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As regular readers of Reality Rocks well know, my bar for bad TV is set soooo low, it's practically subterranean. I'll happily spend a lazy Sunday watching a day-long marathon of For The Love Of Ray J or Gone Country 3, not caring even as I feel my brain-stem cells die off one by one as the day goes on. But there was one reality show at which I always drew the line of good taste. And that show was Rock Star: INXS. 

Yes, I was postively addicted to Rock Star: Supernova and I still desperately hope that a season of Rock Star: Velvet Revolver or Rock Star: The Darkness is in pre-production now. But back in 2005, I honestly found the idea of replacing a DEAD lead singer--in particular a dead lead singer who died at age 36 under dubious and perhaps downright depraved circumstances (we shall never know for sure what went on in Michael Hutchence's hotel room the night he died)--via an Idol-style talent show truly disgusting. And besides, INXS's iconic Michael Hutchence was not an easy man to replace.

That being said, the show went on despite my one-woman boycott, and the surviving members of the '80s Aussie band eventually awarded Michael's mic to winner J.D. Fortune, who like many reality TV contestants was living out of his car before he auditioned for the show. The revamped INXS lineup then went on to moderate post-show success with their new Hutchence-soundalike frontman, the aptly titled album Switch, and the single "Pretty Vegas":

But apparently, now Fortune's fortune has run out again.

See, J.D. recently told Entertainment Tonight Canada that INXS abruptly fired him without warning and "with a handshake" at a Hong Kong airport, and now--after serving almost two years with INXS--he is penniless and back to living in his car.

"From the street to the air back to the street again. It is only me," he said.

While I obviously did not support the Hutchence-less INXS, I must admit I do feel bad about how things have panned out for J.D. If what he is saying is true (INXS's publicist has refused to comment so far), then this further reflects on the poor character of the bandmates who elected to dishonor Hutchence by replacing him with a reality-show wannabe in the first place.

However, regardless of the somewhat tasteless way in which J.D. initially landed his INXS gig, after 23 long months with the band he probably deserved better treatment than this.

Meanwhile, J.D. is reportedly flat broke partially because he spent much of his own money on his upcoming solo album, The Death of a Motivational Speaker--which, I think, would also make a good title for a VH1 Celebreality show chronicling J.D.'s downfall and attempted comeback. Or hey, maybe J.D. can just audition for Rock Star: Velvet Revolver or Rock Star: The Darkness after all.

I just hope there's no season of Rock Star: INXS 2 in the works.