British Columbia’s beauty queen pioneer, Jenna Talackova, has just signed on for her own reality-TV show. Last year, Jenna’s story became international news when she singlehandedly (okay, Gloria Allred helped a bit) got Miss Universe to change their rules to allow transgender contestants to compete. Jenna was initially removed from the Miss Universe Canada competition when officials discovered she was born male. She didn’t win the pageant, but she won a big battle for equality.
After turning down several reality-TV offers, including a Bachelorette-style show where she wouldn’t have revealed that she was transgender until halfway through the series, Jenna has signed on to star in her own reality show, Brave New Girl, to air on E! Canada in September 2013. The show will consist of eight 30-minute episodes following Jenna as she moves from Vancouver to Toronto.
“I believe everything happens for a reason,” Talackova tells The Globe and Mail. “A lot of my friends and people who meet me [have thought] I should have a show because I’m so funny. I think if there’s one thing I’m good at it’s definitely being funny. I just hope people fall in love with my comedy and, like, my personality and really enjoy the show.”
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