The Jersey Shore guys didn't actually come to Miami. (image via MTV.com)
I complained previously here when a slew of reality shows were filming in Miami, including the new season of Jersey Shore and Bad Girls Club. Still, the horror of both is setting in now that they’re both on the air. It may be belaboring the points, but let’s clear up some misconceptions propagated by both shows. First, neither were actually filmed in Miami. They were both filmed on South Beach, a small section of Miami Beach — which is a separate city legally and separated from Miami by a bridge and water. Okay.
Specific Issues With Bad Girls Club:
• Neither of the two girls “from” Miami are from Miami. You know how you know? By the fact that they say they are “from” South Beach. Sure, there are a couple elementary schools within the southern part of Miami Beach, but these girls are not “from” South Beach. I think the more distasteful one, Morgan, is actually from Connecticut and has only been here for about a year. The vaguely punk rock one, Lea, says she’s been in South Beach for seven years, but considering she’s 22, something doesn’t add up, unless she was a teen runaway.
This girl is not from Miami, and makes us all look bad. (Image via Oxygen.com)
• However, Club Play, where the cast goes in the first episode, really is kind of distasteful, as snobby Morgan expresses.
• I’m not up to speed but I know that in a recent episode the girls hit up the Vagabond, in downtown Miami… Which is actually a decent, underground-ish place. Thursday nights there are for a party called Shake, which features old-school hip-hop, bass, and dubstep, and that’s where the girls appeared to start some kind of massive fight for TV. Don’t judge the place by that.
Specific Issues With Jersey Shore:
Let’s just evaluate the places they’ve gone in the show so far that I remember.
• Big Pink, the restaurant: OK, actually this is a great place on South Beach for hangover food in massive portions.
• Ocean’s Ten, some lounge from the first episode: I don’t know anyone who has ever set foot in there. It’s on Ocean Drive, horrendous tourist ground zero.
• B.E.D.: Has been in several episodes, because so many clubs turned down the show. B.E.D. has been open since I was a junior in high school (or possibly before that) so about 10 years. And it was one of the few supposedly high-end South Beach places to let in the Jersey Shore cast, so that’s all you need to know about that.
• Klutch, featured in the third episode: Closed before the show’s season even began. Coincidence?
