Learning from Celebrities: The Surreal Life, Episode 2

This week, the celebs take an overnight camping trip that should help them to get to know one another. Corey goes on and on about how he was screwed over by the world, Jerri gets treated to a luxury tent and Hammer practices what he preaches on several occasions. What did each house guest teach us this week? Let's take a look.

Corey - Like I said above, Corey started out the episode complaining about how he is constantly being screwed over by everyone in the past as well as the present. It was obvious that nobody feels like listening to him - most of the other celebs fell asleep. Apparently, this wasn't the first time he went off on how the world hates him because Gabrielle tells the camera that he does it quite often. I find this to be a little funny because they have only been together now for three days! We were also treated to a comical challenge that involved Corey (along with Hammer) trying to win a spot in Jerri's tent. This team should have blown the others away and how they screwed it up I have no idea. Maybe they did it on purpose because Corey has a girlfriend and Hammer has a wife and neither wanted to be alone with Jerri. It's a possibility. Then again, they just might be clueless when it comes to rowing a boat. What did we learn from Corey this week though? Well, when the world hands you a lemon, make some lemonade instead of chewing on it and being sour. It was nice to see Hammer give Corey a pep talk and tell him the only reason he is not getting roles is because he is not trying hard enough. It was apparent Corey did not want to hear that, but it was the truth. His first step should be to get some self-esteem, and work from there.

Vince - I'm starting to really like Vince. He comes out with the funniest lines sometimes. We first see him talking to his fiancée about his camping trip, talking about how much he is going to love it (yeah right). He was the only one in the car who looked remotely interested in listening to Corey talk about his problems, but the whole time he wanted him to shut up. Vince was a good sport when stopping at the truck stop and talking to the people who wanted autographs and for him to talk on their cell phones to people they had called. Although, most of them were probably nice because they were on camera. I couldn't see Corey being that nice to people had the cameras not been there. Vince seems like a genuine guy though and I think he would have talked to them either way. He was funny in the tent competition trying to cover Gabrielle with the sand, but I knew they had no chance because Emmanuel was so small (I'll get to this in a bit). We learned from Vince this episode that sometimes it is okay to just bite the bullet and take one for the team. As much as he did not want to listen to what Corey had to say, he sat there and was nice about it. I know had it been me I would have had to put him in his place.

Brande - Oh Brande, even when you wake up with your eyes full of "sleepies" and your hair all tangled up in huge knots you still look beautiful… anyway, Brande seems to be the most normal person in the house. I just need to know one thing: Did she bring Mercedes along for the camping trip? [Editor's Note: Yes, but we just didn't really see the dog.] If so, I love her 10 times more. She did kind of get the shaft when she won the tent challenge because she did most of the work. Emmanuel just had to lay there and get buried while Brande dug all the sand and I'm willing to bet she did most of the rowing on the boat. She wasn't bitter though, and that is a good sign. She set up her tent very quickly with Gabrielle and showed that she is more than just a pretty face. I also love the fact that while Jerri and Emmanuel were dining on steak and cake she talked about how she eats that stuff every day and the hot dogs and beans that she was eating were fine. I did not think she would be able to adapt that well. There was nothing funnier this week than when she almost picked at their scraps though and Hammer caught her. She goes on to say that she was just checking it out, but we know that she wanted a bite! Brande taught us this week that if you are put in a situation that is not your everyday routine, just go with it. She was a good sport to take the camping trip, especially since she was not a big fan of camping. You could tell how much she wanted Jerri to share that tent with her.

Emmanuel - I want to say two things very quickly. The first is that Manny is my favorite person on this show. The second is that if any network is reading this, you need to offer this guy a new show. Just have a camera follow him around and show it every day. It can't be worse than The Anna Nicole Show! He is just so funny! Every time he laughs I think I'm done. It gets to the point where watching him strut around and crack his jokes has me rolling on the floor. It's times like this that I wish I had watched Webster. This week, Manny came through and won a night in the tent with Jerri because she chose him instead of Brande to stay with her. Manny was happy because he got a bed and would eat some good food. Not only that, but we got to see him act like he is going to score with Jerri, and he even played it off to the others when he woke up in the morning. How funny was it to see him buried in the sand and when the competition was over he was so packed down that he needed Brande to get him out? Another classic moment courtesy of Manny. He showed us that a never-give-up attitude is the best way to approach life. Sure, they fell behind in the tent challenge, but still managed a come from behind victory thanks to Manny's size. I love that little guy.