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Background:
Tila Tequila is the stage name of Tila Nguyen. Born in Singapore to Vietnamese parents, Tila spent most of her life in the United States, where she eventually was discovered in a mall by a Playboy magazine scout. This lead to modeling jobs and appearances on reality TV and game shows.
Tila is also known for having close to two million MySpace friends.
MTV's A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila, aired in 2007.
The premise of the show was that Tila, a self-identified bisexual, was on a quest to find love from among both male and female contestants.
The show has been has been called everything from offensive to the worst reality TV show yet. Still, it had a strong following.
At the end of the season, Tila picked a male contestant. However, reports that the "relationship" had fizzled soon surfaced. Shortly after this, MTV announced that there would be a second season of the show.
Sheela Lambert, the founder of the Bi Writers Association, blogged about her concerns with the show on the Huffington Post:
"The bi community spends much of its time fighting stereotypes and myths that don't accurately reflect who we are. People tend to associate us solely with our sexuality and forget that, like everyone else, we have other aspects to our lives. We fear that this show is more likely to add fuel to the fire of bisexual stereotypes, than to put them out."
Another view appeared in an article originally published in American Sexual Magazine. Nicole Kristal, a bisexual writer, says that despite the shows flaws:
"I've never had the opportunity before to watch a fellow bisexual woman struggle on national television with the disadvantages and advantages of dating both sexes, and for this reason alone, the show is truly groundbreaking."
Like many other bisexuals, Tila has had to face scrutiny over her sexual orientation, and the claim that she is not really bisexual.
Tila responded to these allegations on her website saying,
"One minute, back in the day when I was still modeling, people talked...about me for being "lesbian" for shooting sexy pictures with other females and now I'm too "straight" come one....who's really the confused one here? Definitely not me! HA!"
