We've had Elaine Bramhall on Wife Swap. We've had Anwar on American Idol. Now meet the latest local victim to be fed to the Reality TV lions: Vinnie Tunnero, owner of So Cal Studio and Salon in Verona, who swapped lives with a posh Boca Rato hairstylist for a hair stylist swap show called "Split Ends," which premieres on the Style Network this month.
But, woh horsie, if we're used to being the suburban sophisticates in swap TV, think again. In this press release, Verona is portrayed as a distinctly downscale burg with a blue collar vibe:
Meet Vinnie, a twenty-nine year old, macho bad boy who likes to party. His home base, Verona, New Jersey is where Livia's (Tony's Mother) house in the Sopranos is filmed. His staff has a kind of gothic, Harley style, who "had lots of tattoos and pierced just about everything as far as I could tell," says Jody [Jack, co-owner of Salon Oasis in Boca Raton].
Salon Oasis, on the other hand, has white sheer curtains that flutter from a two-story height and serves its clients mimosas on silver trays.
No wonder Jody missed home so much. At So Cal Salon---a work in progress-- she found herself discarding towels, trying to keep clients out of the drips of an air conditioner leak, and spackling and repainting the walls herself. She says she tried to manage with grace and charm in an environment to which she was unaccustomed, but as the camera crew video taped from dawn through the night, we'll know what really happened come November.
To make matters worse, Vinnie took all his haircutting tools with him to Florida, not even leaving Jody a pair of scissors.
But imagine our haughty hair-oine when she had to take over Vinnie's night-job, deejaying at Red Cheetah in Montclair.
When she's at home, Jody is what one might call a health nut. She eats healthy, exercises, takes vitamins and does not drink alcohol well. Much to her dismay, Vinnie is a radio personality who MCs and deejays a couple of nights a week at a Red Cheetah Dance Club in Montclair, NJ. Jody consumed a few shots and went on the air (103.5 KTU) for about a ½ hour to be a good sport. Instead of the booze helping her to garner the courage to emulate Vinnie's dancing energetic performance on stage, Jody landed (not too gingerly) on her tush, as she went to step off the stage after the show.
We can't even imagine how she dealt with the plastic cups. Tune in Friday, Nov. 24 at 9 pm on the Style Network.
Professional haridressers are supposed to carry their own set of hairstyling tools.