Kamal Givens (born March 25, 1981), also known as Chance, is an American rapper and television personality. Givens is perhaps best known for his work in

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1 ...

, beginning with his role on season one of VH1's ''

I Love New York I Love New York (stylized ) is a slogan, a logo, and a song that are the basis of an advertising campaign developed by the marketing firm of Wells, Rich, Greene under the directorship of Mary Wells Lawrence used since 1977 to promote tourism ...

'' (2007), wherein he was one of 20 contenders for the affections of Tiffany "New York" Pollard. On ''I Love New York,'' Givens appears with his brother Ahmad Givens, (whose nickname was Real). Givens is also a former

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of not ...

artist.

Early life and The Stallionaires

Givens was the second of four children born to Robert and Claudia Givens in the South Central section of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. Givens was raised on a horse ranch with his brothers, Ahmad, Sean and Micah Givens. Givens, his younger brothers Ahmad and Micah were in a rap group known as the Stallionaires, in reference to where they were raised.

Reality television

''I Love New York'' (2007)

Chance and Real (then age 24 and 25 respectively) were discovered by VH1 producers through their MySpace pages in 2006. The brothers were among 20 contestants in ''I Love New York''. This ''

Bachelor A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

''-style dating show features

Tiffany Pollard Tiffany Pollard (born January 6, 1982) is an American television personality. She came to public prominence for her participation on the first two seasons of VH1's ''Flavor of Love'' (2006–2007). Pollard was given the nickname "New York" by ...

, better known as New York, in her quest to find true love. Chance was eliminated on the 11th episode, making him the show's runner-up. Chance rides goats on show. He then later was brought back on ''I Love New York 2'' as a guest to help New York pick the right guy that season. Chance is also noteworthy, because not picking him was the only regret New York voiced publicly.

''I Love Money'' (2008)

Chance was one of the 17 contestants in the VH1 reality show ''

I Love Money ''I Love Money'' is an American reality television series that aired on VH1 and was produced by 51 Minds Entertainment, a subsidiary of Endemol, and was a spin-off of ''Flavor of Love'', '' Charm School'', ''I Love New York'', ''Rock of Love'', ...

'', which features returning contestants from past VH1 reality shows such as ''

Flavor of Love ''Flavor of Love'' is an American reality television dating game show starring Flavor Flav of the rap group Public Enemy. While not a direct spin-off, the show was a result of Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav's failed relationship on ''Strange ...

'', ''I Love New York'', and ''

Rock of Love with Bret Michaels ''Rock of Love with Bret Michaels'' is an American reality television dating game show. It stars Bret Michaels, the lead singer from the band Poison. The show closely resembles the show ''Flavor of Love''. The first season featured 25 women comp ...

''. The 17 competed in physical and mental challenges en route to a grand prize of $250,000. Chance was eliminated around the middle of the show, after failing at being a "team player" in several challenges and generally being high maintenance. Hoopz ( Nicole Alexander) ultimately won ''I Love Money''.

''Real Chance of Love'' (2008)

Subsequently, VH1 announced Chance and Real were to hosts a new, similar reality show, ''

Real Chance of Love ''Real Chance of Love'' is an American reality television dating game show featuring two brothers, Ahmad "Real" Givens (born on January 8, 1982, died on February 21, 2015, aged 33) and Kamal "Chance" Givens, (born on March 25, 1981), of the rap ...

''. It premiered October 20, 2008 after a "sneak peek" five days earlier, and involved 17 women vying for the affection of the brothers over the span of 11 episodes. Chance ended up not choosing anyone, saying he wasn't ready to fall in love.

''Real Chance of Love 2'' (2009)

Chance and Real returned for the second season of Real Chance of Love entitled, ''

Real Chance of Love 2 ''Real Chance of Love 2: Back in the Saddle'' is the second season of the VH1 reality television dating series ''Real Chance of Love''. Ahmad Givens (Real) and Kamal Givens (Chance), former contestants on ''I Love New York'' are the central figu ...

'', where they tried to find love, once again, with 20 new women vying for their affection. The second season ended with Chance choosing a contestant named "Hot Wings" over runner-up "Mamacita".

''Real and Chance: The Legend Hunters'' (2010)

A spin-off of ''Real Chance of Love'' called, '' Real and Chance: The Legend Hunters'' premiered on VH1 on September 19, 2010, and consisted of ten 60-minute episodes that aired through November 24, 2010.

''The Next: 15'' (2016)

Real made a cameo on TV One series '' The Next :15'' appearing as a friend of Tiffany Pollar

''One Mo' Chance'' (2020-2021)

In August 2020, it was announced that Chance would be once again starring in his own reality dating show, '' One Mo’ Chance, One Mo' Chance'', to air on the

Zeus Network Zeus is a subscription-based video streaming service launched on July 13, 2018. It was founded by social media personalities DeStorm Power, Amanda Cerny, King Bach, and television producer Lemuel Plummer, who serves as president and CEO. The serv ...

. The season aired 11 episodes. On September 29, 2021, season 2 of the show premiered. The 12 episode season ended December 12, 2021.

Personal life

In November 2017, Chance was attacked by a

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

while filming a documentary.

Ahmad's death

Kamal's brother Ahmad died from

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowe ...

on February 21, 2015, aged 35. Ahmad is survived by his widow Raquel, son Mahdi, and other relatives.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Givens, Kamal 1981 births Living people Participants in American reality television series African-American rappers 21st-century American rappers 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American people