What I know about reality shows you can stick in the lining of one of those mildly ridiculous-looking Bret Michaels cowboy hats that porn chicks seem to favor. But that’s me.

On the other hand those who hang on the cusp of everything that’s Snooki Polizzi these days, would have understood the significance of Bethany Benz’s entrée into porn when it was first reported several weeks ago.

Benz, as I would come to learn, was a contestant on the VH1 celebrity dating show “For The Love Of Ray J,” which one might assume is an ebony version of Michaels’ dating show Rock of Love.

[Somehow the ubiquitous Tila Tequila fits into this whole Ray J scheme but that’s another story.]

Anyways, controversy among web devotees flared when it was discovered that Benz not only went by the name of Caviar on the show but started appearing in dirty movies for Bang Bros under her knew porn name. The connection was made. Holy Montana Fishburne, Benz’s name was then was all over the Internet.

Unlike Fishburn, though, Benz, the time the story broke, chose to remain an international woman of mystery and intrigue [and still does for the most part], thus allowing the great unwashed to speculate on her motives.

Benz’s claim to fame, prior, had been appearances in R. Kelly and Snoop Dogg music videos and print photo shoot credits which include Motorsports Magazine, Jet Magazine, and Rolling Out Magazine.

How Benz achieved this notoriety isn’t too difficult to fathom. Depending which photos you’re looking at, Benz is either really attractive or drop dead gorgeous, the result of a bewildering Egyptian-Nigerian-Russian ethnicity that hit the good looks lottery in a big way.

Benz grew up in Russia [she speaks the language fluently] and attended school there until she moved to the US at the age of 12. And, like any heart-tugging American success story, she would eventually fall into the hands of a man who once managed professional wrestler Rob Van Dam.

From the old XPW wrestling days is how I got to know Brian Berke who now heads up the Florida Talent Agency, AMA Worldwide which reps Ms. Benz in South Florida.

[Check out www.ama-worldwide.com/bethany_benz/bethany_benz.htm for the nudie pictures.]

At 5 feet ten inches Benz is probably big enough to handle the wrestling bad guys herself, but when she’s in LA, Benz is booked through World Modeling which is another of those intriguing porn alliances that’s tough to describe on paper.

The way Berke talks about Benz, though, you’d think he discovered a vein of gold deposits in Miami-Dade County.

According to Berke, Benz spent five months talking to him back and forth before she elected to go into porn, so this was obviously no grab the money and run proposition on her part.

“She’s an amazing girl- when you meet her in person- she’s beautiful, gorgeous. Just really a smart girl,” Berke says. “She enjoys doing adult; she’s not doing it for the money, by no means.”

But that didn’t stop Bethany, who’s been in the business about a month, from walking into the steel jaws of controversy the first time she was in LA.

Depending who’s telling the story, she supposedly ran afoul of director Alexander Devoe who apparently got the impression that Benz is racially uppity. The Devoe shoot Benz was on – from what I’m told – was quite tense notwithstanding the fact that Devoe’s wife had also been on the Ray J show the same time as Benz.

All of which is kind of odd, because Benz has no problem with interracial, has done scenes with Mr. Marcus and waves the experience like a flag on her resume.

According to Berke, this didn’t keep Devoe from apparently going on La Talk Radio, decrying Benz. What makes this story cockeyed is that Devoe then tried signing Benz to a contract. Benz told him no.

Porn, ya gotta love it.

“At the end of the day I’m very protective,” explains Berke. “If my girls don’t want to do interracial, they won’t do it. But Bethany has no problems with it.”

Benz agrees, saying that there’s no color barriers to her way of thinking and the proof is that she worked for the Devoes when she was in Los Angeles.

“Honestly, I don’t know what was with that,” Benz is saying.

“Devoe’s wife was a contestant on the same reality show. Her husband happened to be a porn producer. She reached out to me. I don’t know what was said, but there was an impression that I didn’t want to work with them because they were black, whatever.

“Whatever was said, wasn’t true. I’m an equal opportunity person. If the situation is nice I will work with everybody. I have my own standards but it’s definitely not color or anything of that nature. As long as I like the person, the situation is right and the company is good, I don’t have a problem.”

Benz is also saying she heard this gossip about herself after-the-fact.

