Remember when the American dream was getting a good job with a pension and living happily ever after in a house surrounded by a white picket fence with your spouse and 2.5 kids? Well that dream is long gone. The new dream is being famous, baby. And, the rise of reality television shows like Survivor, The Real World, and The Apprentice is making it easy for average "Joes" to become overnight celebrities ... and that may or may not be a good thing.

Mike McCluney, better known to viewers of MTV's "Diddy"-produced Making the Band 4 as Big Mike, never doubted that he would be famous -- it was just a matter of when. He put in the work: sung in his church's gospel choir, served as captain of his high school's step team, performed in local talent shows and minored in music at Benedict College before dropping out to further pursue his music career. He was just waiting for the moment when his preparation met his opportunity.

The Gaffney, S.C., native thought his shot at the big time arrived when American Idol held open auditions in Charlotte a few years ago. "I tried out, but they told me I couldn't sing," he said. "It kind of hurt me, and I didn't sing for two weeks. But then I thought about it ... it was some British dude [Simon Cowell] telling me I couldn't sing. Who the hell is he?"

So he went back to working on his craft and patiently waited until another opportunity arose. That chance came when MTV held auditions in Charlotte for its wildly popular series Making the Band, which chronicles the journey contestants take from undiscovered hopefuls to recording artists on Diddy's Bad Boy Records. "The auditions were crazy," said McCluney. "They were cutting people for singing ... cutting people for dancing, and I kind of felt like [the judges] didn't really want me in the competition because back then I was a little heavier. If it wasn't for Michael Bivins [a judge on the show and founding member of the 1980s-era boy band New Edition] I probably wouldn't have made it on the show."

With his foot in the door, McCluney set out to maximize the situation. "I worked really hard and listened to what the judges were telling me. They basically made it seem like I was already in the band, I just had to keep my weight down," he said. "I felt like I did what I had to do. And if I didn't make the band, I was like 'OK, I'll take this experience and exposure and go somewhere else and try to make it happen.'"

Taking the judges' criticism about his weight into consideration, McCluney hit the gym hard, dropping more than 50 pounds by the show's end. Feeling lighter and vocally stronger, McCluney felt confident standing next to his fellow cast mates as MTV broadcasted their fate live from its Time's Square studio in August. Although McCluney felt like he did all he could and believed his chances of making the band were strong, he realized that he wasn't dealing with the average label exec -- he was dealing with Sean "Diddy" Combs, a man known just as much for his unpredictability as he is for his hits. During Making the Band 4, Diddy made contestants walk to all five boroughs in New York City singing and passing out flyers for a concert during the middle of the winter. And in past seasons, he made contestants walk from Manhattan to Brooklyn, about a nine-mile trek, just to get him a piece of cheesecake. "He's a very demanding guy," said McCluney. "He's hard to please, because you never know what he wants."

Now that he's in the band, McCluney is ready to move his career forward and build a name for himself, as well as his band, in the music industry. "I've been doing a lot of touring and performing, but I'm ready to get back in the studio," he said. "I'm ready to get paid, so I'm definitely ready to get in the studio."

McCluney and his fellow band members will start filming the next season of Making the Band, which will chronicle the highs and lows of the recording process, in November and their debut album will drop in early March 2008.

As McCluney has learned, reality TV can serve as a platform and launch the careers of many talented people who might otherwise remain unknown despite their tremendous talent. From Jennifer Hudson, Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken to Charlotte's own Fantasia, reality television has become a place for raw, untapped talent to be discovered.

Will Smith (no, not that Will Smith!) also found reality television to be the perfect avenue to display his talents. Smith, a contestant on the second season of HGTV's Design Star -- an interior design competition where the winner gets to host their own show on HGTV -- never really thought about being an interior designer; in fact, he was on track to work in the justice system.

"I double majored in criminal justice and African-American studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and was planning on working with juveniles in the court system," he said. "I was living with a young lady and we separated, so I redecorated the entire house to sort of start fresh. When my friends saw it, they told me I should think about being a designer."

Smith heard what his friends suggested and started studying design and even took a year of design courses at Central Piedmont Community College before eventually opening his own design firm, Interior Motives (www.interiormotives.ws). With solid design experience under his belt, most of which was self-taught, Smith wanted to take his career to the next level, so he auditioned for Design Star.

