Joe Cotton

I mean, so I started at the beginning, so to speak.

I've talked to Joe Cotton, one of the early members of True Bliss, popped out of Popstars.

A guy named Craig Wright, who probably a lot of people won't remember, who was the cameraman slash one of the people living in A show called Flatmates, which was a very early reality TV show in New Zealand.

A couple of celebrity Treasure Island people, James Musterpich and Chris Parker.

Absolutely do it.

Pop star Joe Cotton has been on Celebrity Treasure Island twice.

Once in 2004 and again 20 years later.

I just had the most fun ever, and it was like being at grown-up

camp.

While there are plenty of people, including those we heard from in the last episode, who've had a pretty rough time on reality shows, that experience is clearly not universal, as James Musterpick and Joe Cotton made clear.

I can talk about my experience, which I look back on very positively, even if some parts of the show still haunt me, years later, like a bad dream.

I have a grand unified theory.

And for you reality fans out there, and I know there's a ton of you, fear not, we're gonna hear from some of the people in front of the cameras.

We're talking The Bachelor with Art and Matilda, The Block with Stacey and Adam, Pop Stars with Jo Cotton, and so many more.

I've got a lot to share.

But it's also possible that I'm a little too close to it all.

And at the time, I don't recall them saying anything about a TV series.

I thought it was just an audition for a band.

This is Jo Cotton, famous now to those of us of a certain age as one of the members of that very first Popstars girl group, True Bliss.

I was brave.

Every other manufactured band in the world was out of this.

Erica Tackix, Carly Binding, Megan Cassie, who is now Megan Alatini, of course, Joe Cotton, and Kerry Harper.

That's Kerry Harper then.

There we go.