Fonzworth Bentley is preparing for the debut of his own MTV Reality Show, From Gs to Gents.
The hour-long show, which premieres Tuesday, brings together 14 tough guys, giving them a chance to change their lives while competing for a $100,000 prize.
But host Fonzworth Bentley tells AllHipHop.com that the new series will be as much of a learning experience for the viewers, as it was for the contestants.
“As far as reality, I didn’t really wanna do anything unless it was going to help somebody else,” Bentley told AllHipHop.com. “One of the things that I said was that I wanted this show to be real. And a lot of that I conducted myself. People had real transformations. That’s what’s gonna make this a really good show. It ain’t just about the quick joke.”
The show’s title was rumored to be a spin-off of Flavor of Love’s Charm School, where past male contestants from I Love New York would undergo similar transformations to the ones attempted by the ladies on Charm School.
“It wasn’t just about getting [contestants] who were the most street,” explained Bentley. “We wanted people that not only were that, but people that fundamentally wanted to make a change, but didn’t have anybody to actually come to the hood and give them those tools and give them that opportunity so that they could learn these things.”
Each week during the show’s ten-week run, the fourteen gentleman-hopefuls will be put through a series of lessons and challenges aiming to teach them how to lose the front, focus their passion and market themselves.
In addition to Bentley, whose book Advance Your Swagger: How to Use Manners, Confidence and Style to Get Ahead inspired many of the lessons, a series of guest hosts will also be on hand to share their expertise with the contestants. ‘
They include Hip-Hop moguls Master P and Irv Gotti, fashion designer Ozwald Boateng; food and wine expert Ted Allen; as well as Sean Yazbeck and Michael Malin: two former reality show contestants who parlayed similar opportunities into super-successful businesses.
In a sense, Bentley’s appearance on From Gs to Gents is the continuation of a mission he began since penning Advance Your Swagger.
“Since my book came out, my goal has been to talk to 80 different schools in two years,” said Bentley, who has visited 65 schools so far. “I targeted a lot of single-gender schools,” Bentley revealed. “I’ve been everywhere from Harvard to the Wharton Business School at [University of] Pennsylvania, to Morehouse, Spelman and Clark.
“I’ve gone to speak to students because a lot of these students are coming out of school, but they’re not getting the information that they need for the real world,” Bentley said.
From Gs to Gents premieres July 15 at 10 pm on MTV.