaic rut; Kitchen Nightmares renewed
  Bravo has renewed Top Chef for a 10th season, despite the pretty disappointing season that's currently airing. The 10th season is currently casting and will tape in May for broadcast later this year. In quasi-related food reality TV news, Fox's Gordon Ramsay vehicle Kitchen Nightmares has been renewed for a fifth season. As to Bravo's show, it's hard to believe that just a year ago one of its best seasons ever, Top Chef All-Stars, was
• "Hypocrite" Emily Maynard "scared to death" of Bachelorette but still believes it can work
  Emily Maynard says she's frightened of what will happen when she films The Bachelorette, and also feels like a hypocrite for saying she'd never do it, but she's also convinced the format can work, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Emily told People, "It really hasn't hit me, what I've signed on to do. I'm scared to death." I presume she means signing on to a show where the producers are understandably more concerned
• Hoboken, our new best friend, refuses to let Snooki, JWoww's show film there
  A Jersey Shore spin-off starring Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Jenni "JWoww" Farley is supposed to start filming this month, but Hoboken, New Jersey, has denied 495 Productions a filming permit, protecting the rest of the country by at least delaying their return to the attention of cameras. City of Hoboken's film commission denied the permit Monday, calling the production "an attractive nuisance" and noting that a "proposed 24-hour filming permit would violate" a rule against
• Donkey semen drinker threatened by NBC for talking about the Fear Factor stunt
  One of the Fear Factor contestants who drank donkey semen and urine during a stunt says she has been threatened by NBC for talking about it. The network pulled the episode Monday and has not yet rescheduled it. Twins Brynne and Claire Odioso talked about drinking the semen on Tampa Bay's Cowhead Show, revealing that one drank semen while the other drank urine. Claire called the taste of semen "so bitter" with a "hint of
• Jill Zarin's fascinating response to gossip that RHONY wants her back
  Fired The Real Housewives of New York City cast member Jill Zarin has responded to a gossip report that she was asked to return to the show. She confirms that she was asked to cameo, but says she's too busy with other projects, such as her appearance on Iron Chef America's top-five moments countdown. Radar reported that "axed cast member Jill Zarin received a call from a show insider recently asking her if she would