When Does Passion Become a Problem?
Meet two women whose hobbies have become addictions.
May 29, 2008 -- For two women, simple hobbies -- watching TV and playing video games -- have become serious problems, interfering in their lives so much that family and friends want to stage interventions.
Candi Kalp admitted that beneath a veneer of responsibility, she hides a deep secret, an obsession that consumes her life.
She is addicted to reality television.
"I'll just keep watching. Then I'll watch another one, watch another one," Kalp told "Good Morning America." "I'm a reality TV junkie. ... I need reality rehab."
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Every week, Kalp said she watches an average of 20 reality TV shows.
"It's so pathetic, yet every week I have to see these people," Kalp said. "[It's] like they're my friends, like I know them."
Her obsession has gotten so bad that she can't just tune in to the shows in the evening. Instead, Kalp, 36, said she plans ahead, recording four reality episodes daily on two televisions.
She can't wait to watch the shows, so Kalp has several television sets -- some are used to record, others to watch.
"I have two DVRs going on two different TVs, so that means four show tapings," Kalp explained. "Plus, I might need to go to another TV to actually watch a show."
And no room is off-limits to reality television -- Kalp even has a TV in her bathroom.
She owns her own home in Easton, Mass., and works part time in her mother's stationery store, occasionally picking up shifts as a waitress to make extra cash.
But Kalp's real-life friends said they are somewhere between concerned and appalled.
"She needs a huge intervention," said friend Wendy Whiteside.
"She's got a problem," agreed another, Jennifer Nosalek.
While her friends might tell her to get a life, Kalp said she does have one and has no desire or intention of changing it.
"The reason I watch reality TV is because it makes me feel better about myself," she told ABC News. "You're looking at all these other people, and they're really a bunch of losers. So, it sort of validates yourself, like, 'Oh, I'm not that bad.'"
