When you think of reality TV, Omaha isn’t the first to come to mind. But the city has had some locals appear on shows like Survivor, The Real World, Shark Tank and Spikes Trouble in Paradise, just to name a few. But where are those reality stars now?
Back in 2011 Kirby Keomysay competed on Season two of Oxygen’s Hair Battle Spectacular. The series featured hair stylists as they compete for a $100,000 grand prize and to see who can create the most outrageous hair styles.
Keomysay the owner/creative director of Kontempo salon ended up winning the competition and used the prize money to make a dream come true of opening up his own salon.
“I did a little bit of a bathroom remodel at home,” Keomysay said. “Maybe did a little bit of shopping with it too and then, but mostly spent a lot of the earnings and the winnings on Kontempo.”
The show was a learning experience for Keomysay and gave him the skills he needs to run his full service salon, Kontempo.
Keomysay said, “It’s really taught me a lot to be a leader and to kind of train and to guide my stylist the direction they want to head.”
Life after Hair Battle has been normal, although he doesn’t get recognized in public it was a humbling experience and of course a resume builder.
“I would probably do it again because I met a lot of really cool people. I learned a lot of cool new hairstyles, learned a lot of new techniques and I learned a lot about myself as well,” said Keomysay.
Jones Brothers Cupcakes the locally owned business was featured on Food Networks hit show Cupcake Wars, not once but three times.
Owner, Bill Jones said, “we’ve really grown from all the experiences they’ve been really positive for us.”
The show was great for Jones Bros Cupcakes, before the show the business was selling on average 350 cupcakes and after the show aired around 2,500 a day. Now Jones Bros serves more than just cupcakes.
“And so people come in now and like oh you do lunch and I’m like yeah we do you know,” said Jones.
Jones Bros won the cupcake competition on their second appearance on the show. Taking home $10,000 and displaying their cupcake creation at the Country Music Awards.
Jones said, “it’s really helped us out, it really was a net positive for sure.”
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