Jamie Foxx Wants His Reality MTV

Jamie Foxx is exec producing new show for MTV

By Marc Malkin Jul 02, 2008 9:20 PMTags
Jamie Foxx, Fonzworth BentleyLisa O'Connor/ZUMAPress.com, AP Photo/Jim Cooper

Jamie Foxx is adding reality television to his résumé.

The Oscar winner is an executive producer of MTV's From G's to Gents, a new competition show in which host Fonzworth Bentley (aka, Diddy's Personal Umbrella Holder) attempts to makeover a bunch of rather rough men into charming sophisticates.

Think Pygmalion meets Boyz n the Hood.

"He really jumped into that executive-producer seat," Bentley says of Foxx. "There were some ideas that I would come up with, and I'd say, 'You know, I would love to be able to do this.' He was like, 'All right! If that's what we've got to do to get these guys to change, then let's do it.'"

And these were not easy men to change. Bentley not only did his best to teach them, among other things, how to dress, speak and even eat, but he was also the sole judge deciding who goes and who stays. The winner takes home $100,000.

The hardest part was watching one man struggle with major anger issues who was repeatedly fired from various jobs because of violence, Bentley said. He won't reveal too much—you have to wait until the series premieres on July 15—but Bentley admits he had to give the man the boot.

"We actually ended up bringing in this lady who meets with prisoners in San Quentin—like a life coach—and we did some sessions with her," Bentley says. "She's actually still doing sessions with this young man."