Former "Ghost Hunters" cast member, Donna LaCroix
ATrueOriginall left a comment on one of my other posts with an interesting observation. It was in reference to a mention I made on “Noteworthy Blogs: GhostTheory”. In that post I listed some specific GhostTheory articles which I felt made that a noteworthy blog, including “Donna Lacroix Talks: Secrets Behind Ghost Hunters.”
In his article, Javier summed up his take on an interview Donna did with the GhostDivas. (Which ended up leading to quite the debacle. To get a flavor of that in case you missed out on the “Donna dishes on Ghost Hunters” snafu, check out Javier’s entertaining follow-up article “Donna LaCroix & Scifake Backtracking.” It’ll give you a sense of what a disaster Donna’s criticisms of Ghost Hunters spiraled into.)
Anyway, back to ATrue’s observation. Here’s the comment she left:
No clue on the princess bride thingy but I have something here I thought y’all might like to see. I know you have a more appropriate post on this but I am just too lazy to go find it. lol Actually, I’m too busy.
Check out the first video at the 7 minute mark. I think this may be where the Donna LaCroix thing with the Ghost Hunters originally stemmed from. This is a 2007 episode.
They were rude to her. I don’t think she would have even forgotten that incident, especially since they aired it, which would piss me off. I would have quit right then and there. The blame should have been placed on Jason and Grant but instead appears to have been put more so on Donna.
She also left the link to her post containing episodes from the show she was referring to with a follow up comment (which will make sense if you click the link and see it in your browser):
Ignore the Old Idaho address, it’s actually Crescent City Hotel in Arkansas. I use old trailer pages for newer posts so that’s why the confusion in the addy title.
MY TAKE ON THE VIDEO
Of course I checked out the link, found the first video and started watching at approximately the 6:30 mark.
Here’s my take on that scene: I don’t know how bad Jason and Grant were to Donna, but Steve certainly came across as a major butt.
I have to admit, though, Jason and Grant certainly needed to take the blame. (And somewhat did. Somewhat.)
But I also got the sense they were treating Steve more like part of the Boys’ Club and Donna as, well…not in the Boys’ Club.
And this is what it makes me wonder: This is what we were allowed to see on-screen. Was this the sort of thing she endured off-screen time and time again? (Maybe not the being blamed thing, but the Boys’ Club vibe?) And was it maybe even more intense than that?
A FEMALE’S P.O.V.
I know Donna struck Gary from GhostTheory as neurotic and irresponsible, and both him and Javier felt she was suffering from disgruntled employee syndrome when she leveled her accusations against Ghost Hunters.
I think the disgruntled thing might have factored in somewhat, but I’d like to add a female’s perspective.
Having worked for personalities similar to Grant and Jason’s before (just business owners, though, not celebs), it sucks being looked down on and treated as less than. Which some boys have a tendency to do to girls.
No, I’m not getting all battle of the sexes on anyone. My husband and I constantly argue about this. I see it, because I live. He doesn’t, because he’s a man and gets treated differently.
“BOSS OF YOU”
Another one of our friends, who’s male, understand what I mean and explains it thusly: “Well of course I do that! I’m a boy. And what does ‘boy’ stand for? Boss of You. We are the rulers of the universe and you girls need to remember that.”
(He adds that last bit to get my goat.)
Anyway, maybe Donna got tired of the “Boss of You” attitude. Which Jason and Grant are sometimes guilty of.
However, in their defense. I also remember plenty of episodes where their respect for Donna came across loud and clear.
ULTERIOR MOTIVES?
Ultimately, something went wrong somewhere and Donna wasn’t happy about it.
Either that, or some producer got a hold of her and coached her about leveling the accusations to spark a controversy, because they wanted to use her as a pawn for publicity purposes.
Or maybe it was even more strategic than that and was a defensive move.
Ghost Hunters has been taking ever-increasing heat for potentially staging evidence. Having Donna say something about it, then painting her as a space case with a grudge, helps them look like the victims. See where I’m going with that?
There’s lots of possibilities about all of it. I’m curious to hear other takes on it, so please feel free to comment at will.
There is definately two sides to the story……she said, they said…..who knows? Whatever, you don’t burn your bridges because it may come back and bite you in the ass.
The Donna situation is a real soap opera. If you look at this as a job because J&G consider themselves the bosses, it was really J&G’s fault Donna didn’t know what to do in Arkansas. The fact is, they were pushing her into a position that was not hers on a walk through that was not her skill set. Obviously, the editing process for the show made it so that they were guiding us to that point where Steve would be finally allowed on walk-throughs. They did that by using bits of interactions to foreshadow what would happen later in that episode and in future episodes. They do this all the time. When it goes to TV, however, it looks quite different. So, she could have been miffed about that, but she certainly knew these guys well enough to know the way they do things and Steve certainly chewed Brian up much more than Donna. Whatever made Donna to to GHI (whether to get away from J&G or be a big shot in a new show or see Europe) who knows, but once there her illness, Crohn’s Disease, certainly cut her time on that show to a halt because that’s a very hard to treat and serious illness. She should take care of her health, shut up about the show, and rise above it all. Take the higher ground. At least she doesn’t do adds for TurboTax. I respect her like hell for that.
