There’s a fine line between love and hate — just ask the cast members of Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars. On the Friday, June 10, episode of the relationship-counseling series, the couples were forced to face some of their deepest fears head-on, and not surprisingly, some fared better than others.
Having missed day one of activities, Tara Reid and Dean May got acquainted with their housemates. Asked what the source of their troubles was, Dean didn’t say much, but Tara cited conflicting schedules. Specifically, she claimed that he was busy at night while she was busy during the day so they never got to spend time together. Soon, however, it came out that he had recently moved in with another girl while Tara had flitted off to Europe — though they still both insisted they were each other’s best friends.
Not everyone bought that explanation, however. “They live a crazy lifestyle and they might be on the same crazy drugs,” Memphitz reasoned to the camera while Toya (of Toya’s Family Affair) partly laughed and partly rolled her eyes in disapproval.
Tara’s Life Map Has a Few Holes in It
Early on, many of the boot camp participants were asked to discuss key events in their lives that had made big impacts on them. Tara began by sharing a memory of getting dropped off at her house while she was a young girl during a blizzard when no one was home and she was nearly freezing to death. From there, she skipped to “two weeks ago” when she was holding her brother’s baby, insisting that moment had “changed” her.
When pressed for some details of her life in between those two events, however, the actress became visibly agitated and ultimately stormed out. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore!” she shouted. “There’s no point.” Um. OK.
‘Til Death Do Us Part
In an attempt to get the boot campers to realize the errors of their ways, Jim and Elizabeth Carroll set up an exercise they simply called “the Morgue.” It was pretty much what it sounds like: an exercise in which one person in each couple played dead, and the other person had to face what that situation would be like.
First up were Brittish Williams and Lorenzo Gordon (from Basketball Wives: LA). Looking at Brittish on the metal table, Lorenzo immediately broke down in tears as he read a letter of the (made-up) angry final words he’d said to his now-dead love before she’d stormed off. These two both seemed affected by the exercise and held hands in their seats as they watched the rest of the couples act out the scene.
Like Lorenzo, Memphitz was immediately touched at the sight of his partner lying “dead” on the table. He too went through the exercise, reading an emotional letter of mean-spirited words to his estranged wife Toya. Unlike Brittish, however, Toya struggled to reciprocate her husband’s emotions. “This is freaking me out,” she said when pressed to respond. Ultimately, however, she too cracked and admitted, “I can’t love you like you love me because I don’t know that love.”
Lisa D’Amato (of America’s Next Top Model) and husband Adam Friedman, as well as Bachelor in Paradise‘s Michelle Money and Cody Sattler also played along and seemed affected by the event in a positive way. Then came Tara.
Tara Refuses to Participate
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Tara barked as she looked at Dean lying on the table. “I’m not doing this. This is not me.” Glancing over the fake letter the experts had handed her to read, she added, “This is not the last things I said to Dean. This is not what’s supposed to help me and Dean.” She then turned to Dean directly and rebuked him for breaking character (he had started moving at this point). She was getting more and more agitated with each passing second.
“This is not what I’m going to read because I’m not playing a role!” she shouted. “If you want me to be myself, I’m not doing this.” She added, “If you want, I can act it out!”
Brittish tried to chime in helpfully, noting that Lorenzo had been in tears since he completed the exercise, but Tara wasn’t having it. Everyone agreed she was emotionally shutting down and clearly hiding something. “She’s living as if her life is just a series of tabloid events,” Elizabeth Carroll speculated. “There is a wound there that we’re going to have to address.” Not if Tara can help it, they’re not.
Judge Toler Lays Down the Law
Just in time, Judge Lynn Toler from Divorce Court arrived to provide some verdicts — or, should we say, insights — on the behavior she’d witnessed from the couples that day. Still basking in the aftermath of their bonding session in “the morgue,” Lorenzo and Brittish were basically glowing. “Words can’t explain. I love this girl to death,” Lorenzo said.
Toler then turned to Toya and Memphitz, advising them to contain their fear so that their fear didn’t cause them to lose the very things that they were trying desperately to save. She had similar advice for Lisa and Adam.
It seemed, however, that Michelle and Cody were struggling almost as much as Tara and Dean. Encouraged by Toler to speak up, Cody admitted that he’d seen a text message Michelle had sent to Bachelor host Chris Harrison saying, “Should I stay with Cody for one more season of amazing TV or should I walk home and break up with him?” Cody said it was devastating and noted that she had, in fact, dumped him … on Thanksgiving … while they were on vacation with her family. Ouch.
Meanwhile, when Judge Toler tried to talk to Tara and Dean, Tara once again became instantly defensive and once again stormed out. Lisa called Tara a paranoid drama queen and Tara shouted, “F–k this! I’m the f–k out!”
Tell Us: Do you think Tara is being a paranoid drama queen?
Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars airs on We TV Fridays at 9 p.m. ET.