“It was only then that I heard they didn’t have a good opinion about me which is really funny. Other than that I can’t say anything.”

But Benz wouldn’t necessarily call this a bad experience.

“I told myself if I didn’t like doing porn I wouldn’t go through with it. So far, I’ve had no negative experiences. If that happens, I won’t do it.”

This wasn’t Benz’s first time in Los Angeles, albeit her first in her new porn persona.

“Everybody was professional,” assesses Benz who had always been curious about what was going on behind porn’s green day but never had the “audacity” to look for herself.

“Then one day I just said life is short.”

That’s when she gave Berke the green light.

The only thing Benz didn’t like about Porn Valley is that she was paid by check.

“I think that was the only difference I discovered so far between here and working in Florida.”

Benz describes her modeling career as one of a portfolio of semi-nude shoots, though her calls to Berke’s agency after she had come across the AMA name on the Internet, was without her knowledge that it was about doing adult.

“I didn’t meet Brian in person right away,” she explains.

Still, according to Benz, she had no idea the cyberworld was going to pick up her story and run with it the way it did.

In fact, Benz was portrayed as “a model” on the dating show, though she did try to break into acting before that with little or no success.

“Without having experience it’s kind of hard,” she rues.

“So what’s the next thing to acting? It’s the reality-thing, and it was pretty popular a couple of years ago. Someone approached me about doing it. I did a tape and they picked me.”

Now that she’s “an adult actress,” Benz seems to think the career wheel has come full turn. Asked what her friends thought, Benz says as long as she’s happy that’s all that matters, which gives some hint that she might not exactly be on top of her peers’ gift list. Benz says, no, that it’s more the fact that she doesn’t talk about matters personal and isn’t one to toot the celebrity horn.

Benz’s parents also have no idea that she’s performing in movies. At least that’s what she honestly believes.

“My dad is overseas right now, and I don’t think he’ll find out until he comes back. My mom lives overseas so she doesn’t know.”

Chances are with the Internet, they both know, I venture to tell Benz.

“I doubt it, but my father will know, eventually,” she replies.

Mentally, she’s prepping for the day when the shoe drops, hoping it doesn’t drop too soon. Benz describes her folks as very well-educated, traveled people. Read: potentially accepting of major surprises dropped on one’s doorstep.

For the time being, Benz has a few of her scenes from Bang Bros. and Reality Kings already in circulation. The first time she worked in front of the camera, Benz thought it was crazy, her being there.

“I couldn’t believe I was doing it!” she laughs.

Benz is asked about going to grammar school in Russia, where she was born. You’d figure learning the alphabet might have been interesting, but Benz downplays her past and takes it pretty much in stride, saying, what’s the big deal? She lived both in Moscow and Kiev before coming to the states, then went to high school in Chicago.

“Here, there’s just too many rules,” she says.

“In Europe you can kind of do whatever you want as long as you get your work done.”

To hear Benz tell it, the boyfriend situation is also pretty much a non-issue.

“I really wasn’t interested when I was younger. I didn’t date in high school. I was never boy crazy, and I’m still that way. Boys always liked me, while I can do without it. I’d like to have a boyfriend, but I don’t need to have one. It was never my number one priority though I’ve always had more guy friends than girl friends. I get along with guys great, just not anything more than that.”

So it’s not surprising that Benz describes her loss of virginity at age 15 as being “nothing special”.

“I was bored then I was kind of over it,” she muses.

“Let’s just leave it at that. I wasn’t impressed.”

The irony of Benz performing in sex scenes is not overlooked in the context of that remark.

“Where I come from, we’re open-minded, and I think Europeans are way more comfortable without making it a big deal. Life is life. If I’m comfortable enough to do it in front of a camera, great for me.”

Otherwise, Benz says there’s nothing romantic going on, and she prefers it that way.

“Because of what I do I think it would really complicate things,” she states.

“I don’t want have to explain things, but in the future we’ll see what happens.”

Since she’s from Chicago, Benz is asked if she’s a Cubs fan.

“Because I’m from the city, I’ll root for them before I root for the Sox,” she laughs.

[Benz will be back in Los Angeles the end of this month. She can be booked in advance through Brian Berke at AMA, 786-449-6227.]