We’re living in the age of the cyber-celebrity. People like Perez Hilton, Jessica Lee Rose, and Markos Zúniga have circumvented the standard avenues to stardom in lieu of the Information Superhighway. Tila Tequila (born Tila Nguyen) is one of the latest self-made celebrities poised on the brink of crossing over into mainstream stardom. She is best known as the “most popular person on MySpace,” having more “friends” in the online community than anyone, save its president, the ubiquitous Tom Anderson.
Tequila’s new “reality” TV show, A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila will premiere October 9 on MTV. In it 16 straight men and 16 lesbians will live in Tila’s house and compete for her affection, the twist being that the contestants will not be aware of her bisexuality until later in the series.
Before her dating romp hits the nation, Tequila took a break to sit down and flirt with The Advocate.
So what’s your new show all about?
My quest to find someone I love, male [or] female.
Was the show’s bisexual angle your idea?
Well, it’s a part of who I am. They saw I was interesting and wanted to do something with me, and when they found out I’m bisexual they were like, “Oh, let’s do that!”
A lot of straight women in entertainment, Madonna for example, have portrayed themselves in erotic scenes with other women. Some people may think your bisexuality is more about shock value. How truly gay are you?
Well, I guess those are newbies asking that, because I’ve been doing this for a long frickin’ time. To anyone who doubts that, I would say: Track back and look at my history. I am definitely not a newbie.
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