I saw Vanilla Ice's new reality show

[RandomGuy]

Heard about what Vanilla Ice is up to?

He has (gasp) his own reality show on the DIY (do it yourself) network.

He is a contractor for million-dollar foreclosure rennovations. He goes into fucked up high-dollar foreclosure mansions and rehabs them with his new crew.

Good for him, I guess. He wasnt' really all that talented, so I hope he found his thang.

Rob Van Winkle is his real name, if you care, heh.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129984259


STEVE INSKEEP, host:

And today's last word in business is Vanilla Ice.

(Soundbite of song, "Ice, Ice, Baby")

VANILLA ICE (Rapper): (Rapping) Ice, ice, baby.

The rapper, also known as Rob Van Winkle, has overhauled his career several times. Now he's renovating houses on a new TV show starting next month. It's called "The Vanilla Ice Project," airing on the DIY Network.

(Soundbite of DIY network, "The Vanilla Ice Project")

VANILLA ICE: But when I'm not touring around the world, I'm here in Palm Beach, making money in real estate.

(Soundbite of song, "Ice, Ice, Baby")

VANILLA ICE: I flip houses. Check out my latest project. It looks pretty on the outside, but inside, this six-bedroom, five-bath mansion, it is trashed.

INSKEEP: You know, this is not Rob Van Winkle's first time on TV. For the reality show "The Surreal Life," he lived in a mansion with televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker and actor Erik Estrada.

In an interview about the new program with The New York Times, Mr. Van Winkle said he got into real estate by accident. He tells the paper he owned too many houses and noticed the handsome profits he made after selling a few, so he started flipping houses, as it's called. Vanilla Ice says he gets inspiration from real estate guru Robert Sheeman, who wrote a book to answer the question, quote, "How Come That Idiot's Rich and I'm Not?"

That's the business news on MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:

And I'm Linda Wertheimer.

(Soundbite of "Ice, Ice, Baby")

VANILLA ICE: (Rapping) [quotes omitted for the sake of not exposing anybody to the craptacular lyrics-RG].

[Dark Gable]

Heard about it but not interested.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

It's actually pretty cool. He does some nice work. Good for him. He opened Trees up again in Deep Ellum so he's actively making up for introducing ice ice baby to the world. There was one thing he did on the show that made me say "was that legal or a good idea?" He bought a house and the pool was boarded up for 2 years. He said you buy houses and when the pool is covered up you don't know what you'll get. It could be empty or it could have stagnant water which cause many problems. Anyway, he opened it up and it had water. It was sitting for 2 years and stunk. Overwhelmed a couple people from his team. Anyway, all they did was pump the stagnant water into the community lake. Thought it was a bit odd.

[DarkReign]

Watched it for a couple minutes. Most of the "drama" seems staged (TV? STAGED?! Blasphemy!), but otherwise, its a pretty rudimentary show that hits the points of house flipping.

[The Gemini Method]

Call him whatever you like...but he's been able to maintain some visibility for about 20 or so years. I'm not sure he's cognizant of that fact, or, if society is either...but from Ice Ice Baby to being pistol whipped while working at a ice cream parlor to this is remarkable...

[MiamiHeat]

for a long time this dude had insecurity issues about his Vanilla Ice days. he was embarrassed and would get defensive and violent.....

looks like he finally settled down. he has nothing to be ashamed of. if i were him, i'd laugh at myself and remember that he was on top of the world, had money, women, fame at a young age and partied it up. nothing to be ashamed about, it's cool.

[TDMVPDPOY]

it was either him or that other white clown who sang 'informer'

[DPG21920]

It's actually pretty cool. He does some nice work. Good for him. He opened Trees up again in Deep Ellum so he's actively making up for introducing ice ice baby to the world. There was one thing he did on the show that made me say "was that legal or a good idea?" He bought a house and the pool was boarded up for 2 years. He said you buy houses and when the pool is covered up you don't know what you'll get. It could be empty or it could have stagnant water which cause many problems. Anyway, he opened it up and it had water. It was sitting for 2 years and stunk. Overwhelmed a couple people from his team. Anyway, all they did was pump the stagnant water into the community lake. Thought it was a bit odd.

I like Trees. Cool place.