Fans of trashy TV and those with erstwhile crushes on General Hospital’s Jagger may be interested to know that former soap opera star and underwear model Antonio Sabato, Jr., 37, is seeking love and the spotlight on My Antonio, VH1’s so-called reality TV show set in Hawaii. Two of the 13 women vying for his heart and screentime are desis — Anju and Tania. I caught the first episode of this series online and noticed that Anju was probably the most outspoken cast member. Anju is a brash New York party planner with a literal and figurative barbed tongue who only runs to catch the subway. She does not do well in the first challenge designed by Antonio, a race up a mountain against other women also wearing cocktail dresses. The winners gain extra time to mingle at the top with the self-proclaimed “hunk with a heart.” Anju comes in last.
But when it comes to screentime and making a lasting impression with her comments and attitude, she probably comes out ahead. At the end of the first episode, after Antonio’s mother makes a dinner appearance to vet the competitors for her son’s heart, he decides that Anju will join Nathalie, a woman whose hands and feet somehow disqualified her within the first two minutes, in leaving the show. He doesn’t really decide though, as much as Anju decides by telling him off for basing his decision on the one challenge. She also declares them incompatible because unlike Antonio she doesn’t want to “restrict herself” to one person.
From her exit interview: “He wants to spend time climbing mountains and s***, and that’s not my style.”
Though Anju is gone, her words will live on. The producers use her soundbytes about other contestants (she tells one young woman prone to tears to “suck it up”) in clips to promote upcoming episodes. Those clips suggest that Tania from Philadelphia, a model from a “strict Indian family” will be around a bit longer to advise Antonio regarding which contestants should stay. So future episodes may feature more of Tania. Not that the first episode didn’t feature a good amount. Like the rest of the women on the show, Tania sports a skin-baring outfit that prompts Anju to compliment her cleavage, in a brief moment of somewhat sisterly bonding between the two desis on the show.
More: The show’s site, cast bios, and a full recap which, true to reality-TV form, is better than the episode.
Update: Hindustani Times “American desi’s new avatar” includes some comments from Anju, Tania and Top Chef’s Preeti Mistry.
hmm, so tania grew up in a strict indian household, and is now a model and wants to date a white guy.
i’ll go with answer (c) for $200 Alex, what are insecurity and daddy issues?
I’ll go with answer (d), what’s one way to gain a bit of visibility as a model? Answer: Going on a cheesy reality show.
i’ll go with answer (a), in what freekin bizarro world does one need an ulterior motive–be it psychological or financial–to date a underwear model?
I want to bang one of the Victoria Secret models, but Im not going on tv and making a fool of my self in order to do so. I want to make a fool of my self in private like every other normal human being.
Is it me or are Indians getting too much time on tv compared to the population? Indians are on CNN, The Office, Parks and Recreation, Top Chef, winning Oscars, on the Radio with MIA and that Jay Sean, Im in a Starbucks right now and some indian looking woman called “Anjulie” has a CD for sale, Kal Penn in the White House, Russel Peters being on of the highest paif comedians, and etc.
I am kind of getting sick of us. I miss the days when we could get excited at maybe seeing an Indian extra in the background of some movie.
interesting. these dating shows are usually pretty filtered for race old-school. though i’ve noticed that this is more true for when women get to choose; probably because women filter based on race in quick-choice settings. usually the bachelor has token colored women, but the bachelorette often does not have the equivalent.
sabato jr’s wife (1992-1993) was part-filipina, so color no bar i guess.
Interesting that the two girls with the best education and the best jobs (NASA researcher and video game producer) are african-americans.
forget my previous comments. after watching it it is obvious the whole show is not even meant to pretend to be real like some of the other dating shows. more tila tequila than not. sabato looks like he’s getting back into soap opera acting, but the economics of that genre are not looking good (they never recovered from the simpson trial interruption of the mid-90s), so perhaps he wants a higher profile so he can snag another opportunity.
Gonna have to check out that Tania seeing as she’s from Philly and all.
And the recap is hilarious!
7- Do you think they’re also very well spoken and articulate 🙂 I don’t find that interesting, just sad they all aren’t as educated.
IMHO besides looking for TV time, most of them women usually aren’t really falling in love, but just wanting to beat the other women to the prize. What self-respecting woman wants to be with a guy who is making out with many other women concurrent to you ?
It’s also ironic that the only ones to actually get married after all of the drama (and millions of viewers sucked in) have been the first Bachellorette. I find it interesting that these shows basically start out as a man’s fantasy (ie, a harem) and end up with what is stereotypically a woman’s fantasy (commitment and marriage). That’s my social commentary for the day.
I also hope that for once that one of the girls chosen will actually be from the token minority camps. I mean, does anyone know the farthest any have made it in either of the Bachelor or Bachellorette series ?
3rd base
(Sigh) I don’t know who is more disappointing, the show’s creators who engineered such a segment, or the women who happily participate in this behavior.
And why do they have to be in cocktail dresses while they do this? I didn’t watch, but let me guess, they were all teetering up that old mountain in high heels too, right?
I see enough bad behavior by people in day-to-day real life; if I get home and then watch a few minutes of, say, the Housewives of Atlanta or NJ or NY, I just feel worse. I just don’t get the appeal of most of these shows (exception, The Amazing Race), but I will admit I was bummed that the one NDTV channel the Directv line-up does not carry, is the one that ran Rakhi Sawant’s Swayamvar…go figure…
It was only a matter of time before Desis got on US reality shows, etc. I guess these two lasses couldn’t make it on the Jeopardy quiz show, so this was the next best thing.
Just catching a repeat of the show now on VH1.
I still can’t believe the narcissism of Antonio and some of these women as well. The best line was when he started the race – “As the great Kameha is my witness….” – seriously ?
But why does Anju have to swear so much ? I am no prude and have no problems with swearing, but you can be classy and tough without using sht and fck every two seconds, at least when you’re being filmed, no ?