She may have left MTV Canada earlier this year for a new project in L.A., but Jessi Cruickshank assures me she hasn't taken to the Hollywood antics she poked fun of as host of the After Show.
“I wish I could hop in daddy’s Beemer every morning and just go for coffee with my friends and make a living clubbing, but that whole lifestyle is something I don’t think I will ever experience," she says. "I’m still trying to get in a meagre catfight with someone in a bar though. I think that would be good press for me.”
Her signature sense of humour in fine form, Cruickshank returns to MTV Canada today with a three-part series of specials documenting the surreal Hollywood life around her.
I spoke with Jessi last week to get the scoop on her Real Hollywood Survival Guide, and took the opportunity to do some quality celeb gossiping with someone I knew would share my enthusiasm for it.
I’m super excited about your new specials coming up, but before we get to that I wanted to get your take on one of the biggest news stories of the year. And that is that Zac Efron is now single. Now this was a huge event in my life, so I’m wondering where you were when you heard the news, and what your reaction was.
I’m so glad that you asked this question, Chris. Because I feel like it’s key as a journalist to create your own biggest news stories of the year. And this is also, for me, the biggest. I was in my bedroom at the time, there were a few candles lit. I saw something on my computer screen and I just – you know – it was a really happy moment for me. I want to say blissful. I felt a sense of elation that I haven’t felt all year at that moment. And everywhere I go now I’m just on the lookout. I’m on the hunt for him. Trying to track him down.
I knew you’d understand how I feel.
I’m already planning to hit up some Lakers games. And even though I’ll be up in the rafters, I’m going to try to make it down to the front row and work my magic.
I’m so glad you’re in L.A. to pursue this. Aside from that distraction, how has the transition from Canada to L.A. been?
There is significant culture shock and it’s hard to sort of pinpoint all of the different things. Culturally, it’s just like, working in entertainment, in what I do, it’s not unique. Everybody does it and everybody has a show that they want to pitch, everybody has a screenplay and everybody knows Brad Pitt through several people. You know, it’s just like this bizarre culture of celebrity and everyone secretly or overtly wants to be famous. And it’s this strange thing that I have sort of embraced because I find it to be so interesting and hilarious, but at the same time it’s something you really have to try to avoid in order to sort of stay sane and grounded and like a regular human being.
And so this is what you’re exploring through your series of specials, correct?
Yes, exploring is a nice way to put it. I like that. I almost want to say exploiting. It’s tough because I made fun of L.A. for four years on the After Show, so I wanted to sort of show L.A. for what it really is, and kind of crank that up a notch. So in the special I try to adopt a trendy religion -- Michael Lohan introduced me to god while I was here. I try to get photographed by the paparazzi with Jayde Nicole. I go to rehab with Dr. Drew. It’s all sort of very tongue in cheek, and hopefully people will get that and don’t think I’ve become a horrible person.
Can you tell me a little bit about your encounter with Michael Lohan?
Yes! We were at a mall shooting something completely different, and I was like uh, is that Michael Lohan? And obviously because I will do anything, I run over to Michael Lohan who’s just in the mall with his very young, lovely 20-something-year-old girlfriend. And he was – shockingly! – more than happy to do an interview in the mall food court right then and there. And after that he was very eager to pass on his publicist’s info and wanted to do more with us, and as a result we did a full sit down interview with Michael Lohan about a lot of things. I will say that Lindsay Lohan does make an appearance during his interview via his telephone. So that you will see and it’s pretty hilarious.
You also mentioned spending some time with Jayde Nicole, which had actually hit the internet via a series of paparazzi photos of you stumbling beside her. How excited were you to see those photos online?
The best is that those were obviously for the special, but at the time nobody knew. So I got so many messages on Twitter and on Facebook of people being like “You changed! You’re friends with Jayde! You’re a dirty paparazzi whatever.” It was so awful and I just wanted to tell people, no! Now they’ll see that it was all in fun. But you know, Jayde is a Playboy playmate, so I literally thought of the most photogenic person I know here and called her up. And she took me out one night and showed me how to really get noticed by the paparazzi. It was actually really embarrassing, and I still have a scar on my knee from the fall that happened that night.
What’s been your most exciting celeb encounter while in L.A.?
Other than Michael Lohan at the mall, I had dinner at the table next to Robert Pattinson a couple months ago, which I thought was so crazy. But I was out with some new friends, and I legitimately don’t have a lot of friends here. So at the time it was almost like a setup, and I was really trying to be cool for my new prospective friends. And yet I’m sitting next to Robert Pattinson, so inside I’m freaking out and all I want to do is take a really embarrassing photo. But I resisted and I acted really cool about it, and then I let myself freak out when we all left the restaurant. I did go to the bathroom about six times during that dinner just so I could walk passed him and check out what he was eating, and try to hear his conversation.
You spent a few years making fun of reality shows as host of the After Show. What do you think about the trailer for Lake Shore, the Canadian Jersey Shore?
I think it’s about time! The reason I wanted to do these specials is that everywhere you go in L.A. people are in character. You know, like the guy who’s serving you at the deli is a total larger than life character. And so is the woman at the tanning salon, and so is the plastic surgeon. And I thought, well maybe I could exploit this – these types of over the top personalities don’t exist in Canada as they do here. And then I saw the preview for Lake Shore and I was like, “Wait a second, someone actually found these people. They dug under rocks in Canada and found these characters.” And I was so excited to see that. I mean, is it the greatest representation of our fine country? Probably not. But I would watch it.
MTV Canada aired a farewell special for you in October, and now you’re back with these new specials. Can fans expect more MTV specials from you in the future?
I think at MTV and CTV they’re calling this my victory lap. I think this is my final MTV Canada series. Take them all in, because I think this will be it. But who knows. Amanda Bynes came out of retirement after two months, so you never know.
Are you going to continue reporting for Etalk from L.A.?
I hope so! We’re talking about awards season. That’s just so much fun for me, because they’re really good for letting me do what I want. So I get to go to these big events and ask people ridiculous things. And it’s been really fun, so hopefully I’ll be doing some stuff for awards season for Etalk.
Is there anywhere else fans should be looking out for you?
Yes, definitely, and I’ll be really excited to announce that probably in January or February.
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Until then, be sure to ch-check out Jessi Cruickshank’s Real Hollywood Survival Guide, airing today through Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. on MTV Canada.