"I didn't have any hesitation about applying ... I thought it was a good opportunity to get my work out there," he said. "Actually, I wanted to apply for season one, but I was in the middle of renovating my home ... I couldn't find my portfolio ... I couldn't find my pictures ... basically my life just wasn't organized. So when I saw the ads for season two, I applied and they called me back."

Walking around Smith's Charlotte home, you can see why he was picked for the show. His home is elegantly decorated with contemporary furniture, light fixtures and accessories accented with a touch of Afro-centric and Asian pieces. From outward appearances, Smith looks more like a construction worker than an interior designer. Talk to him and listen to his ideas and techniques about design, however, and you'll see his eyes light up and the passion come out. To him, interior design isn't just about making your home look pretty; it's an art form.

Smith's eye for design combined with his passion and Kanye West-ish confidence (minus West's whining and bigger-than-life ego) got him to the final three of the competition before he was eliminated. Although he didn't win the competition, Smith still got what he wanted out of the experience.

"Being on Design Star gave me the opportunity to show my talent to America," he said. "I didn't go on there just to get famous or to jack my prices up. A lot of people think I might be too expensive now, but they'll never know if they can afford me or not until they have a consultation. It's the same thing as if I would have wondered if I could make it on the show ... I would still be wondering if I didn't try."

While McCluney and Smith auditioned for reality shows as a way to showcase their talent with the ultimate goal of being recognized for their skill, there are thousands of people who want to be on reality shows for the sole purpose of being on TV and becoming famous. Their only real talent is, well, talking -- and some of them haven't even mastered that. Casting specials for shows like American Idol, Flavor of Love and The Real World show people acting like complete fools just so they can be seen on TV for a split second. "It gets on my nerves because they get in the way of people who actually have talent or have a dream," says McCluney.

Michelle Maxey definitely has a dream -- she wants to host her own entertainment television show. She's also a go-getter. She's a senior majoring in communications at Winthrop University. She's held down internships at ESPN and for the Charlotte Bobcats. And she's known as a poet around her college campus. But since her blink-and-you'll-miss-her appearance on the Flavor of Love 3 casting special, Maxey has been known as "Flaaaavoooor Flav" around Winthrop. "It's annoying," she said. "I don't want to be known for that."

Maxey had her reasons for auditioning for Flavor of Love 3 -- love not being one of them. "I think the type of interest I had [with Flav] was more for networking," she said. "I'm not physically attracted to him. People asked if I would have made out with him if I was chosen for the show ... you never know. But plenty of girls make out with ugly guys."

Maxey's real hope was that she'd get cast on the show and exit the workforce. "Basically, I felt if I got on the show I wouldn't have to work again," she said. "I could get paid to show up at clubs."

But since she didn't get on the show, she's moving to phase two of her "get famous" plan -- finish school, save up money and move to a bigger city where her aspirations of making it in the entertainment industry have a better chance of materializing. "I saw this as a quicker way to get to my goal," she said. "But it's not my only way."

Shameika Rhymes also has dreams of being a celebrity, which is why she sent in a casting tape to CMT's I Want to Look like a High School Cheerleader Again, a weight-loss show that (as the title implies) takes former cheerleaders and whips them back into shape. At first Rhymes was hesitant about auditioning for the show but after thinking about it and weighing her options (get it?), she decided to go for it. But her decision was not without a price. Once she found out she made it on the show, she had to make a choice between going on the program and quitting her job as a producer at a Charlotte television station.

"I prayed about it ... a sense of calmness came over me, and I knew I was making the right decision," she said. "It actually worked out because my contract at the station was almost up, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay there. So it was a no-brainer."

It was also an easy decision for Rhymes because it was her goal to be infront of the camera someday. "I've always wanted to be on TV," she says. "I said I would be on TV by the time I turned 30, and I turned 30 in September -- just a month before the show aired. This was just the door that opened, and I walked through it."

Rhymes made sure to maximize her air time to ensure that her face and personality would be embedded into viewers' minds. "Every time the camera was in my face I tried to be over the top and say off-the-wall stuff," she said, laughing. "But when I watched the first episode, they didn't show that; they showed me mad a lot. I came across as the 'sista' with an attitude."

