Here’s this tour’s first acknowledgment of my inherent un-hip-ness: I had no clue who Jesse James was until the panel for his new Spike series, “Jesse James is a Dead Man.” At first, I tried to convince myself that I was wrong, that maybe I still am hip and nobody else knows who he is, either, but when I heard that he’d also been added to the line-up of the sophomore season of “Celebrity Apprentice,” it became clear that I’m definitely uncool. And to think that my reputation could’ve been salvaged if only I’d watched “Monster Garage,” the Discovery Channel series which he hosted…
Just in case you, too, are oblivious to who Mr. James is, allow me offer up this photo:
What you can’t see from the photo, however, is just how much damage has been done to this man since beginning work on this series. According to Spike TV’s Kevin Kay, James will be facing a new challenge each week that could potentially kill him, which sounds like the kind of programming that makes insurance agents run screaming. “We’ve only shot half the season so far, (and) Jesse’s already broken two ribs, his elbow, and was literally on fire,” said Kay. “It makes you wonder what Jesse will
do for a season finale if in fact he makes it that far.”
“If there’s not some danger involved with something that I want to do, then it’s kind of not fun,” said James. “If it’s really easy and safe and seems like a great idea and sensible, then to me, that’s kind of boring. Life is only a one-lap race, so I want to do everything on that one lap just to see what it’s like.”