Just the same, no matter what Donna did, I think (excuse my French) that Steve is a @#$%^&*
He is so rude to people. I got sick of it in GHA and noticed that he’s been that way for a very long time when I saw that 2007 video. He is forever using a condescending tone with the other “team” members. Sure, he may be their boss on GHA but the word ‘bossy’ doesn’t work for anyone when you’re a boss. He really has no such right. Tango is starting to sound like him too now. It’s as if he can, because Steve does it.
Anyway, that’s why I really don’t care to watch GH or GHA any longer. That’s playground garbage and they’re adults. So let the tv viewer with the Judge Judy mindset get their jollies out of such childish nonsense.
GHA and GH have a new boss now, lets hope we see change.
Admittedly, Steve is a natural misanthrope. We all have to deal with people like him who think that humanity is just in his way. He’s obviously uncomfortable in his own skin and very self conscious and doesn’t really like to have to deal with humans. In a nerdish way, I totally get him. I’ve known lots of awkward nerds like him and on the scale of self-absorbed doctors I’ve had to work with, he’s a charm. It’s pretty obvious by that close knit group of males that women will never work on the team. The only reason Kris survives is she keeps her mouth shut–unfortunately! But, she doesn’t seem like a fully formed woman yet. I think if they had an opinionated Jason-like middle-aged woman on the team–it might actually make the show worth watching again.
Wow. I missed something. GH and GHA have a new boss? Who? When did that happen? Man, I feel so out of the loop! (I knew about the TurboTax spot thanks to Julie’s post though…but just from the title. I saw it in my RSS but haven’t read it yet. Maybe there’s clues in there???)
All I know is, I liked that you sent the link with the vid, ATrue. Steve and Tango I enjoy watching for the comedic relief they bring to GH epis but I’m not so keen on how Steve’s been portrayed lately…because like you and Autumnforest pointed out, he’s got issues. Getting too big for his britches. They all are.
I always liked Donna and feel bad for her it went down this way. I kind of follow Julie’s philosophy…better not to burn bridges!
Thanks for all the awesome comments!
The incident happened with Andy before, on another earlier episode
he got it worse from jason an grant. steve was hard on him to.
Oh really? If I saw it (which I’m sure I did), I totally forgot about it. THANKS for stopping by and sharing! Seems to be a pattern developing doesn’t there?
GHOST HUNTERS TV SHOW IS FAKE , THEY USESP FX. JASON MAKE YOU THINK YOU SEE GHOST.JASON MAKES LOTS OF MONEY. DOING A TV SHOW ON SYFY CHANLE.
There sure has been a lot of talk about them faking results. I once wrote a post about the clips people had on YouTube that show you how they’ve faked stuff. That kind of got my attn. If you want to see it, it’s this link http://hauntjaunts.net/blog/2009/12/28/the-faked-footage-ghost-hunters-doesnt-want-you-to-see/
THANKS again for stopping by with your comments!
I tend to treat all TV ghost hunting shows as pure entertainment. They are just soap operas in the dark. It was usually the hapless Brian who used to catch the sharp end of the bosses tongues. It was a change to see someone else get both barrels. Here’s a question – if your boss was going to chew your rear end off about something, would you allow him/her the luxury of doing that on TV? – surely there’s some kind of law about that. Youtube is full of videos supposedly showing proof of fakery.
If you think about it, they are producing a TV show that relies on a certain amount of paranormal sensationalism. Can you imagine what the shows financiers would think if several of their shows summed up with them saying “well wasn’t that just a waste of time” – I know on several of the ghost hunts I have been on, that’s just what I have ended up saying. Thank God they don’t do what Most Haunted used to do over here. Claim bits of dust caught on camera were orbs. They used to do it to the point of making me want to both hurl and hurl things at the TV.
SOOOOOO funny you point out Most Haunted’s antics. I watched them before I discovered GH, and then I was dissatisfied with MH. Now I only really watched Ghost Adventures, because I know they will cheese it up and give me good entertainment in interesting locations. But the rest…it took me a while to understand what you pointed out. It’s sensationalized for entertainment purposes. Not true ghost hunting advancement of the science type stuff. And you’re last comment made me LOL yet again, funny man!
This issue has been buried under a mile of lies and truth.So much so now,no one can discern the difference.That’s the only truth left and it’s a sad one.
Agreed, Jonesy! Thanks for the comment.
I think the program is so sensationalised, and so many video’s are on Youtube hailing them as fakes, it’s hard to accurately gauge whether this is a publicity stunt or not, but I do find myself muttering “who cares anyway” under my breath
I feel ya, Dave! Agreed!
Paranormal State seems better value. At least their psychic Chip Coffey is a real time-served actor. Very polished pragram and almost believable (after a few drinks).
Dave, your comment made me LOL. As usual. You seem to have that effect!