Beverly Hills Groomer: Animal Planet show w/ serial arsonist
Aug 7, 2022 18:43:39 GMT
baliebox4916 likes this
Post by xeno on Aug 7, 2022 18:43:39 GMT
Hi! I'm wondering if anyone can help me track down the obscure, short-lived Animal Planet series Beverly Hills Groomer.
Basic facts: Beverly Hills Groomer was an Animal Planet series that ran 12 episodes in 2009 from May to June, 2009:
www.imdb.com/title/tt1442406/
www.tvguide.com/tvshows/beverly-hills-groomer/episodes-season-1/1030236642/
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv-mBvyRW84
Why you should care: For a little extra context, this was a spin-off (that I never knew about til a couple days ago) of a marginally less obscure, marginally less short-lived reality TV show I watched in 2008-2009, Groomer Has It. Hosted by Jai Rodriguez of Queer Eye fame, Groomer Has It was the dog grooming equivalent of, say, ANTM for models or, more directly, Project Runaway for fashion designers: professional dog groomers competed in various dog grooming challenges, were successively eliminated based on who did the worst in them, until one groomer remained and was crowned Groomer of the Year!, given a $50,000 cash prize and a mobile dog grooming salon. Neat!
Season one was won by an Artist Knox, who actually didn't perform the best in most of the challenges along the way and was arguably not the best dog groomer in the cast (the runner-up, Jonathan, won far more challenges throughout the season), but Artist was probably the best winner for TV: he was young, handsome, fun, likable, and a total underdog both in the game and outside of it, with backstory about not having come from the best environment, etc. At the time, 12-year-old me was totally rooting for Artist, because he was fun and easy to like; my older sibling, who took the dog grooming aspect much more seriously, was disappointed by the outcome.
A couple years ago, I wondered what ever became of Artist. What's he up to? Is he still grooming dogs? Well, a quick Google Search revealed that he's not grooming as many dogs now, because "what he's up to" is serial arson lmfao:
www.pasadenastarnews.com/2014/03/08/ex-television-pet-groomer-artis-knox-headed-to-prison-for-arson/
Technically, he was only convicted on one count of arson, so he might not literally be a "serial arsonist" per se -- but he had multiple "suspicious fires" in his past that he was suspected of doing, but never able to be conclusively charged with committing... including the dog grooming salon he won for his time on the show lmaooo. I'm a big reality TV fan, and this is the weirdest story of what became of someone after their time on a show that I've ever heard, easily. Every now and then people have wild acting careers after the show that you don't expect, of course occasionally someone commits a horrible crime and gets justifiably cancelled... but I gotta say, I've never heard of a likable underdog winner whose post-show infamy came from burning down buildings. Like, that's certainly... unique.
At any rate: Apparently shortly after Groomer Has It - but before, you know, the arson - Artist was given his own Animal Planet spinoff, Beverly Hills Groomer, about his process of trying to use his winnings to purchase his first salon... the very same salon that would later burn to the ground under suspicious circumstances hahaha.
So obviously, watching this would be a super weird and interesting experience, and it's an obscure little pocket of niche reality TV that deserves (for better or worse) to be preserved.
Someone out there must have this taped, right? It doesn't seem to be on any streaming services now - I guess torching a carport and destroying six people's cars is a sure-fire way to get cancelled these days, who knew? - but it was televised in full. The FAR more controversial Megan Wants A Millionaire, whose story is a lot darker and sadder (like, don't commit arson, but at least Artist never killed anyone), eventually saw the light of day on this very site, so surely there must be hope for the preservation of Beverly Hills Groomer.
Any leads?
This appears to be the only circulating clip I can find: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mH6FNjo79M uploaded by the business who guest-starred in that episode. I may reach out to them asking if they happen to have the full episode, though I doubt they do or they'd have uploaded this clip in higher quality.
Basic facts: Beverly Hills Groomer was an Animal Planet series that ran 12 episodes in 2009 from May to June, 2009:
www.imdb.com/title/tt1442406/
www.tvguide.com/tvshows/beverly-hills-groomer/episodes-season-1/1030236642/
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv-mBvyRW84
Why you should care: For a little extra context, this was a spin-off (that I never knew about til a couple days ago) of a marginally less obscure, marginally less short-lived reality TV show I watched in 2008-2009, Groomer Has It. Hosted by Jai Rodriguez of Queer Eye fame, Groomer Has It was the dog grooming equivalent of, say, ANTM for models or, more directly, Project Runaway for fashion designers: professional dog groomers competed in various dog grooming challenges, were successively eliminated based on who did the worst in them, until one groomer remained and was crowned Groomer of the Year!, given a $50,000 cash prize and a mobile dog grooming salon. Neat!
Season one was won by an Artist Knox, who actually didn't perform the best in most of the challenges along the way and was arguably not the best dog groomer in the cast (the runner-up, Jonathan, won far more challenges throughout the season), but Artist was probably the best winner for TV: he was young, handsome, fun, likable, and a total underdog both in the game and outside of it, with backstory about not having come from the best environment, etc. At the time, 12-year-old me was totally rooting for Artist, because he was fun and easy to like; my older sibling, who took the dog grooming aspect much more seriously, was disappointed by the outcome.
A couple years ago, I wondered what ever became of Artist. What's he up to? Is he still grooming dogs? Well, a quick Google Search revealed that he's not grooming as many dogs now, because "what he's up to" is serial arson lmfao:
www.pasadenastarnews.com/2014/03/08/ex-television-pet-groomer-artis-knox-headed-to-prison-for-arson/
Technically, he was only convicted on one count of arson, so he might not literally be a "serial arsonist" per se -- but he had multiple "suspicious fires" in his past that he was suspected of doing, but never able to be conclusively charged with committing... including the dog grooming salon he won for his time on the show lmaooo. I'm a big reality TV fan, and this is the weirdest story of what became of someone after their time on a show that I've ever heard, easily. Every now and then people have wild acting careers after the show that you don't expect, of course occasionally someone commits a horrible crime and gets justifiably cancelled... but I gotta say, I've never heard of a likable underdog winner whose post-show infamy came from burning down buildings. Like, that's certainly... unique.
At any rate: Apparently shortly after Groomer Has It - but before, you know, the arson - Artist was given his own Animal Planet spinoff, Beverly Hills Groomer, about his process of trying to use his winnings to purchase his first salon... the very same salon that would later burn to the ground under suspicious circumstances hahaha.
So obviously, watching this would be a super weird and interesting experience, and it's an obscure little pocket of niche reality TV that deserves (for better or worse) to be preserved.
Someone out there must have this taped, right? It doesn't seem to be on any streaming services now - I guess torching a carport and destroying six people's cars is a sure-fire way to get cancelled these days, who knew? - but it was televised in full. The FAR more controversial Megan Wants A Millionaire, whose story is a lot darker and sadder (like, don't commit arson, but at least Artist never killed anyone), eventually saw the light of day on this very site, so surely there must be hope for the preservation of Beverly Hills Groomer.
Any leads?
This appears to be the only circulating clip I can find: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mH6FNjo79M uploaded by the business who guest-starred in that episode. I may reach out to them asking if they happen to have the full episode, though I doubt they do or they'd have uploaded this clip in higher quality.