Since the show premiered a few weeks ago, Rhymes has been on a few auditions for local plays and is in the process of looking for an agent. But recognition from the public is slow coming. "The thought has crossed my mind, 'What if I'm doing this for nothing,'" she said. "I'll be disappointed, but at the same time I'll know that I tried and that counts for something."

Leslie Nease is a rarity in the realm of reality TV. She didn't audition for Survivor: China to get famous or to get recognized for her personality and talent -- she did it for the experience. "I'm a big fan of the show," said the Charlotte-based Christian radio host. "I used to think, who in their right mind would go through something like that. Then I saw the season-three finale, which was one of the most miserable seasons, and everyone said they'd do it again. And I started applying."

Nease applied for five years in a row and was turned down each time. "It wasn't like I was sitting around waiting for them to call because I have a terrific life," she said. "I was driving when they finally called me and told me I made the show ... I almost drove off the road because I was so excited."

As undesirable as it sounds to be left on a deserted island, for Nease it was a dream come true. "I had this dream for so long, and it was cool seeing it unfold," she said. "It was a fun experience and it really didn't seem like a reality until the hunger set in."

Nease was eliminated from the competition during the third episode -- in her opinion a bit too soon. "I really wanted the experience to last," she said. "It wasn't about the money; it was about the adventure."

Regardless of the reasons that drive people to audition for reality shows -- whether it's to showcase their talents in hopes of being discovered, fame for the sake of fame or to experience something new -- people at home are watching.

"[I think the public is drawn] to reality shows because they're true and they show real people," said Mark Cronin, co-founder of 51 Minds -- the production company responsible for reality hits like VH1's The Surreal Life, Flavor of Love and I Love New York. "Scripted sitcoms were starting to feel stale and reality television was more innovative than normal sitcoms with a couch, a front door and a wacky neighbor. Reality created a new way of making television and people really responded to it."

Adam Vetri, producer of CMT's I Want to Look Like a High School Cheerleader Again, believes another reason people watch reality shows is because they see themselves in the triumphs and struggles of the cast. "When reality shows first started, [critics] said people don't want to watch regular people do regular things, but they do because they get to see themselves," said Vetri. "It's the chance for the everyday person to identify ... they get to see a reflection of themselves."

But the search to cast real people in reality television can often be as hard as crafting characters from scratch. "[Some people see it as] a way to get famous, and we're constantly trying to find people who are being honest," said Cronin. "It's always a challenge for Cris [Abrego, Cronin's 51 Minds partner] and I to weed out the people who are faking."

For those who do get cast on reality shows, the experience, good or bad, has a profound impact on their lives and the way they view fame.

For McCluney and Smith, the experience was all positive, and they got nothing but love from the public. And in McCluney's case, the occasional person claiming to be a distant relative asking for a handout. They both felt like they were portrayed as they truly are because they went in with the intention of being true to themselves.

"I wanted to do something different for reality TV and I was real," said Smith. "I was going to be me even if there was a camera in my face, because I wasn't going to sell myself short or sell a false image of myself."

Overall, Nease was happy with the way she was portrayed, except that the show occasionally made her look like she should be wearing a dunce cap instead of a bandana. "I think it was accurate as far as my personality, but the [producers] kind of made me look stupid," she said. "They didn't show any of my strategies or any of my alliances. I looked like I was just in la-la land."

Maxey and Rhymes' post-reality experience is more of a mixed bag. "People can be really mean," said Rhymes. "I haven't had too many bad things said about me, but people can write some really nasty things on the message boards. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment because I keep reading it."

"It made me re-evaluate what it's like to be famous because it can be annoying," said Maxey. "I think I would be one of those celebrities who curse people out."

Even though his experience was good, McCluney has a warning to those who seek fame from reality TV. "Fame comes with a price ... it comes with a lot of hard work and determination," he said. "It's a cutthroat business, and if you're not made for it, it will show."

As reality TV becomes a damn-near permanent part of pop culture with shows like Survivor, American Idol and even Flavor of Love gaining cult followings, the stars of those shows, whether they are trying to or not, are becoming equally as popular. Andy Warhol had no clue how true his most famous quote, "Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes," would become. With a chance of fame only an open casting call away, everyone from a school teacher to a postal worker to a homeless dude on the street has a chance to capture their 15 minutes.

"Does America think that reality contestants are all just trying to be famous? Yeah, they might," said Cronin. "But that's OK ... as long as we tell a good story."