Media Whores: The Gosselins!

What is going on with "Jon and Kate Plus Eight," the hit reality show on TLC? Have they taken their new found fame way too far? Jon and Kate once seemed like a nice religious couple that were blessed with many children, when they weren't sure they would have the opportunity to parent any. So where did these monsters come from?

Today the twins, Mady and Cara are eight and the sextuplets four, but Jon and Kate actually look younger than when the show began, more camera-friendly and polished. They’ve had their teeth whitened; Jon’s been working out and got a (free) hair transplant. Kate is looking more like a 20-something headed for a date than the 33-year-old mom with eight kids.

Not only are they being paid for the show but they take every opportunity to merchandise their fame. I guess they need to pay new $1.13 million house on 24 acres in Lower Heidelberg Township, near Reading in Berks County.

Jon and Kate have booked more and more speaking engagements at churches, where, according to several attendees and organizers, the collection basket sometimes gets passed so audience members can make a “love offering” to the family. Sometimes, the duo sells autographed photos for $20 a pop (cash only). Last spring, Jon and Kate hired L.A. manager Julie Carson May, who quickly broke the news to several groups that had booked the couple that they wouldn’t be able to make it, citing the production schedule and the demands of the kids. Jody Clark, of the Ohio Child Conservation League, had agreed to a $3,000 speaking fee, first-class airfare, a rental car and accommodations in exchange for the couple’s appearance at a convention this coming October. “I was pissed,” says Clark. May, she says, “apologized, said the Gosselins had spoken to God and made this decision.” She was offered a conciliatory autographed picture. At Noel Methodist Church in Louisiana, organizers say they pulled the plug after learning they’d be on the hook for first-class airfare and a $1,600-a-day bodyguard. A gig in Colorado was called off with just three weeks’ notice. “They are totally exploiting those kids now,” Clark says. “At the time we were booking them, the show wasn’t what it is now. It’s taken on a life of its own; it’s so commercial. I think the jig is up with them.”

Jon and Kate have even alienated family members. Do you noticed some of the regulars on past episodes are no longer featured in the series. Such as Aunt Jodi she has mysteriously disappeared from the show.

Jodi — who is married to Kate’s brother, Kevin — was a popular fixture on Jon & Kate Plus 8, often babysitting the brood, cooking with them, playing dress-up, even taking the kids overnight. Until she suddenly vanished from the series, leaving viewers wondering if she’d moved or died. Last June, Jodi’s sister Julie unraveled the mystery, blogging that TLC had finally decided to compensate Jodi for appearing on the show, at which point, she says, Kate lost it, insisting that only she and Jon be paid. Soon, Jodi — along with Kevin, another regular — was gone. In a video posted on Julie’s blog, Jodi confirms that the website is accurate. “Sometimes,” she says, “the truth is hard to hear, and this is one of those situations.”

The show must go on. There are even rumors the Gosselins might adopt? So it would be Jon and Kate plus Nine? They need to keep the viewers tuning in. Just a note in California, Jon & Kate Plus 8 as it exists today would be highly illegal, because of the state’s extensive protections for all kids on camera, scripted or reality.

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