Diet & Fitness

I get home late and the house is dark. No one is home. I lock the doors, throw a pizza in the oven and unfold onto my couch after a long, hard day. I can now indulge in my favorite guilty pleasure. I grab the remote, bang the buttons and my "reality TV" fix begins…

My name is Shawn, and I have a reality TV problem.

I saw Brett "Bandana" Michaels in concert this past weekend after a baseball game. I'm not ashamed to admit I was a big Poison fan back in the day. I am, however, ashamed to admit that I'm also a big Rock of Love fan.

If you're not familiar with the program, then you're probably doing something constructive with your free time. ROL -- as I like to call it -- is one of many shows in the VH1 catalog that brings stars from my childhood into the reality TV arena of today -- well past their expiration dates. The premise is that a dozen or so scantily-clad, booze-friendly women compete to be Brett's lover and rock his world.

Sound silly? A little bit.

Who cares about a 44-year-old rocker's love life? I do (for some strange reason). I'm not proud that I like this seemingly mindless show, but I'm also not alone. According to Brett, the program is the number-one rated show in VH1 history.

I'm not sure how I came to this affinity for watching massively made-up vixens being overly dramatic as they vie for the love of someone long past his prime… and I wonder, "Am I sick? Why am I watching this?"

I guess on some level I watch for the train-wreck aspect of it. Or maybe I just like to turn my brain off after a long day. Then again, maybe I like to watch the show to feel better about myself. Or maybe it's nostalgia? I'm not really sure why I do it, but I do it.

There I am, week in and week out, following the trials and tribulations of these strange characters trying to fall in love on TV. Will it work? Probably not, but I keep tuning in and hoping…

I hear the front door opening and quickly flip the channel to ESPN, so as not to give away my dirty little secret. I follow up my dating-game decadence by eating an entire cheese pizza -- another guilty pleasure.

I know it's not heroin, but watching these shows can't be doing much for my mind and it brings me back to a great question posed by oft-quoted pop culture professor, Robert Thompson:

"Why do smart people watch dumb TV?"

It is a question scholars will ponder for centuries to come…

What's your guiltiest pleasure? Do you find yourself planted on the couch when it's time to escape reality? Do you have a show you're ashamed to tell anyone you watch? It feels good to come clean, so tell us your guilty pleasures!

Shawn McKee graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a BA in Journalism and has written for The Broward and Miami New Times. Please don't tell anyone he watches Rock of Love, it would ruin his street cred.