''Strange Love'' is an American reality television series featuring Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav that aired on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

. Sparked by their on-screen romance in the third season of VH1's '' The Surreal Life'', it is a

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...

that focused solely on Brigitte and Flav. The series premiered on January 9, 2005 and ended its run on April 24, 2005. Due to mutual jealousy, the couple was constantly fighting and yelling, and they went their separate ways in the end, with Nielsen choosing instead to live with her Italian boyfriend, Mattia Dessi. Flavor Flav would go on to have his own reality show, '' Flavor of Love'', where he continued to search for love.

Episodes

# "The Flavor of Love" – ''aired'': January 9, 2005 (1.8M viewers) # "The Smack Is Back" – ''aired'': January 16, 2005 # "Balls Well That Ends Well" – ''aired'': January 23, 2005 # "The Wine, The Romance, and The Truth" – ''aired'': January 30, 2005 # "Flav's Fried Chicken" – ''aired'': February 13, 2005 # "Public Enemy Number 1" – ''aired'': February 20, 2005 # "Bronx Cheers" – ''aired'': March 6, 2005 # "The Family That Flav's Together, Stays Together" – ''aired'': March 27, 2005 # "Flav Can't Lose" – ''aired'': April 3, 2005 # "You May Now Flav the Bride" – ''aired'': April 10, 2005 # "Reunion" – ''aired'': April 24, 2005

Controversy

North Carolina's Reverend Paul Scott labeled Flav's performance "a coon act on a modern-day minstrel show." Flav's friend and fellow Public Enemy member

Chuck D Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D helped creat ...

accused VH1 of "Flavsploitation" in
journal entry
regarding the March 27 episode which showed a tense conflict between Flav, three of his children and their mother.

"Peeps will let the Bridgette thing perhaps slide, but not the wild statements and what seems like a disrespect conflict on camera with his children and their mother. Last week, it was that same part of his family who went on Wendy Williams' program and launched the worst on-air diatribe ever directed at a father by his children."

Flav responded by saying,

"I want ''Strange Love'' to be a mirror for them. I want them to see themselves, because they did disrespect me also. But that's their mother. When children grow up without both parents, there's an imbalance — and what you see on the show with my kids is an imbalance…But I love my kids."

References

External links

* * {{VH1 original programming 2005 American television series debuts 2005 American television series endings 2000s American reality television series American dating and relationship reality television series American television spin-offs Reality television spin-offs VH1 original programming The Surreal Life spinoffs English-language television shows Television series by 51 Minds Entertainment Television series by Endemol Television series by Lionsgate Television