Minister Marion Hall Says A Certain Reality Show Wanted Her Before Another Artist

marion hall
Marion Hall

Before she became a Christian in 2015, Minister Marion Hall said she was approached by producers of a certain reality show to join the cast. 

Then Lady Saw—dancehall’s leading woman—the signing would have made her the first Jamaican-born personality to appear on an international reality show. The deal never materialized, and Hall said the producers would sign another Jamaican artist years later, creating speculation that it was the Love and Hip Hop franchise that Spice joined in 2018.

Artists Minister Marion Hall (left) and Spice

In a recent sermon, the Sorry to Hurt Your Feelings minister shared the backstory, preaching that lofty ambitions may come at a demoralising cost.

“I was told by someone who was working with me at the time, they work with, I won’t say,” Hall stopped herself. “She said, ‘Buy a nice outfit, we’re gonna go meet with some big producers tomorrow’. I’m thinking record producers. I bought a dress, we went to the big office. Two men came, but what they saw didn’t attract them. They were not actually record producers; they were producers of a reality show…”

Hall described the dress she had purchased as a “church dress” which didn’t ooze her ‘queen of dancehall’ aesthetic. 

Lady Saw
Lady Saw at Sumfest 2015 (Photo by Claudia Gardner)

“I didn’t dress like no dancehall queen, I dressed like a church woman. I sat down and what God did in that place blew my mind up until today. They couldn’t come near me… God had a light on me that day, right before I got saved. God was saying, ‘You ain’t getting this one’, and I see the same reality show, someone else got where they wanted to take me, cause I had no idea this was it… I was not gonna give up what they’re now giving up to get to that. It will cost you.”

Hall’s successor, Spice, made a cameo appearance on Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta in 2017 before becoming an official cast member the following year.

spice-loveandhiphop
Spice (left) and her ‘Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta’ co-stars.

In 2020, spiritual advisor RT Boss took credit for Spice’s placement on the show, claiming that he told her to take a spiritual bath ahead of her interview with show producers. In her clapback, Spice didn’t deny his claim, and instead said he forced her to believe in the power of such rituals.

Before Spice’s appearance on the series, Brooklyn-born rapper Safaree represented Jamaican culture. 

Looking back, Hall is grateful that she skipped the reality train. In a prayer to God, she said, “I’m so thankful for your outstretched hands. I’m so thankful that that day I didn’t dress myself, Lord…you dressed me. I’m thankful that even when I was in the world, you were with me, because I could have gone to become who the world wanted me to become, but you kept your hand on me because I prayed and asked you to keep your hands on me.”

Watch Hall’s sermon below.