Reality television is not for the faint of heart. This is especially true for competition shows, which require you to be likable (so you don’t incur the wrath of social media), have a good social game, and be equipped with all the physical and mental abilities you need to win. For whatever reason, Jamie Lynn Spears, currently far from America’s sweetheart, has decided that unscripted television is her new career path — until it isn’t.
In the past year, this unfortunate non-babe was chosen to appear on three competition reality shows, making it just a few weeks before getting the boot or voluntarily quitting. And this week she made the very predictable choice of walking out of her last race after being challenged by a piece of chocolate.
In one of the funniest yet most predictable pieces of news you’ll ever read, Jamie Lynn has quit the British reality show I’m a celebrity… Get me out of here “due to medical reasons” this week. In a statement to The GuardianITV called the first Zoe 101 star of “a fantastic campmate who triumphed in trials and bonded well with her fellow celebrities.” Her final episode aired on Wednesday night, making her the second contestant to leave the show this season due to health issues.
To be clear, her health issues – as far as we know – are emotional, as Jamie Lynn talks about missing her family and children on the show. (Viewers online mocked her frequent crying throughout the series.) To be fair, this program, which drops a bunch of C- and D-list celebrities into the Australian jungle for survived– as a competition, it looks really hellish. But this complaint about Jamie Lynn is a bit ironic considering she’s been purposely jumping from reality show to reality show this year. In the episode leading up to her release, she officially broke after sharing a piece of chocolate with fellow cast member Tony Bellew and was reminded of the outside world.
Jamie Lynn’s latest exit from a reality competition is funny enough. But add in her other failed attempts to compete Special Forces: The World’s Toughest Test and Dancing with the stars this year and you have one of the worst entries into the reality realm we’ve seen in decades. On Special Forces (another hell of a race that I can’t necessarily blame anyone for giving up on), she made it to Episode 3 before deciding it was too much. And on Dancing with the stars, she only had to do the tango and the cha-cha-cha before America decided they were done watching her dance. She also got pretty harsh marks from the judges.
While I’ll never pull a mom for getting a check, Jamie Lynn’s reality TV career can’t be separated from her pretty obvious attempts to rebuild her image after her feud with her older sister, Britney Spears. The “Toxic” singer accused her lesser-known sibling of conspiring against her, along with other members of her family, and of doing nothing to help end her conservative ex. It didn’t help that Jamie Lynn published a memoir in the midst of this drama. In the book, she describes a sob story from her life while showing little sympathy for Britney’s plight.
Two months later she appeared Special Forces in order to achieve something for herself after having to live in her sister’s shadow all her life. (Britney rightly drags her on Instagram, given the weather.) Until the weather DWTS came, the Nickelodeon alum seemed to have learned to keep quiet about her sister. Instead, she did it as an opportunity to give back to the acting community during their strike. (We don’t know if SAG-AFTRA knew about this or if she received her paychecks.)
On I’m a celebrity, she claims she learned not to talk about her sister publicly before assuring her colleagues that she “never took anything” from her. She also played down their feud, as if something about their dynamic could be described as normal sisterly drama. She even said that Britney probably watched her on the show. (I doubt!)
Unfortunately, I don’t see Jamie Lynn’s efforts stopping here. Her role in Zoe 101 movie earlier this year did not rekindle her acting career, based on her IMDb. Although I’m sure she could land a movie of a lifetime if she tried. Also, I just feel like she was put on this Earth to be on it Celebrity Big Brother UK. If she somehow ends up on The traitorsbut I will have to protest.
