Reza Farahan wants us to know that not all reality TV is scripted and “steered” by the powers-that-be. (aka Ryan Seacrest). The Shahs of Sunset star says that he and his fellow cast mates are the real deal. And unlike some of those others famewhores on the air, you will find this gang together even when they’re not filming. “It’s not a reality show based on characters that were brought together randomly — I had dinner with GG last night, I talk to Mike everyday, MJ and Sammy are at a music festival together right now.” Reza says that no story lines are contrived or forced on them. You know, it was their own decision to gift each other with colonics and film it for the world to see (and be traumatized by). “Ryan would call, email, text, check in but it was just to make sure we were happy, make sure we were OK, make sure that whatever feedback, whether positive or negative that we were OK with it. But it was never to steer us. There’s no steering.” Also not fake (besides Reza’s pornstache)? The intimate details of his life. He is committed to spreading his fabulousness to all the land and in the only way he knows how: through brutal honesty and an “all or nothing” attitude. “You can’t have expectations of wanting to bring about change in your community if you have one foot in and one foot out…. There’s so much homophobia and it was either: not do it, or if I was going to do it, I was going to put it all out there. And that’s what I did.” Reza is okay with putting it all out there, but he said that his cast mates have a lot of regret over things they did or said on camera, but he didn’t dish any details. Perhaps Reza is hoping that by sharing their lives, they’ll do some good to break down some of the misunderstandings out there about Persians in general. “We’re humanizing a group of people that have been characterized and misrepresented as terrorists. If I’m a hard-working gay man who’s proud of himself and his family supports him, I want to showcase that instead of what’s been showcased since I got to this country, which is that we’re terrorists, we all have camels in our driveways and we all own an Uzi, all of which are not true.” Even though he’s wanting to bring some change and give viewers a new perspective on Persians, he also isn’t the spokesperson for the entire community. “At the end of the day we’re not trying to represent anything other than ourselves. I wasn’t elected by the Persian House of Representatives to represent my people and this is not a documentary on the plight of the Persian people. This is about six fun, fabulous people living in L.A., period.” After seeing themselves in the six season one episodes, I’m dying to see how they’ll behave in season two since some of them have regrets. Hopefully it doesn’t get boring!
[Photo credit: BravoTv]
