Why Would Supernatural Have Paris Hilton On?

What's to be gained by airing an overexposed heiress?

By Leslie Gornstein Aug 29, 2009 1:00 PMTags
Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, SUPERNATURAL, Paris HiltonMichael Courtney/The CW; Ray Tamarra/Getty Images

Why would a successful show like Supernatural have someone like Paris Hilton guest star?!
—Banana_Happy, via Twitter

A CW publicist for Supernatural didn't return a request for comment. But if you are not a Paris Hilton fan, you probably don't want to know this...

She's still really popular. With somebody.

Through the social media marketing firm Karma Media Labs, CEO Lori Dicker and I were able to conclude that:

Hilton garners more conversation online than pretty much any other powerful female personality on TV—except probably The Oprah and maybe Kate Gosselin. When stacked against supposedly more respectable TV women, like Katherine Heigl, Tina Fey and AnnaLynne McCord, Paris blew them all away. She garners more conversation than those three combined.

That conversation isn't necessarily all that negative. Only about 22 percent of the talk in chat rooms, social media sites and the like is really all that bad. "A lot of the conversation online in the past 30 days has been about her redesigning her ex-boyfriend, Doug Reinhardt's, house."

The only even remotely negative connotation attached to Hilton is that sex tape. It still clings to her—many references to Hilton still have the word "porn" or "sex" nearby. But that's about it.

And maybe this will comfort you: The character that Hilton will play is, like, evil.

"Paris Hilton is playing a demonic creature that takes the form of...Paris Hilton," said series creator Eric Kripke in a statement.

So does that make this episode reality TV?

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Say what you will about her, Paris always creates a stir—just check out our Fashion Spotlight: Paris Hilton gallery.