Tiffany Pollard Is A Reality Television Legend, But Where Are Her Former Suitors Now?
When it comes to love… what’s your flavor? We first met the beautiful, outrageous, and zany love of our lives, Tiffany Pollard AKA New York when she walked into Flava Flav’s “mansion” in 2006. She was one of the twenty women vying for the former hype man’s heart and while she may not have walked away with him… she truly won a loyal fandom who continues to follow her… and a series of spin off reality shows, including her own dating franchise. When she isn’t busy brunching with Drag Queens, making appearances on RuPaul’s Drag Race, or being a special guest at gay bars, she is active through the reality television circuit. To warm the hearts of us, Pollard and the brilliant minds behind VH1 decided to give a socially distanced and sometimes virtual reunion with Pollard, her hysterical mother Sister Michelle Rothschild-Patterson, and a handful of random contestants from her mind blowing dating competition series, I Love New York. We’ve been keeping up with Pollard like she’s been a Kardashian, but the guys have kind of fallen back into their routine lives that aren’t so much in front of the camera. Vivica A. Fox plays host of the reunion and brings us to a rundown on what some of the guys have been up to since filming:
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First, we are reintroduced to season two winner and the incredibly gorgeous and kind, George Weisgerber AKA Tailor Made. Weisgerber, as Pollard stated, has been aging backwards and genuinely has never looked better than ever. They both came to mutual decision claiming that they didn’t work out because Pollard pursued stardom in Hollywood and he maintained his seemingly “regular” life with his daughter in New York, the city. Pollard is quick to defend him, saying she is the person who ruined their relationship and it has become a regret that he may have been the one who got away. Even Sister Patterson proclaims she has always loved him. It’s a sad moment. Typically, Pollard is flying off the handles and can be a bit abrasive, but she is sincere in her feelings of regret.
Next, Frank “The Entertainer” Maresca, who also had a reality dating competition series on VH1, comes on the stage and gives us a somber update. He had recently gotten divorced and lost his father, which leads Fox to shed an empathetic tear. Maresca has moved back into his mother’s basement, which he isn’t ashamed of, and is now a garbage man. Maresca is probably the hottest garbage man we’ve seen and… hey, one man’s trash is another man’s…
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In a surprise cameo appearance, Patrick Samuel “Tango” Hunter, season one’s winner, steps on stage. He randomly kept Pollard’s false eyelashes from their first outing together. At the reunion finale of the first season, Tango took back his marriage proposal to Pollard after she was in confessionals making fun of his mother. They ended poorly… but we did get a second season of the show out of it. Still, Pollard’s words weren’t kind to him as he exited the stage back in the day. Tango apologizes to Pollard: He is bothered re-watching their reunion, especially now, to watch an African American man make a fool of a strong African American woman on a huge media platform. However, he believed Pollard was all for show and nothing about the series was real. Lee Marks AKA Mr. Boston, who sits on stage with them, says that he knew ahead of time that Tango was going to dump Pollard on stage and agreed to leave the stage with him as an insult to her. As an update: Tango finally states he is happily involved in a relationship at the moment.
Fox reveals that Kamal “Chance” Givens was supposed to show up, but pulled out at the last minute. Pollard is confused, because she recently saw him and isn’t sure why he would make that decision. They run in the same social circles and Pollard insinuated that they still are occasionally romantic. Pollard remembers Chance’s brother, who was also a contestant on the first season of her series, Ahmad “Real” Givens, who passed from colon cancer in 2015. Tango reads a note Real wrote to him while filming from 2007 and gets emotional recalling his friend. Mr. Boston calls Chance a coward for not showing up, but Tango is more sympathetic and wishes he could’ve reconnected with Chance, especially after their close relationship and to remember his deceased brother.
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A random inclusion is Jamal Trulove… ironically nicknamed Milliown (Million) by Pollard. Trulove was only in one episode of season two, but his life afterwards is nothing short of insanity fit for a Lifetime movie or an episode of Law & Order. Trulove was falsely accused of murder and after serving six years, he was found innocent and acquitted – released from jail. Trulove explains his side of the story: One person falsely said he was involved in a murder and during his second trial, he was found to be not guilty. He discussed his current activism that stems from his experience. Thankfully, he would eventually be awarded over $13M for his false imprisonment. Trulove is now an actor.
In an even more shocking cameo appearance, Drag Race alumni, Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, asks Pollard via video chat how to keep a man! Pollard honestly states to focus on one man and give it your all to him. The rest of the reunited contestants don’t have any regrets. Tango closes with telling Pollard she is a reality television icon and no one gives her enough credit for changing the way we indulge in media. There were plenty of other contestants who should’ve appeared, but time was limited and we should still be happy to get a little taste of the love once again.
The reunion ends with Mr. Boston giving Pollard another awkward lap dance, something he was infamously known for, to the song Slow Motion by Juvenile. Pollard closes with saying that she is engaged and she is happy to not be on her search for love any longer: A secret she is finally releasing to the world.
If you’d like to relive some of the greatest I Love New York moments, VH1 has made a great compilation for you to bask in the glory and heyday of reality television. Check it out below:
Writer’s Note: This is the opinion of one Instinct Magazine contributor and does not reflect the views of Instinct Magazine itself or fellow contributors.
