Image via Splash News
Page Six broke the news earlier this week that Pippa Middleton is thisclose to signing on as a Today correspondent. Photos of Middleton and a film crew in Wyoming further fueled those reports, which claimed that NBC may pay her between $500,000 and $600,000.
While I’m sure that Middleton is a lovely woman, and just as “jolly hockeysticks” as the Daily Mail once reported her to be, so far I’ve seen no evidence proving she belongs on camera.
I’ve got five fairly good reasons why it’s just not a good idea for any American outlet, let alone Today, to hire Middleton.
1. You all saw her interview with Matt Lauer, yes? The painful one that pushed Lauer to the point of interpretive dancing in order to get more than a one-word answer from Middleton? Riveting stuff, those quasi sentences about life as the Duchess of Cambridge‘s sister.
2. No matter what they or “well-placed” sources might say, both Buckingham Palace and Clarence House have Middleton on a short leash, and I imagine they don’t hesitate to give her a little zap if they think she’s embarrassing the royal family or feel she’s using them to promote her own ventures.
3. Middleton’s a fine writer, having struck deals with Vanity Fair, the Telegraph and Waitrose Kitchen, but being mighty with the pen does not equal an on-camera presence. Just look at footage of Chelsea Clinton and Jenna Bush.
4. If Today thinks they’re going to get anything, anything remotely related to the words George, William, Kate, Harry, Anmer, Kensington, Windsor, Palace, Castle, they are sorely mistaken. Just as it was when she promoted her cookbook, Celebrate, the publicity tour was over before it even started. Middleton didn’t even get a chance to promote in the states because the palace reportedly controlled her appearances. It also didn’t help that her book went on sale around the same time that topless photos of Catherine surfaced. Can’t have those kinds of questions being asked.
5. I know I sound redundant but I can’t stress enough how much of a career kill being remotely connected to the royal family is. Middleton’s not afforded the same protection (bodily, legal or otherwise) as her sister, since she’s isn’t a member of the royal family. And yet, her hands are tied when it comes to carving out her own career, lest she be seen as using the royal connection to her own advantage.
The sum Middleton might be offered is reportedly $500,000, not worth the small amount of attention Americans pay to Catherine’s younger sister. Middleton had her moment in the sun, which she can thank pilates and those superb genes for. However, she’s at the mercy of the palace and is forced to tread a fine line when it comes to her own professional life.
Actually, Pippa was offered $650,000 to be an NBC ‘Today’ Life Correspondent here in The States. She would have been perfect, captivating and beyond amazing with this role. Thankfully for her, Pippa dodged a bullet. She saw through the rotting polluted Matt Lauer incrustation of NBC and wisely moved on. But before she did, Pippa said ‘yes’ to me on one fun evening when I asked her to dance at the infamous Wort Hotel (Silver Dollar Bar) here in Jackson, Wyoming. She was here on a practice shoot for the ‘Today’ Show. She had been turning down every other offer to dance. However, I knew that she wanted to learn how to ‘Cowboy Swing’ before she left our little historic Western town just south of Yellowstone National Park. So I asked – and we danced – more than once!
Very sad that we ended up with Harry and Markle rather than Pippa.
Check it out on You Tube; ‘Kris Allison Pippa Middleton’
That YouTube video is fantastic! And thank you for clarifying this.