VH1’s The Pickup Artist, a reality show where dating coach Erik Von Markovik aka “Mystery” trains a bunch of frustrated chumps to be successful with women, faced criticism in its first season for taking on Hollywood-type contestants who weren’t such chumps to begin with. Some of them were out-of-work actors and comedians; the runner-up was a former model who once had abs of steel.

For the show’s second season, VH1 gets smart by looking for gameless nerds exactly where they hang out: the Internet. That’s right, they’re fishing where the fish swim. Their second season casting call is an online video competition. Aspiring Casanovas can upload videos of their courtship skills (or lack thereof).

Interestingly enough, Markovik built his reputation on the Internet during the newsgroup days. That’s where he first posted field reports, and that’s where he published his first ebook. This is something of a return to his online roots — but this time, with social video.

If nothing else, the audition videos should be good for a few laughs. At least now we’ll see how well Markovik’s teachings work for people who severely need social skills.

(Via Steve Bryant.)

Post from: EveryJoe